Unsure newbie

[steturbo]

I have never brewed any beer before in my life, I got given a full set up last week I cleaned and sterilised everything, followed everything on the instructions to make larger. It said it will be ready to bottle between the 4-5 day, I am on day 8 the beer is 1008 on my hydrometer and the beer is still cloudy and a very little scum is still on the top I have put finnings in and that has not had any effect, please help

 

[melbr00ks]

I would guess you used a lager yeast that doesn't settle out very easy. Finings should help but maybe not enough. Did you use a kit, and if so, did it say what your finish gravity should be? If it's close to that and doesn't change for a day or 2, either put it in a secondary to clear a little or bottle it and be prepared for a little cloudy (but still good!) beer. HTH

 

[RM-MN]

You probably got good equipment but you definitely got bad instructions. That beer isn't ready to bottle in 4 to 5 days, more likely it needs 2 to 3 weeks. It's still fermenting.

Tell us a bit more about the recipe kit, what was in it and what yeast it had included. We also need to know what temperature you had it fermenting at.

 

[steturbo]

It's day 9 the hydrometer has been at 1008 for 3days, the beer is really cloudy and a thin layer of scum has appeared over the past day or two, on the 5th day of the process all the scum had almost gone but has come back, the temperature has been between 15 degrees and 20 degrees Celsius. I have not bottled the beer yet but I have followed all the instructions, I have taken a small measurement of the beer put it into a glass within 10 mins the bottom of the glass is covered is sediment please advise

 

[RM-MN]

The thin layer of scum (called krausen) is probably from CO2 being released due to a temperature change, barometer change, or just from being disturbed when you took a hydrometer reading. If I were brewing this beer I would say that the ferment is over but that the yeast hasn't settled yet so I would put it away and leave it for another week before I checked it again. By then much more yeast would be settled on the bottom so it wouldn't make such a big layer in your bottles. Then if the hydrometer reading was the same, I would bottle it.

 

[steturbo]

Ok thank you for your advice I will let you know how it looks in a weeks time, I got wine brewing also and that looks perfect so I thought the beer could of been a dodgy batch