Newbie Question

[fidcastro]

I am brewing my second batch of beer now, but I am afraid something has gone wrong. I brewed today, and just put my beer in the primary fermenter, but I can see a very distinct separation in the bucket. The top 4/5 of the bucket looks very dark, like there is beer in there, but the bottom 1/5 looks clear (or at lot lighter).

Do I need to worry?:confused:

Fid

[Tom C]

It may be trub from the wort cooling down and sediment falling to the bottom of the fermentor. After active fermenation has ceased transfer t a secondary container to get the beer off of this an inactive yeast cells otherwise the beer may have some unwanted off flavors. The safest bet with beer is smell and taste. If they both pass your inspection the batch is fine. Remember.,....relax, have a home brew.

Tom C

[paul84043]

Yeah, don't sweat it, it's just the wort settling into layers. As soon as active fermentation kicks off, it will get mixed around like a milkshake for a week or so.
Wait for it to settle down, then transfer it to a secondary.

[Fast_Eddy]

Yeah, I third that...

It's probably just heavier particulate matter(hop pellets,proteins,etc) settling out. You can help limit this somewhat by using the "whirlpool" technique before racking from your cooled kettle to the primary.

[fidcastro]

Thank you all for your reassurance. I just transferred to a secondary today, and it is looking quite good. Now I have another question though: how do you sanitize your racking cane?

Fid

[toneyc]

Wall paper trays work well for full immersion sanitizing. What I do is put one end into a bucket full of bleach solution for a few minutes then invert it to sanitize the other end. Then rinse well.

:)
Toney.

[mmmBeer...]

When botteling I use my laudry tub and soak it with the bottles.

For transfer to secondary, I let it sit in the carboy full of sanatizer then syphon the solution into another carboy, then use.

This is one reason I like the StarSan no rinse sanatizer, it only takes 2 minutes to work and I don't have to rinse or worry about bleaching out my clothes!

[b3s]

i use iodophor and my bottling bucket. load all the gear in there, pull the stuff out, then (if bottling) i do bottles. since about 2/3 of my beer goes into tap-a-draft bottles, i then drain the solution into my 6L PET bottles and let the rest run off.

[Beerconnoisseur]

Here are my $0.02, Texan:

To really get the best separation of the trub, there are a few steps you should take:

1) Use Irish Moss, and/or Whirlfloc tablets. These will attach to loose proteins in your wort, and cause them to settle to the bottom of your brew kettle.

2) Use a wort chiller to cool your wort down quicker. The cold break will help precipitate hops matter and undissolved malt extract (I'm assuming this is what you're using), but one of the major bonuses is that it will also lower the temperature out of the 100 - 140 degree F range, where beer spoiling bacteria can thrive. It also takes less time for the beer to cool down.

3) Get a good kettle, with a spigot slightly raised from the bottom of the kettle. The advantage of having the spigot slightly raised is that the solids will settle above the outflow level, and you can use gravity/tubing to transfer from kettle to fermenter, without having to siphon at all.

These pieces of equipment may be found at Morebeer's (http://www.morebeer.com) web site. I'd also get a kettle w/ handles, since you can tie off hop bags, which is kind of nice.

BTW, I've never had layers form in my beer, or had to transfer to a secondary fermenter. But, since I am on the subject, I would recommend a glass fermenter over a plastic fermenter (which can leak oxygen, and give beer a cardboard taste). I'd also recommend an iodophor sanitizer over chlorine, since it generally won't transfer off flavors to your beer as easily if you don't rinse thoroughly.

The other tool I would get is Fermtech's Auto Siphon (http://www.northernbrewer.com/siphon.html). This really is the best way to transfer to a bottling bucket that I've found. To see this puppy in action is almost better than sex, really! :p

[fuji6100]

I would recommend a glass fermenter over a plastic fermenter (which can leak oxygen, and give beer a cardboard taste).

While it is generally agreed that glass carboys are preferred over plastic fermenting buckets for many reasons, I still fail to see why people think that oxygen is going to absorb into it. A lot of homebrewers use buckets quite successfully, and besides having to replace them every year or so, they are very cheap compared to carboys. I can get food grade buckets at a resturant supply store near here for $3. Also, during fermentation, the beer is constantly puttint off C02, which is heavier than air. With the constant "out" pressure of the C02, combined with the fact that it "blankets" over the beer even once fermentation has slowed, I HIGHLY doubt that you are going to get the wet cardboard taste from using plastic over glass. Heck, you would get 1000% more Oxygen contact from transferring to your bottling bucket than would ever wander into the bucket.

Just my 2 cents. Carboys can be nice but you dont HAVE to have them to make good beer. I got a carboy recently, and while it was fun to watch, it was a pain in the ass to clean and I plan on using buckets for all my quicker fermenting batches, and save the carboy for barleywines, stouts, and bocks.

[Fast_Eddy]

I'm gonna kick in with Fuji here...

Many breweries use open fermenters - the CO2 and the krauesen protect the beer. I've brewed many, many batches using plastic as the primary with no oxidized tastes at all.

[Beerconnoisseur]

I would recommend a glass fermenter over a plastic fermenter (which can leak oxygen, and give beer a cardboard taste).

I knew I read this somewhere, so I went back and looked it up.
From The Brewmaster's Bible, by Stephen Snyder (p.3):

"Although food-grade plastic, unlike glass, is porous enough to allow air to enter beer over an extended time, it is significantly cheaper and can confidently be used for the short period needed for a primary ferment."

(1997, Harper Collins)

So, while you might not experience oxidation for an ale (bottled promptly), it could be a factor if you let it sit for a while, or when fermenting a lager.

Nonetheless, I prefer a glass fermenter, since you can let an ale age (if you like Super Dry beer), and you'll probably need one anyway as a secondary fermenter for a lager. I currently am consuming some beers from batches that I left in glass fermenters for 45 days! :p While they'll never win an award in competition, and I usually don't make a habit of this, they are still quite drinkable.

Also, since carboys are <$30 from morebeer, you don't really save that much if it becomes a serious hobby. Check out the stainless steel conicals (with all the options) if you want sticker shock. Yikes!