What’s going on here?

illingwd

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This is what I saw having dry hopped. Are the big lumps just clumps of yeast? There seem to be a lot of them throughout the beer. The yeast in question is Mangrove Jacks Liberty Bell, fermenting at 18-19C.

IMG_1688.jpg
 
Yes smells and tastes normal. I’ve brewed this recipe before and had quite a bit of break but not lots of krausen in fermenter. That said I was using west coast yeast that time.
 
It's fine. Close your bucket before you let in all the wild stuff in your brewing area and it really does go bad. :D :D :D
 
Crash cooling the beer will help to drop the hops and yeast to the bottom. cO2 will keep a lot of debris floating. By cooling the beer, you will force the cO2 into dissolving into solution, then there is nothing to keep the hops in suspension. It’s one of the most effective ways of clearing beer. If you keep opening the fermenter you risk oxidation of the beer. That can wreck a lot of hard work.
 
what's weird is I've had all kinds of goodies on top worse than that even had a terrible smelling batch and all turned out good. I see hops floating that causes all kinds of oil and some oxygen as well
 
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Crash cooling the beer will help to drop the hops and yeast to the bottom. cO2 will keep a lot of debris floating. By cooling the beer, you will force the cO2 into dissolving into solution, then there is nothing to keep the hops in suspension. It’s one of the most effective ways of clearing beer. If you keep opening the fermenter you risk oxidation of the beer. That can wreck a lot of hard work.

I’ve only cold crashed once before and got very confused about whether and how to adjust the amount of priming sugar for bottle conditioning. Is it correct I need to reduce the amount of sugar if the beer is at a lower temperature?
 
Saison yeast are low floculators so probably just hangin out at the top of the fermenter. I second the chill down thatll get them to drop.
 
I’ve only cold crashed once before and got very confused about whether and how to adjust the amount of priming sugar for bottle conditioning. Is it correct I need to reduce the amount of sugar if the beer is at a lower temperature?

Yes the co2 will stay in suspension and it will take less sugar. Thought I saw a chart for this but can't remember where. o_O
 
I’ve only cold crashed once before and got very confused about whether and how to adjust the amount of priming sugar for bottle conditioning. Is it correct I need to reduce the amount of sugar if the beer is at a lower temperature?
No...don't adjust the priming sugar amount down. Use the highest temperature at which your beer fermented. Subsequent chilling doesn't matter. If your beer never got above 55 degrees, as in a lager-fermented style, you'd use 55 degrees. If it's an ale fermented at 68, that's the temp to consider, even though either one of those beers may have been cooled to below 40 degrees for clearing or lagering.
 
I learned this the hard way, I scaled back the priming sugar on my coffee porter as I cold crashed it at around 34F. It ended up undercarbed, but uit worked out okay in this case as it ended up with the mouth feel of a guinness.
 
No...don't adjust the priming sugar amount down. Use the highest temperature at which your beer fermented. Subsequent chilling doesn't matter. If your beer never got above 55 degrees, as in a lager-fermented style, you'd use 55 degrees. If it's an ale fermented at 68, that's the temp to consider, even though either one of those beers may have been cooled to below 40 degrees for clearing or lagering.
Agreed. The amount of CO2 left in the beer is relatively low anyway. Priming sugar amounts are good estimates for a target carbonation level, but they're not super precise. The bigger problem is usually the beer still hasn't hit it terminal gravity and when you put more sugar in, you get a overcarb'ed beer.
 
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Agreed. The amount of CO2 left in the beer is relatively low anyway. Priming sugar amounts are good estimates for a target carbonation level, but they're not super precise. The bigger problem is usually the beer still hasn't hit it terminal gravity and when you put more sugar in, you get a overcarb'ed beer.
Not really. At a maximum temperature of about 65 degrees, the beer has one volume of CO2 in it already! There are tables out there that will tell you where you're starting, as well as a formula or two. As you mention, I get wildly varying results from priming calculators so I've taken to writing the max temperature a beer received on a piece of tape attached to the carboy.
 
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Not really. At a maximum temperature of about 65 degrees, the beer has one volume of CO2 in it already! There are tables out there that will tell you where you're starting, as well as a formula or two. As you mention, I get wildly varying results from priming calculators so I've taken to writing the max temperature a beer received on a piece of tape attached to the carboy.
I get your point. I guess the question would be, how long has it been setting at that temp? What is the mouth feel like?

I would assume that if it's at zero pressure (equal to the ambient atmospheric pressure) it would continue to de-gas, which at some point it would stop, leaving a small amount of CO2 in solution. At that point the calculators would have take that into consideration no matter what. You would have to raise the temperature pretty high to completely remove all CO2. So the calculators are just good guesses. I wouldn't worry too much about accuracy of the calculators, there is a pretty big target when it comes to carbonation of beer, it's not very precise.

If a beer sat for 3-5 days after fermentation was complete at 65-70F, I would take the calculators at face value.
 
I get your point. I guess the question would be, how long has it been setting at that temp? What is the mouth feel like?

I would assume that if it's at zero pressure (equal to the ambient atmospheric pressure) it would continue to de-gas, which at some point it would stop, leaving a small amount of CO2 in solution. At that point the calculators would have take that into consideration no matter what. You would have to raise the temperature pretty high to completely remove all CO2. So the calculators are just good guesses. I wouldn't worry too much about accuracy of the calculators, there is a pretty big target when it comes to carbonation of beer, it's not very precise.

If a beer sat for 3-5 days after fermentation was complete at 65-70F, I would take the calculators at face value.
It doesn't take long. You warm a solution of CO2 (read beer), the gas will "precipitate" pretty quickly and form bubbles. As mentioned, there are tables that tell how much CO2 is left in a beer at standard pressure at a given temperature. Carbon dioxide is much more soluble in water than air but to see how fast the gas precipitates, watch as you heat water and see how quickly bubbles of air start to form. So always calculate carbonation at the highest temperature the beer reached after fermentation was complete.
 
So always calculate carbonation at the highest temperature the beer reached after fermentation was complete.
Yes...That. ;)
For just about any beer that most of us do, that temp is going to be at least 68 or so. Even when we do cooler fermentation on lagers, most of us will do a diacetyl rest that puts the beer into that range. The difference between the amount of priming sugar based on a 68 degree temperature and a 75 degree temperature is .1 volume of CO2 - probably not noticeable. If you use a temperature of 36 degrees to calculate sugar amount but your beer has lost it's CO2 at 68 degrees, you're looking at closer to 1 volume of CO2 less than you need. That'll be pretty flat, comparatively.
Just assume room temp if it's standard brewing procedure, including cold crash after fermentation, and you'll end up with nicely carbed beer. :)
 
Thanks all, helpful advice as always! I'll cold crash for 48hrs or so and then bottle up as normal.
 
An assumption of 68 or 70 degrees as a max temperature is likely a good one, just keep records and adjust as needed. The important thing is to remember it isn't the temperature at bottling that matters, but the maximum temperature the beer achieved. I'd go with 70 because if you're fermenting without temperature control or temperature control of the ambient temperature (not the actual beer temperature) it will be warmer than your fermentation temperature due to the heat the yeast generate during fermentation.
 

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