Lumpy sediment at the top... Sorry.. Newbie

[yeasty]

I have read loads of articles on this forum and learned loads, thanks to all the posters.

I have my first 2 brews fermenting at the moment with my cooper IPA ready to bottle. I used 500g Glucose and 500g Light spray malt. It smells good and considering its only 7 days old tastes good too.

I have my bottles ready to sterilise but there is still a lot of lumpy sediment floating around near the top of the bucket. Is this normal? Should I wait for this to disappear before bottling or should I be using some kind of filter to stop it passing to the bottles? Other than the lumps the beer is fairly clear.

Feels like I'm hooked on this hobby already and haven't had a proper taste yet so I want to make sure I am doing things right.

[mysterio]

Could you post a picture? Does it look like dark flakes or lumps of pale yeast?

I think you'll be fine leaving it another couple of days and then siphoning into bottles. I've got a U-bend on my siphon which tends to filter out any large chunks. You could always tie a piece of fine-mesh gauze over the end of the siphon, like the dry-hopping bags you can buy:



I've never had to do that though, so I would tend not to worry. Hope you enjoy the coopers IPA, it's a good one.

[sparky Paul]

You'll find that as you syphon or draw from the fermenter, anything on the surface will tend to cling to the sides as the level drops. By the time you're half way down, the surface should be bright and clear.

I tend to wait a few days after the end of fermentation before bottling... by then, most of the surface residue will have sunk to the bottom anyway.

[yeasty]

Looks to have cleared a bit over night. I have tried to included a picture but its not very clear. the sediment looks like it is from the foam, small yeasty lumps.

I will leave it a for a day or two and have another look.



Thanks.

[Phill]

That looks fine the white bits are just bubbles, nothing abnormal is going on so dont worry about it. If you leave it for in the fermenter for a couple of days longer (10 days in all) it will give it time to clear a bit more before bottling.

[drbell]

I too had the clumps of brown stuff on top of my first brew - its where the yeast sticks together. While its not a big problem, I did find my first brew failed to get down to target and a lack of yeast may have been on contributor (though a bigger contributor was undoubtedly my boiler breaking down during a particularly cold week).

With my second brew I got the yeast going in a pyrex jug of warm water first (following Brupaks instructions) and this meant no lumps. My 3rd kit - a John Bull Masterclass again suggested just pouring the dry yeast straight into the fermenter. This produced initial lumps again, but with a whole lot of stirring these finally all broke down.

As your brew has started fermenting, I woudn't bother trying to do anything about them - it will just make syphoning off the last couple of bottles a little harder as they will clog the tubes. In the future - beat those clumps into submission - probably a good sign you have aerated the wort enough when they have all gone

[yeasty]

Got a better picture.

[sparky Paul]

It looks like some of the lumps are floating about in the liquid, rather than on the surface.

It's just the CO2 forming that causes them to be floaty, if you leave it a bit longer they should settle out.

[Jim]

Looks fairly normal to me. Just clumps of yeast floating about.

[SiHoltye]

That's what I get too. I use S-04.

[Duncndisorderly]

I have a Sherwood IPA in the FV at the moment which has been in for 8 days now and it looks almost identical to this, Its nice to know its not only me who was worrying needlesslyabout this kinda thing

[yeasty]

Thanks for all the replies.

It has cleared slightly but the small lumps are still there. I think I will go with mysterio's tip and tie some gauze over the end of the siphon. I will be bottling tomorrow.

I will make sure I rehydrate the yeast on my next brew to avoid any lumps. There's always the chance that I didn't aerated enough as well so I will stir a bit harder next time.

Next seems like the hardest bit... waiting!

[J_P]

I think I will go with mysterio's tip and tie some gauze over the end of the siphon. I will be bottling tomorrow.

I could be teaching my granny to suck eggs here but don't forget to sanitise the gauze and whatever you fasten it on with before it goes near the beer

[mooj]

I may be on my own here but those bits looks more like trub than yeast to me. Either way nothing to worry about really. As Sparky Paul says, you won't find much if any gets in the bottles. I've had the odd few bits of trub get through into the bottle before and noticed no off tastes in the beer, any floaters eventually sink too. I've tried gauze before, a lot of faff, especially if it gets clogged.

Next time you ferment look at the first krausen that forms, if it has a dark crust that sits on top it's likely to be trub. You can skim it with a sterilised slotted spoon if you like, sometimes I do this but usually I don't bother.

[Doughboy]

this may sound a bit odd...but, speaking from experience, when did you add the DME ?....only years ago, when i first tried DME, i was slightly confused when i needed to add it - and added it once i had actualy topped the FV up with cold water on top of the wort

as i sprinkled it on, it formed into lumps of what i could only describe as "toffee" it was that hard!...and had loads of floaty chunks of the stuff...
Some (heavier bigger chunks) sank if i recalled...it was 20 years ago when i was 15 years old !..
From that point, i instantly realised that if i added it to the hot mixture before the cold water top-up to 40 pints, i was able to disolve it..lol.
It clumps together under cold temp unlike sugar....

a long shot of an explanation and probably up the wrong alley but - i guess someone had to come out with it!. lol

Doughie.