Weird behavior of APA brew

[MarkB38]

Maybe someone can shed some light on this weird behavior of my APA fermentation. I modified the "Fruit Salad APA" recipe, and used 11g package of Safale US-05 (rather than use the 7g sachet that came with the kit - didn't want to under pitch):

 

1.7kg Australian Pale Ale beer kit

1kg BE2

500g Light Dry Malt

28g Cascade hop pellets (in a hop tea)

Filled to 21L

11g US-05 pitched at 22 degrees

 

Started the batch October 24th. O.G. was 1048, but should be corrected to 1051 due to hydrometer "recalibration" and wort temperature. This appears consistent with Ian's spreadsheet.

 

After about 36 hours, I could see lots of fermentation activity. There was some foam on the surface, but not nearly as much as other brews I've done. But I could see lots of activity swirling around the FV. I really expected a lot more foam. This was my first use of US-05 (and it was a pretty fresh package).

 

It's been 17 days, and the SG is now about 1007, corrected to 1010. I've been leaving it, waiting for it to clear up. It was very cloudy, with a little foam still on top. The foam is finally gone, and it appears to be clearing up, but now I see something weird - looks like little round white pieces of stuff float to the top, stay a while, break up and fall back.

 

Has anyone ever seen anything similar?

 

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

A pic would make it easier to determine what it is.

 

Have you tasted it?... what did it taste like?

 

I would hazard a guess and say it still sounds ok to me but you can't rule out that it isn't. A taste test will determine if it is ok or not.

[Alex]

Maybe Hops that escaped the filtered pour into the FV. I have seen similar abnormalities in my hopped wheat.

[LordEoin]

I had something similar in a brew. it ended up just being some clumps of bubbles but looked more solid through the FV lid.

Not sure itf it's the same thing, but pour yourself a small glass of the beer, give it a good sniffing and drink it. You'll know soon enough if it's ok.

And if not, at least you'll make your immune system a little stronger [biggrin]

[Muddy Waters]

On occasion I have had some very weird looking stuff sitting atop my wort but it has never amounted to anything negative.

 

Like Bill and the gang said - Taste and smell will give you a good indication if anything is wrong [cool]

[PhilboBaggins]

I use US-05 regularly and I pretty much always get those floaties. I don't think they're hops, but I'm damn sure they're nothing to worry about, as some of my best brews have had notes in the diary regarding "beer dandruff" on the surface of the wort.

 

Now that my fridge is set up I'll probably be CC'ing the hell out of it so I may not have the floaties anymore. [biggrin]

 

Taste it. If it tastes like beer, it is beer.

[Guest]

Taste it. If it tastes like beer' date=' it is beer.[/quote']

and if it tastes like steak and chips then it's probably best to have it for Dinner/Tea [pouty]

[PhilboBaggins]

and if it tastes like steak and chips then it's probably best to have it for Dinner/Tea [pouty]

 

Loving the level of comedy on the forum this morning![lol]

[MarkB38]

Thanks everyone. The beer tastes just fine, and I was eager to bottle it. Just wanted it to clear up a bit more. These doen't look like those floaties like I got when I dry hopped my last IPA. More like tiny balls of trub that float to the surface on a bubble, sit there for no more than a minute, break up/dissolve and fall back down. I wonder if there might still be a little fermentation still occurring? Guess I'll give it another day or two.

 

[Guest]

Its likely to be pockets of gas making their way out of the trub bringing a little bit of yeast with it. I've often seen this behaviour when bringing rinsed yeast up to temp from the fridge

[Guest]

I doubt after 18 days fermentation is still occurring. Nevertheless, take a hydrometer reading as it is the only way to tell for certain that it has stopped.