What is this stuff on top of my beer?

[unclebrew]

All grain, dry irish stout. followed directions to a t. put into a carboy, next morning it is bubbling nicely. BUT, there are these white bubbles all over the place. Then, two days later, the white bubbles are gone and replacing them is this "grain-like" residue. Any ideas what this is? Is my beer lost? Can I still save it?


Thanks

 

[Qhrumphf]

That, my friend, is krausen, and if it wasn't there I'd be worried. Congratulations. You have made beer!

 

[rustym]

Awesome!! You have fermenting beer! Relax, that's perfectly normal. Give it 2-3 weeks and all of that stuff will drop out. Be patient, leave it alone and your beer will reward you!

 

[unclebrew]

This is my third all-grain beer. The first two were the exact same recipe, an IPA. This is the first stout I have EVER made (I have made around 5-6 extract beers too). I have never seen this on my beer, but then again, I have always put my beer in a bucket. This is the first time in the carboy because I wanted to see what happens, and this FREAKED me out.

So, don't transfer? I have read a lot on here about it and why people do and don't. On my IPA's, I dry hop, so of course I do. But should I transfer with the stout (I am not adding anything).

Also, this will be the first time I keg. Any suggestions on types of pony kegs to buy and how to use the co

Again, thanks everyone, you are all awesome

 

[Qhrumphf]

Some beers form more than others. Some yeast strains form significantly more than others. It happens with every beer. With your past batches, you still would have seen the ring hanging around the sides of the fermenter just above the surface of the beer.

As far as transferring, I rarely transfer anything. Fruit additions (or something in kind), lagering, oak, bugs, or long term storage, but that's it. I dry hop in primary. Some folks do like to transfer. A lot of us don't. Lots of debate on the subject on this forum. So yeah, I wouldn't transfer. Let it sit maybe 4 weeks (or at least a few days to a week after you reach your FG).

As far as kegging, I'm a bottler, so I can't help much, but from what I understand you're looking for either ball lock or pin lock cornelius soda kegs, not the commercial ones. Some are a little taller, some are shorter and wider, so it depends on the configuration of your keg fridge.

 

[tooldudetool]

Yes, don't get a pony keg to keg, you want a 5 gallon corny keg (the ones soda used to come in). The cornies are great, they have a large opening which makes it easy to clean and transfer into. I also dry hop in the primary, after several days the hop pellets settle out, especially if you can cold crash it before transferring.