Yeast rafts or infection?

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Kawachs

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Hello,
My husband and I are new to brewing and brewed an American Cream Ale with a friend. Everything looked good until we transferred to another carboy for 2nd fermentation and clarity. Now the beer is darker and has a ring of with bubble things on top. Can anyone helps us to identify what it is? We were planning on bottling this weekend but is it worth it? First picture is right after transfer, second is now. Sorry it's not the best pic.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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This does look infected to me. However, all may not be lost. I've had similar experiences years ago and if it tastes OK and is at FG, I either scrapped it off and bottled, or bottled from beneath. Since you have a glass carboy, the latter would be easiest.
If you do this (and don't dump it), drink the beer relatively soon after they carbonate.
Good luck!
 
Could be yeast rafts, could be infection, hard to tell. You can bottle if final gravity has been reached and then continuously monitor carbonation. Infected beers might ferment further in the bottle, leading to bottle bombs, you want to spot the overcarbonation before this happens.

Btw. There is no secondary fermentation, next time just leave it in the primary, no secondary necessary. You just introduce oxygen (this is what darkened your beer and destroyed hop aroma) and you might catch an infection.

I know some recipes call for secondary, just ignore it. That's stuff from the 80s.
 
This does look infected to me. However, all may not be lost. I've had similar experiences years ago and if it tastes OK and is at FG, I either scrapped it off and bottled, or bottled from beneath. Since you have a glass carboy, the latter would be easiest.
If you do this (and don't dump it), drink the beer relatively soon after they carbonate.
Good luck!
The FG was above the recommended range when we took it before transferring. Thank you for the reply! We will try bottling tomorrow and see how it turns out.
 
Could be yeast rafts, could be infection, hard to tell. You can bottle if final gravity has been reached and then continuously monitor carbonation. Infected beers might ferment further in the bottle, leading to bottle bombs, you want to spot the overcarbonation before this happens.

Btw. There is no secondary fermentation, next time just leave it in the primary, no secondary necessary. You just introduce oxygen (this is what darkened your beer and destroyed hop aroma) and you might catch an infection.

I know some recipes call for secondary, just ignore it. That's stuff from the 80s.
Good to know. Now we will know for next time and it was annoying to do. The FG was above their recommended range when we took it before transferring. Thank you for your reply!
 
Echoing just leaving it in primary. "Secondary" doesn't really have an effect on clarity, and if anything its more often a detriment to beer than a positive. Oxidation, infection, etc.

Outdated practice that still gets taught for unknown reasons.
 
It does not look like an infection to me (visibly).

Some common infections tend to show by forming a (white) pellicle floating on top of the beer, starting out as a haze, growing thicker, or slimy bubbles.

As already said, avoid secondaries, they're not needed, even detrimental, aside for very few exceptions (e.g., sours, or beers that are bulk aged beyond 2-3 months). Brew instructions are notoriously outdated.
 
Update...bottle and it now tastes like a sour ale instead of a cream ale. Not bad tasting, just not what we hoped for. Oh well. Thank you for all the advice! Now fingers crossed they don't explode. :D
 
Update...bottle and it now tastes like a sour ale instead of a cream ale. Not bad tasting, just not what we hoped for.
So sorry about that.

Once carbonated (while carbonating, test them often, to prevent them from over-carbonating), keep them ice cold (fridge) to slow down further attenuation, and drink em fast. Still keep on the watch out, though, they can cause a lot of damage and injury if they explode.
 
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