What is going on here?

[Newtobrewing85]

Little confused. This was an IPA extract I’m doing for a wedding. I had one weird issue where when I cooled it down (with whirlfloc in boil) it foamed like crazy. I have absolutely no idea why and when I put it in my catalyst it was foaming over the top. I scooped all the foam out (sanitized spoon, yes) and tossed it and then sprinkled the yeast on top like I normally do around my normal temp 65ish degrees. Sanitized the lid after washing the foam off and put it on. It was a 4 week beer so I just tossed it in the corner at 66 degrees in my house (it’s covered in shade and has a catalyst jacket) so light shouldn’t be an issue. 3 weeks in I dumped the trub and added hops, instead of opening the top I just put them in the trub jar to test if this would work for future beers.

It looked like actual specs of grain or dead yeast maybe? FG was 1.012 from 1.052 so it went okay. Little bit of acetalhyde from my tastebuds but seems to taste like a (warm) IPA when I tried it off the test tube.

It doesn’t look infected? I’ve just never not seen a clean beer on top in my first 10ish beers.

 

[rburrelli]

Looks like flakes from the krausen.

 

[day_trippr]

The little brown/tan bits are "yeast rafts" and are completely benign.
I don't see anything suspicious here. Carry on...

Cheers!

 

[hotbeer]

Same yeast as you used for the other 9ish beers? Different yeast do different things. And even the same type yeast will do a little different depending on recipe, temps and all sorts of things.

Keep the lid on!

 

[Newtobrewing85]

Looks like flakes from the krausen.

The little brown/tan bits are "yeast rafts" and are completely benign.
I don't see anything suspicious here. Carry on...

Cheers!

That’s what I thought, just never seen it!

 

[Newtobrewing85]

Same yeast as you used for the other 9ish beers? Different yeast do different things. And even the same type yeast will do a little different depending on recipe, temps and all sorts of things.

Keep the lid on!

I think it was Safale US-05, I’d have to check my notes. It wasn’t anything unusual I’ve never used before. I turned down my AC to 64-66ish because I wanted to make sure it stayed in its zone. Lid always stays on unless I absolutely have to take it off for tossing in hops or something. I should have been more clear if you’re talking about my story…I tried putting the lid on after dumping it in (and before yeast) and it foamed everywhere. I was wondering if it would close with the foam and it made a mess. After i cleaned up the foam and tossed in the yeast the lid was never removed again.

 

[Stormcrow]

Agreed on yeast rafts. I've seen that several times with no ill effects.

 

[hotbeer]

I think it was Safale US-05, I’d have to check my notes. It wasn’t anything unusual I’ve never used before. I turned down my AC to 64-66ish because I wanted to make sure it stayed in its zone.

Safe zone? It's safe zone is probably much wider than it's ideal zone which is actually not what is printed on the old sachets they are trying to use up since they evidently printed way too many ahead of time. Their response to me about that was that even when fermented using the info on the packets, one would still make a good beer.

The real Ideal temp range is given by their up to date info on their website and downloads is 18-26°C (64.4-78.8°F). And they also state that the stats they show for total esters, superior alcohols, apparent attenuation, flocculation and sedimentation are based on standard wort in EBC tube at 18°P at 20°C/68°F.

And based on my experiences with ales and IPA's I've brewed, keeping the ambient temps where the fermenter is at 68-69°F the beer in the FV will briefly go on it's own to about 76°F for half a day sometime at peak activity then fall back to about the ambient temps for the rest of the time.

Lower temps too soon might stall things IMO, or at least make things happen more slowly. Which might in fact be good. But admittedly I've never tried. So depending on when you turned the temps down, that also might be a reason for this batch looking so different than others you are comparing it too.

https://fermentis.com/en/product/safale-us-05/
https://distributors.fermentis.com/download/135/english/171/safale-us-05-en.pdf

 

[Newtobrewing85]

Safe zone? It's safe zone is probably much wider than it's ideal zone which is actually not what is printed on the old sachets they are trying to use up since they evidently printed way too many ahead of time. Their response to me about that was that even when fermented using the info on the packets, one would still make a good beer.

The real Ideal temp range is given by their up to date info on their website and downloads is 18-26°C (64.4-78.8°F). And they also state that the stats they show for total esters, superior alcohols, apparent attenuation, flocculation and sedimentation are based on standard wort in EBC tube at 18°P at 20°C/68°F.

And based on my experiences with ales and IPA's I've brewed, keeping the ambient temps where the fermenter is at 68-69°F the beer in the FV will briefly go on it's own to about 76°F for half a day sometime at peak activity then fall back to about the ambient temps for the rest of the time.

Lower temps too soon might stall things IMO, or at least make things happen more slowly. Which might in fact be good. But admittedly I've never tried. So depending on when you turned the temps down, that also might be a reason for this batch looking so different than others you are comparing it too.

https://fermentis.com/en/product/safale-us-05/
https://distributors.fermentis.com/download/135/english/171/safale-us-05-en.pdf

Crazy. I’ve always tried to be in the ideal zone and worried about the temp swings being above that. My pack says 59-71 and i usually keep my house around 68-70 but I always thought it was way too hot because the ferm temp would be above the 71 when it was active. So I likely had it TOO cold this time! Thanks for the heads up, I’m making a beer today with you guessed it, safale US-05 so I’ll be pitching it and keeping my house around 68 instead of the 64 I turned it down to last time. I’ll have to start checking every yeast online just in case.