Not sure I’ve ever seen this before…

[brechbräu]

Brewed a saison today. About three hours in the fermenter and I have a very clear stratification that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before:

The sample in my hydrometer tube didn’t do this. The only difference is that I, obviously, added the yeast from my starter into the fermenter. I decanted some of the starter wort but not all… could that lighter, clearer liquid be the rest of the starter wort? Did I do something wrong? Should I be worried?

 

[day_trippr]

Looks like trub starting to fall. Did you use a kettle fining of some kind?

Cheers!

 

[brechbräu]

Looks like trub starting to fall. Did you use a kettle fining of some kind?

Cheers!

I used a Whirlfloc tab… in fact, I may have used two by accident…

 

[day_trippr]

That double-dose may explain why it looks different this time
No harm no foul though...

Cheers!

 

[brechbräu]

That double-dose may explain why it looks different this time
No harm no foul though...

Cheers!

Thanks… I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a clear division of levels… it looked like oil and water and got me freaked out a little… haha.

 

[brechbräu]

Update:

How fast can an infection show? Now I’m noticing these constellations of white dots in the clear top part of the wort… no additional change in amount of settling…

 

[day_trippr]

lol - not that quickly I think

Cheers!

 

[micraftbeer]

I've seen both of these phenomena. The stratification at times, can't remember the brew particulars, but eventually it all settled out.

And I've had little white dots like that with certain yeast. I think ones that I fermented cool, like my Dusseldorf Alt. I was panicked, it continued to grow and cover the whole batch. I felt it was like watching krausen formation in slow motion. Those beers were fine, too. Now I usually can't see my beer because I'm either fermenting in stainless, or I wrap my All Rounders with a towel/blanket for temperature reasons. Unexpected side effect: less stressful fermentations!

 

[dmtaylor]

I've seen stratification with most of my batches. Kind of fun to monitor over several hours while it compacts down at the bottom.

 

[brechbräu]

I've seen both of these phenomena. The stratification at times, can't remember the brew particulars, but eventually it all settled out.

And I've had little white dots like that with certain yeast. I think ones that I fermented cool, like my Dusseldorf Alt. I was panicked, it continued to grow and cover the whole batch. I felt it was like watching krausen formation in slow motion. Those beers were fine, too. Now I usually can't see my beer because I'm either fermenting in stainless, or I wrap my All Rounders with a towel/blanket for temperature reasons. Unexpected side effect: less stressful fermentations!

I used White Labs WLP565 Belgian Saison I yeast.

 

[brechbräu]

lol - not that quickly I think

Cheers!

Next question… how quickly can yeast rafts form?

 

[brechbräu]

I've seen stratification with most of my batches. Kind of fun to monitor over several hours while it compacts down at the bottom.

The stratification seems to have stalled over the last two hours or so, while the white spots have grown…

 

[brechbräu]

I've seen both of these phenomena. The stratification at times, can't remember the brew particulars, but eventually it all settled out.

And I've had little white dots like that with certain yeast. I think ones that I fermented cool, like my Dusseldorf Alt. I was panicked, it continued to grow and cover the whole batch. I felt it was like watching krausen formation in slow motion. Those beers were fine, too. Now I usually can't see my beer because I'm either fermenting in stainless, or I wrap my All Rounders with a towel/blanket for temperature reasons. Unexpected side effect: less stressful fermentations!

I’m hoping that the stratification is from pitching the starter (which was much less dense than the boiled wort) and the white spots are yeast rafts (they’re growing already). Otherwise, I think I’m in trouble…

 

[day_trippr]

Gotta be yeast.
Maybe keep away from it for a while

 

[ClaudiusB]

The stratification seems to have stalled over the last two hours or so, while the white spots have grown…

View attachment 867249

The white dots are the beginning of the Kräusen. My setup started the same way, now the Kräusen are growing.

 

[brechbräu]

Thanks to everyone who helped me through my freak-out moment last night… things have looked and sounded normal today… first time using that yeast and brewing that recipe… I guess I have brewed enough to really have seen a wide range of yeasts work and precipitates drop out of solution…