Weird growth in my 2nd fermentation carboy, what is it?

[Slatershark]

My very first batch, I was super clean and used star-San on everything. A nut brown ale my OG was 1.053 and FG from primary bucket was 1.012.
Can somebody let me know if this is bad?

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1449020285.555765.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1449020297.953010.jpg

 

[schematix]

Looks like the beginnings of an infection to me.

Are you bottling or kegging?

 

[CA_Mouse]

It looks like mold. Most likely something that didn't get cleaned properly and when you added your wort/beer to the carboy, it was given a new growth medium.

 

[Slatershark]

I am bottling. About 3 days left to bottle

 

[Calder]

I don't know what others are seeing, but it looks fine to me. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[actionjackson905]

It's really hard to tell. But is it creamy white goo? Or is it clusters of tiny white bubbles or foamy? I'm with Calder, I'm not seeing anything quite that nasty yet.

 

[Slatershark]

It is like little foam clusters with a dot in the middle.

 

[Subdivisions]

It looks like CO2 coming out of suspension. It's a good scare though to teach you to not be moving your beer into secondary when it doesn't need to. For a low gravity beer it's much better to leave it in primary until ready to bottle.

 

[C-Rider]

Unless you are adding something like fruit or vanilla nibs forget the secondary. That's just another place for something to go wrong. 3 weeks in the primary and then bottle for 98% of the ales you make.

 

[unionrdr]

I've never seen krausen make round spots like that. It could be some nasties forming colonies on the surface? If it's done fermenting & cleared, I say rack from under it to the bottling bucket, prime & bottle.

 

[Slatershark]

Ok great tips thanks. Sunday will be 2nd week fermenting. 5 days in primary and 9 days in 2nd. I'll get a gravity over next few days and if not changed I'll bottle By Sunday. I guess I wasted some money on a second Carboy, sounds like I should have just bought another primary to do 2 at a time.

 

[wyccad915]

I had something similar. I just let them be and it went away. I'm not sure if its similar at all. I was scared of an infection.

 

[kh54s10]

Ok great tips thanks. Sunday will be 2nd week fermenting. 5 days in primary and 9 days in 2nd. I'll get a gravity over next few days and if not changed I'll bottle By Sunday. I guess I wasted some money on a second Carboy, sounds like I should have just bought another primary to do 2 at a time.

Pretty much right... I rarely do a secondary. But sometimes use my 5 gallon fermenter for smaller batches.

5 days in primary before transferring to secondary might have been too short, but that is a different argument.

Try 14 to 21 days in primary, then bottle.

Get more fermenters, I often have 3 or more going at one time.
Temperature control is next for you to look at.

 

[theseeker4]

Ok great tips thanks. Sunday will be 2nd week fermenting. 5 days in primary and 9 days in 2nd. I'll get a gravity over next few days and if not changed I'll bottle By Sunday. I guess I wasted some money on a second Carboy, sounds like I should have just bought another primary to do 2 at a time.

Save your secondary, since you in the future will likely want to experiment with additions like fruit, wood chips, coco, etc. depending on what styles of beer you like, and secondary IS preferred for a long (read multiple months) bulk aging, such as with a barley wine. You will likely use the carboy in the future, and if you really don't want it to sit unused, you can always use a carboy as a primary fermentor.

 

[actionjackson905]

I'll be a Johnny come back lately, but it's probably just CO2 coming out of suspension or being produced from leftover sugars. I get it quite often, as I do secondary all of my beers.

 

[Slatershark]

I opened it last night and pulled a sample to test and measure. Gravity was at 1.012 still. Being my first beer I am not sure about the taste but drank about 5 sips. It was tangy and a little sweet. Suppose to be a new castle brown ale clone, not quite so far but I know it needs another 2-3 weeks of finishing. Nothing more is appearing and I thing some of that too stuff disappeared so probably me just worrying over my first batch.
Thanks for the replies. I will bottle on Sat if Gravity is the same and report back in two weeks.
I have a amber ale in primary right now and I will leave it alone for 2-3 weeks and try bottling straight from there. Seems like I am seeing that advise on a lot of posts I am reading. So o will pick up another primary pail to have. Then that should be it for equipment needed for awhile. Just spent another 70 on 12 oz bottles, grolsh bottles, and caps. So much for that $150 starter kit, it was just a start lol. I was looking at beer extract ingredient kits online last night and recipes on this site. I can't drink beer fast enough for all the ones I want to make. 1-2 beers a day is not going to cut it lol.

 

[kh54s10]

If you had 1.012 the first time and 1.012 again your fermentation is done. You have also already given it enough time. If it is clear you can bottle now, if not you can leave it in secondary longer. There is no magic number of days that the beer need to ferment or be in secondary. As said you don't need to do a secondary at all.

The beer before bottle conditioning will not taste exactly and sometimes not even close to what the finished beer will taste.

Ask your friends for bottles. Free is always better than buying them. I did not allow enough time for getting bottles for my first batch so I had to buy some. I then collected the next 400 bottles at no cost.

Do not fret having too much beer. You will be surprised at how fast it will disappear, especially if you share any. Having a lot on hand will also be a buffer if you don't or can't brew regularly. At one time I had at least 12 and up to 56 bottles of 12+ different beers.

Variety is the spice of life!

 

[Slatershark]

Yep same boat. I have tossed alot of good bottles out in last year. I only have a few friends that drink quality beer, most are light beer drinkers. So I splurged and bought 2 cases of empty bottles and 12 - 32oz Grolths bottles with the hinge gasket lid. I have since drank and collected another 24 bottles so a good start for my first two batches.
I can see how this can get addicting. I need to start a new higher gravity beer that will take more than a month to be ready.