Strange Looking Secondary...

[Rasinete17]

Ok. I'm sure I'm probably just worrying but something here just doesn't make sense and I'm expecting that the carboy on the right is ruined. Here are two one gallon all grain batches of my attempt at Sam Adams Summer Ale. The one on the left was brewed a few days before the one on the right, and I moved them into secondary last week with the same timing. I went to a wedding this weekend and got back yesterday and the one on the right was turning black on top almost as if someone poured black ink into it. The recipe was exactly the same and the process was the same. The only difference is that in the one on the right I put the hop pellets in tea balls and a hop bag, where the one on the right i just dumped them into the boil (strained out before putting in fermenter). Could this have contributed to the large color difference. If anyone could give any advice I greatly appreciate it. In my opinion the one on the left looks really good, definately the clearest beer I've made to date. Its just the one on the right I'm concerned with. I've read some posts that the yeast are just settling out reducing the amount of reflected light but if that's the case, I can't come up with a reason for the major color difference. Thanks in advance.

 

[rancidcrabtree]

Have you tried tasting it?

 

[Rasinete17]

Not sense it started to turn. I'll probably taste it before I bottle. I was just gonna give it some time before I bottled it (to see what happens). Kinda new to this whole thing but I would assume if it tastes horrible its probably bad? If it tastes bad dump it or bottle and wait? Any tastes to look for?

 

[rancidcrabtree]

I've never had a batch go bad yet (knocking on wood), but I would taste both and if the one of the right taste really off then there might have been an issue with the tea balls you used for the hop pellets, or else maybe the carboy had some nasties hiding in it. They are both pretty young though, so if it doesn't obviously taste like something foul then I would give it at least another week and see how it is after that.

 

[Rasinete17]

Actually the tea balls were used for the clearer batch on the left. Think I'll be using them again. The only problem was that I put to many pellets in them so when the hop pellets expanded they were pretty compacted so I wasn't sure how efficient they were utilized. That's why I did the same recipe without the tea balls to taste the difference. Also the difference in fluid level in the carboys is due to the fact that for the first batch (the one on the left) I had a kicker bottle that holds an extra two beers that I use when I have more wort than will fit into the carboy. On the second batch, the hops had absorbed some of the wort and the kicker was full with the first batch so i didn't bother draining the wort out of the hops. The color difference just seems really great. I'll just have to wait and see.

 

[usfmikeb]

Was there a noticeable differnce in colors when you racked them to secondary, or is this something that occurred since they were racked over? If the difference started after racking, which is what it sounds like in your original post, then there was something in the gallon jug that you didn't want in there.

 

[Rasinete17]

Difference started after racking to secondary, which is why I anticipated contamination, do you think I should still taste it? What are the odds of getting sick?

 

[usfmikeb]

If it's literally turning black, I probably wouldn't taste it. Your health is more important than a gallon of beer.