Brown stuff

[Isaac]

I've just started a new brew (my fourth, supposed to be a Czech Pilsener of sorts) and after a slow start (I think I killed most of the yeast overdosing it with diammonium phosphate) it's bubbling through the airlock quite nicely.

Anyway, I keep getting this brown film on the top of my brew in the fermenter. The first time this happened, the airlock had also stopped bubbling so I threw the lot out - thinking that it had become infected rather badly.

Second time, I tried to rescue it - soaked a new sponge in some bleach and carefully wiped the top of the fermenter clean, and ladled off the brown stuff floating on top. Turned out to be a damned good brew.

So I was extra careful with sanitising everything - used plenty of bleach and scrubbed everything quite well. The airlock has just started bubbling continuously and now I've got that brown stuff showing through again. Is it normal? Should I be doing something different?

[Isaac]

Hmm...

Opened up the fermenter to see what was happening. Everything was spotless, except the brown stuff, which actually was a shade of green.

Just like the hops I put in. Turns out the strainer didn't catch it all on its way in. False alarm

[Gough]

Isaac,

The 'brown stuff' is generally OK. Your beer when fermenting produces what is called a krausen - a foamy kind of layer on top of your brew that builds right up and then dies away as the fermentation completes. It leaves a cruddy ring around your fermenter which tastes TRULY disgusting (trust me ). This has all sorts of stuff in it, dead yeasty bits, hop bits, hop oils, you name it and is perfectly normal. Some brews produce heaps of it, some hardly any. Your beer will not be hurt by it unless I'm misunderstanding and you are talking about some weird infection... but I don't think so. In my experience, never throw a brew away unless it tastes and smells genuinely infected after fermentation has completely finished. It is harder to completely bugger up than you might think.

Good luck,

Gough.

[Dogger Dan]

It sounds awesome to me, drive on and enjoy.

Watch out about clogging the air lock though, you only need it to blow once (leave it until the yeast cap drops in the primary)

[Guest]

quote: ... "It leaves a cruddy ring around your fermenter which tastes TRULY disgusting (trust me )."

I thought I was bad taking a small sip from the test jar when I check the SG.

[Isaac]

I thought I was bad taking a small sip from the test jar when I check the SG.

I *always* drink my SG checks - at least towards the end of the fermentation anyway. Half an hour in the fridge, it's a little flat, and it can taste a little weird, but why waste good beer?

[Gough]

Awww c'mon we're all big boys here... I always drink my SG samples (straight up, no fridge time...) and yes, in the interest of science I tasted the 'crud' on the side of the fermenter... Hell, I brewed it I want to taste it! I'm putting down my second all grain brew in the morning so wish me luck...

Shawn.

[Dogger Dan]

Hey Gough,

You should be sampling that all grain by now, how did it turn out? Sorry man, I still can't lick out the primary and my all grain with the top fermenting yeast is questionable with regards to licking it out in the secondary. Hope it drops


Dogger