Excess Debris Durring Fermentation?

[Tweek]

I COULD flip through endless forum threads looking for someone with a similar topic or I could just ask so I'll go with the latter...

I am currently brewing an English Brown Ale styled beer. I brewed a week ago yesterday. Tonight I took a gravity reading as my bubbler seems to have slowed down significantly and I have decided to rack into secondary tomorrow.

What I'm concerned about is the amount of debris at the bottom of my fermenter. Call me stupid but this is the 5th brew I have made. I have a good inch of trube on the bottom of the fermenter and quite a bit floating around my sample that I pulled for a gravity reading... including a nice disgusting chunk. Is this normal? I shudder to think what it would be like should I skip secondary and go directly to bottling...

I have been faithfully using Irish Moss as my clarifying agent all this time... should I try something different? Do you recommend filtering my beer into secondary maybe through a cheese cloth? Am I making a big deal about nothing and just worrying too much about my precious beer?

So let me know what you guys think and if you got any tricks to keeping floating debris down in future brews.
Thank you

[brewerTristan]

The first thing that struck me is that perhaps you are using an English ale yeast. They tend to floc out in big chunks.

[Bugeater]

Floating chunks of yeast are quite common with some yeasts. Different strains drop out at different rates. Some English strains drop out quite quickly once fermentation stops. The fact your yeast clumps are still floating around means there is still a little CO2 being produced and the bubbles are keeping them afloat.

You beer has only been in the fermenter for a week. You should really let it sit for another 5-7 days before doing anything. By then your beer should drop to nearly clear. Don't rush moving it to secondary. The yeast needs time to clear up esters it produced during the initial stages of fermentation even though actual fermentation has stopped and you have already reached your target final gravity.

An inch of trub in the bottom of your fermenter is perfectly normal. Don't worry about it at all.

Wayne

[Mylo]

You beer has only been in the fermenter for a week. You should really let it sit for another 5-7 days before doing anything. By then your beer should drop to nearly clear. Don't rush moving it to secondary. The yeast needs time to clear up esters it produced during the initial stages of fermentation even though actual fermentation has stopped and you have already reached your target final gravity.

An inch of trub in the bottom of your fermenter is perfectly normal. Don't worry about it at all.

Wayne

+1000

The man speaks the truth. Yeast work on their schedule, not yours. Let them do their job and stop shuffling beer around too quickly. You will make better beer if you are patient.


Mylo

[Tweek]

Thanks...
What kind of gravity reading do you think I should be looking for? My starting was 1.058 and currently I am at 1.018. I just get afraid of letting spent yeast sit for too long I dont want any off flavors from autolysus or however its spelled. Basicly I want to avoid rubbery flavored canibal yeast.

[jeffbones]

What was your recipe? I would think your FG should drop 4 or 5 more points, but that depends on what your recipe was.
Your yeast aren't going to do anything bad in the primary as long as you keep them in the ale fermentation temps. I keep all my ale in the primary usually 14 days, haven't tasted any off flavors yet.

[Bugeater]

I just get afraid of letting spent yeast sit for too long I dont want any off flavors from autolysus or however its spelled.

Fears of autolysis are overblown. I commonly leave my beers in primary for 3-4 weeks, skipping secondary altogether and still win medals in competitions. If you were leaving the beer on the yeast for 6-8 weeks then you would have reason to worry.

Wayne

[Tweek]

Wayne, I could hug you.... and everyone in this thread... you guys are a constant reminder of why this forum and this radio show is 1000000 times better than any of the library full of brewing books I keep (usually in my bathroom... tmi)
Every book I own talks about autolisus as if it were a flesh eating bacteria that EASILY develops in your brew. I get nervous because the though of dumping 5 gallons of something I have loved and pined over for weeks just makes me want to throw up.
Thanks again