Is this normal?

[Kimbo]

the top pic is of my Beez Neez clone, looks pretty normal.
the bottom pic is of my Becks clone, you can see the yeast on top of the hops bag and it all looks pretty funky.
Is this a horrible infection or will it settle to the bottom and be fine?

2012-05-16 20.12.19.jpg

2012-05-16 20.11.29.jpg

[Sam.]

I would say its just some of the hop residue escaping the bag and making it look worse than it is. Usually if its fucked it will look a lot worse than that.

What sort of hops did you use pellet, flower, plug etc?

I would just let it go and when the ferment is complete pull the bag out and let the rest of the shit settle down, then bottle/keg. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Kimbo]

What sort of hops did you use pellet, flower, plug etc?

Cheers for that,
the hops was in a big Teabag, I've never done one of these before(with the hops that is)so i was getting worried coz the other has a hops bag in it also, they both smell o.k. tho.

[crow]

Have you actually tasted Becks pretty funky and horrid yep I'd say all systems normal :handgestures-thumbupleft: . My Granny is of Prussian decent and loves most things Germanic , she called Becks fuchs gift eng. fox poison

[cdbrown]

They both look nice and healthy to me. You should see the black IPA I have brewing, the top is a cake of hop debris which I hope has settled before kegging.

Next time get rid of the tea bag and buy the hops in a 90g pack saving some money.

[maheel]

yeah i just throw the hop pellets in loose when dryhopping

you could have also tied a stainless spoon or something to the hop bag to sink it

if your worried, when you take a SG / FG sample taste it to see what you reckon

[Kimbo]

yeah i just throw the hop pellets in loose when dryhopping

you could have also tied a stainless spoon or something to the hop bag to sink it

if your worried, when you take a SG / FG sample taste it to see what you reckon

Thanks Fellas,
cant remember what the SG was (1020 i think), its at 1012 now, FG supposed to be 1010 ;-)

[Sam.]

Is that a typo? 1020 sg will be a fairly weak beer

[cdbrown]

Is that a typo? 1020 sg will be a fairly weak beer

Only if the SG and OG are the same. SG could have been taken 5 days into the ferment and nearly done.

Smell and taste of a sample is the best way to tell if there's an infection.

1.012 - let it warm a little for a couple more days to help the yeasties clean up.

[Kimbo]

Is that a typo? 1020 sg will be a fairly weak beer

Only if the SG and OG are the same. SG could have been taken 5 days into the ferment and nearly done.

Smell and taste of a sample is the best way to tell if there's an infection.

1.012 - let it warm a little for a couple more days to help the yeasties clean up.

Dunno, i cant really remember, maybe it was 1040??

[SBB]

Glad none of my washes look like that :ymsick:

[cdbrown]

1.040 to 1010 is only 4% which when I was doing kits seemed about right despite what the instructions said it would be.

That foam (krausen) on top shows good healthy reproduction and growth of normal ale yeast. I was extremely suprised and a bit worried when I didn't see anything sitting on the top of the wash. Effervescent bubbling is not what I'm used to.

[Frank]

Hey Kimbo
+1 re the taste and smell it advice......at the end of the day (and a bit of practice) you'll know then if it is going ok :handgestures-thumbupleft:
(although the open ferment Belgian type 'beers' for example often smell like its all gone wrong)

[crow]

(although the open ferment Belgian type 'beers' for example often smell like its all gone wrong)

True but the best I ever made was in open ferments and very often faster . I guess with these i was very aware of the need for sanity and sterilization but I never once had an infection and I can't make that claim for my sealed ferments. I had a coopers dark ale done in a ss crab cooker brew out in just over 2 days , bottled on the 3rd day and it was the best kit beer by far I ever made . Hey you fella's doing beer I have an old leather recipe book at home with some really nice old German beer recipes in it if ppl are interested I can look for it next time I'm home : results I got were incontinent sometime fantastic sometimes iffy but I was a bit rough back in the days of copper wash troughs and mums old stockings

[SBB]

results I got were incontinent

:o Bugger that Im staying away from it then.

[crow]

:laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: No i don't piss in it I'm barely literate and spellchecker shafts me at every turn :teasing-tease: "inconsistent" just see how much editing is on most of my posts :roll:

[Kimbo]

Cheers Fellas,
I'll report back after i've tasted it ;-)
Oh! i forgot to ask, those of you who bottle, do you bulk prime? if so , how much dex?
or do you use the drops?

[Sam.]

I use a little funnel and sugar with one of those (hate to say it) measures from the home brew shop, heaps cheaper fucking easier as well, if your going to bulk prime you need to transfer to another vessel which just increases the chance of infection/oxygenation then you got more shit to clean. :handgestures-thumbdown:

[Kimbo]

Yip, got me one of them lil scoops ;-)

[Sam.]

I assume the scoops are based on sugar? I have always used "castor sugar" which I have since found out is just finely crushed plain white sugar (sucrose).

I actually bottled a couple after kegging tonight with dex so I deliberately put a little more in. See how it turns out but I will say it is easier just to use sugar as it flows better in and out of the scoop and through the funnel, with the dex had to work for it, would have shit me off to bottle a whole batch using it.