Is beer sitting in a fermenter for months have layers

[Dogwood]

Arrrgh, what horrible use of words in the title! Was supposed to say does beer stratify! I am kegging my Unfiltered and Unapologetic stout, 15.5 gallons and Amber waves of grain, 10.5 gallons this afternoon. Does the beer need to be stirred pre kegging? Seems like the differant grains could layer or maybe not? What say you!

 

[Sunfire96]

Arrrgh, what horrible use of words in the title! Was supposed to say does beer stratify! I am kegging my Unfiltered and Unapologetic stout, 15.5 gallons and Amber waves of grain, 10.5 gallons this afternoon. Does the beer need to be stirred pre kegging? Seems like the differant grains could layer or maybe not? What say you!

No need to stir, just gently transfer without splashing

 

[GFHomebrew]

I don't stir transfer should stir it enough.
The fermentor will stratify or there wouldn't be brewers using floating dip tubes to draw the clear beer.

I also accidentily froze a shady Bohemian sorry @Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews
You could clearly see that the end beer was a lite redish beer I'd say 2% abv a totally different beer from the flavourfull pre freeze beer.

Temp probes in a different position now

 

[Minbari]

I may stratify, but the beer you want to keep will be nearer the top lol.

If you stir it up, you will have to transfer and wait a week for all the trub to fall back out.

 

[Minbari]

I don't stir transfer should stir it enough.
The fermentor will stratify or there wouldn't be brewers using floating dip tubes to draw the clear beer.

I also accidentily froze a shady Bohemian sorry @Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews
You could clearly see that the end beer was a lite redish beer I'd say 2% abv a totally different beer from the flavourfull pre freeze beer.

Temp probes in a different position now

No kidding! My glycol chiller will be 40°F at the top and 28 at the bottom. Only 18" deep

 

[Mark Farrall]

How long has it been aging? If it's multiple months a decent amount of yeast will have dropped out and bottle conditioning your beer can be slower than you hoped. Though I wouldn't stir it up to fix that problem. I'd either be patient or add a little dry yeast to the bottling process.

 

[Nosybear]

Arrrgh, what horrible use of words in the title! Was supposed to say does beer stratify! I am kegging my Unfiltered and Unapologetic stout, 15.5 gallons and Amber waves of grain, 10.5 gallons this afternoon. Does the beer need to be stirred pre kegging? Seems like the differant grains could layer or maybe not? What say you!

It doesn't. Anything insoluble will settle out but everything else will remain mixed.

 

[J A]

Definitely don't stir! If it has been sitting for months it will have a dense layer of dead yeast at the bottom. That yeast can add a very bad flavor to your beer. Very carefully siphon only clear beer and leave a couple of inches in the bottom of the fermenter.
For the future, anything over a few weeks is too long to leave beer in the primary fermentation vessel. If you intend to condition the beer longer, transfer to secondary and leave the original yeast trub behind.

 

[Dogwood]

Definitely don't stir! If it has been sitting for months it will have a dense layer of dead yeast at the bottom. That yeast can add a very bad flavor to your beer. Very carefully siphon only clear beer and leave a couple of inches in the bottom of the fermenter.
For the future, anything over a few weeks is too long to leave beer in the primary fermentation vessel. If you intend to condition the beer longer, transfer to secondary and leave the original yeast trub behind.

I have a conical fermenter, I thought it could stay for the whole fermentation and aging? I also have two 15 gal secondarys, where I transfer to when fermentation is done but fermentation goes on for quite a while on the big stouts I make!

 

[Sunfire96]

I have a conical fermenter, I thought it could stay for the whole fermentation and aging? I also have two 15 gal secondarys, where I transfer to when fermentation is done but fermentation goes on for quite a while on the big stouts I make!

Is there a yeast trub dump on your conical? If you can dump the yeast out, then you could age it as long as you'd like (within reason of course )

 

[J A]

I have a conical fermenter, I thought it could stay for the whole fermentation and aging? I also have two 15 gal secondarys, where I transfer to when fermentation is done but fermentation goes on for quite a while on the big stouts I make!

If you have a conical it's perfect for aging, but you have to dump the yeast after the first few weeks. Otherwise you can get off flavors from autolysis. If you have a beer that's still dropping in gravity after 4 weeks (after the yeast has done all it can), it's probably doing so because of action from lactobacillus or Brett yeast. A big stout can handle this but other beers will suffer.

 

[Dogwood]

If you have a conical it's perfect for aging, but you have to dump the yeast after the first few weeks. Otherwise you can get off flavors from autolysis. If you have a beer that's still dropping in gravity after 4 weeks (after the yeast has done all it can), it's probably doing so because of action from lactobacillus or Brett yeast. A big stout can handle this but other beers will suffer.

First time I have heard this! Lots of beer lost if the yeast beta dumped! Got both the amber and stout kegged, perhaps the best two beers I have brewed!!time to vet another in the fermenter!!

 

[J A]

First time I have heard this! Lots of beer lost if the yeast beta dumped!

Conicals are designed to remove yeast trub that has settled into the bottom without losing much beer. If you're harvesting yeast and losing a lot of beer, you may be doing it wrong.

 

[Dogwood]

Conicals are designed to remove yeast trub that has settled into the bottom without losing much beer. If you're harvesting yeast and losing a lot of beer, you may be doing it wrong.

Brewing a 15 gal batch of high gravity makes a lot of yeast and the bottom of the conical where the yeast falls fills up to my racking tube. If I harvest the yeast,leaves a lot of beer that works t get used? Avery bad situation! My Raykovich king tube does have a bend in it so I can rotate it but still much beer to waste!

 

[J A]

Brewing a 15 gal batch of high gravity makes a lot of yeast and the bottom of the conical where the yeast falls fills up to my racking tube. If I harvest the yeast,leaves a lot of beer that works t get used? Avery bad situation! My Raykovich king tube does have a bend in it so I can rotate it but still much beer to waste!

Well, yeah...a lot of yeast drops into the conical section and often fills up to the racking tube. Most brewers dump as much yeast as possible and there's still a fair amount in the bottom when everything settles before final racking. By rotating the racking tube neck downward you can get beer off the bottom pretty much right to the top of the trub.
When I'm done racking from my half-barrel, I'll dump a final 2-3 quarts of trub-heavy semi liquid. There's nothing left that I'd put in a keg or bottle.
It's all in using the proper procedure.