Possible bad batch?

[brewbies]

hey all,

first time poster, need some advice...
just finished racking from a primary to a secondary after 10 days and my beer doesn't quite resemble the foamy/bubbly goodness i have seen posted all over the web.

I used northwestern gold extract, with amarillo and cascade hops, and was pretty thorough with my sanitizing.

Should I be worried or is there no way to tell until I reach a finished product?

 

[gator_brewer]

RDWHAHB

From everything I've read on this forum, if it seems like it's fine, then it is.

In the carboy it looks fine to me.

And in the bucket it looks like you used pellet hops, didn't get them out of the wort when it went in the bucket, and they came out in the krasen (my personal method because I haven't found a got way to strain them out.

 

[gator_brewer]

oh, and welcome!

 

[beersydoesit]

How does it smell/ taste?
If it smells good I think it is worth finishing and see.

I taste my beers at every step. Then if something goes wrong I think I can figure out where.

 

[mjn12]

After 10 days I wouldn't expect the krausen to still be there - all three of my batches have been done with vigorous fermentation within 5-6 days. Looks like yeast that hasn't flocculated or was stuck to the side and fell of during racking floating on top. I wouldn't worry about anything unless the beer really smelled funny or tasted awful.

Just my 2 cents, but I'm only on my third batch so take it for what its worth.

 

[brewbies]

Just took a little out from the carboy and it seems to taste alright. It has an alcohol scent to it that I didn't expect.

I gave it a pretty good sloshing for several minutes after pitching the yeast, don't think that could have gone wrong. Fermentation was fairly strong for the first week, then slowed down to a bubble every two minutes.

I didn't attempt to strain the hop pellets out - maybe that's what was left floating on top?

My biggest worry was just the appearance, seems like most primaries have some serious foam on top, and mine only had those sludge spots...

 

[beersydoesit]

Decent taste is a good start.
I think it is probably fine. I say finish it and let us know what happens.

 

[mjn12]

Just relax.

Everything is probably fine. The more you poke and prod the more likely you are to introduce something [edit: something you don't want in the beer that is]. Close up the carboy and put it out of sight until you're ready to bottle/keg. I'm just echoing the advice of the older, wiser members here.

As for foam when racking - that is there but only for the vigorous primary fermentation. That foam should drop away as fermentation slows and the yeast flocculates, dropping to the bottom of the fermenter.

 

[JoeMama]

And 10 days? I think your beer will still be a bit 'lumpy' in the primary at that stage. Leave it in the carboy for a few weeks. It will clear up nicely for you.
-Me

 

[Revvy]

Hmmm is that nottingham yeast perhaps?

You have "Krauzen Curdles" nothing more, some yeast produce chunkier remains after the krauzen falls....Some look like ugly brow cottage cheese...

Everything is fine, by the way. It looks perfectly normal.

 

[brewbies]

Fairly sure it was a DCL Safale S-04 dry yeast.

Well thanks everyone for putting my nerves at ease, I was a little bummed when I opened the bucket and didn't find what I had expected.

Hopefully this first batch works out alright. Regardless I'm heading out tomorrow in search of another kit to get my second batch underway.

Cheers

 

[Revvy]

When you are dealing with living microrganisms it is best to leave your preconceived notions of what things SHOULD look like aside. Brewing beer is different than say mixing koolaid...the minute you pitch the yeast you are no longer in charge, the yeas is the boss...and they are the experts, they've been doing it on their own, under pretty brutal conditions for over 2000 years, so they know more than we do.

Our job is to provide them a clean factory (fermenter) with plenty of good quality building materials (ingredients) then we get the hell out of the way and let them do what they know how to do.

And it is really really really hard to **** up your beer, it is not a weak mewling newborn that will die if you look at it funny...it's been brewed in some pretty nasty conditions, and still turned out fine.

The sooner you grasp the concept that you are not in charge, they are, the happier a brewer you will be.

 

[Endovelico]

Looks normal to me.

 

[Endovelico]

Fairly sure it was a DCL Safale S-04 dry yeast.

Well thanks everyone for putting my nerves at ease, I was a little bummed when I opened the bucket and didn't find what I had expected.

Hopefully this first batch works out alright. Regardless I'm heading out tomorrow in search of another kit to get my second batch underway.

Cheers

Thats funny, since my first thought was that it looked exactly like my carboy after racking. And i used S04 too.

 

[brewbies]

Great success!!

First batch turned out just fine, good balance of malt and hops. I'd say it's like a Newcastle with more hops... onto batch two.

 

[Revvy]

Score...We're right ONCE AGAIN!!!!!

Actually problems 0, Noobitus 1,000

Enjoy you're beer!!!!!!!!

Looks awesome!