Pliny Clone Oxidized?

[Brewer #450121]

Help! My Pliny clone has changed colors after 3 weeks. Is it oxidized??

 

[J A]

Part of it is just the yeast dropping out but that's pretty dark.
I'm curious why it's still in a fermenter after 3 weeks. A beer like that should be dry-hopped as soon as it's at FG and packaged as soon as it's possible to do so.

 

[Brewer #450121]

Thanks. Took 12 days to reach FG, Let sit 4 days to cleanup and 3 day cold crash.

 

[J A]

Thanks. Took 12 days to reach FG, Let sit 4 days to cleanup and 3 day cold crash.

Dang! 12 days is a lot but if it didn't finish sooner, it didn't. Totally depending on whether you were able to dry-hop without introducing much O2, it may have some oxidation but there's not much you can do at this point. Package asap and get to drinking it!

 

[Craigerrr]

I doubt it is oxidized, unless you have opened the fermenter and blown in some air.
Give it a taste when you are going to bottle/keg it. If it doesn't taste like cardboard it is probably fine.
For dry hopping... I have some brews that get a pretty heavy dry hop. I do add the hops while there is still a little bit of activity, but I do open the lid and just dump them in. I have never had a batch get oxidized. I've done lots of other dumb shit though

 

[Brewer #450121]

Thank you. Good news is I didn't have to open the fermentor to dry hop. Will see how it goes

 

[Craigerrr]

Thank you. Good news is I didn't have to open the fermentor to dry hop. Will see how it goes

I find that they always look darker in the fermenter than they really are.

 

[Sandy Feet]

Unless it is a dark lager LOL.

 

[kblankenship11]

Definitely not oxidized. Yeast will drift up into suspension in the beer during fermentation due to Co2 bubbles and yeast activity - which is what the white hue is you saw during fermentation. When it's done with its job or the environment has become too toxic (no o2 or too much alcohol), the yeast will drop to the bottom of the fermenter and go to sleep or die, which is what you see in the darker beer. Totally normal.

General advice; don't fuss with the beer until you see it in the darker state you see and bubbles in the airlock have stopped. There is huge debate on when to add dry-hops, do what works with your schedule, just don't leave them in longer than the recipe states (this will give you vegetal/grassy flavors).

Another note is don't worry how long fermentation takes - the yeast will work at the pace it wants depending on temperature and strain. I recently brewed a cream ale with WLP001 (common for Pliny) and it took almost 18 days to reach true FG. It looks like you have a temperature control setup, to me, a tilt and Brewers Friend are THE BEST investment you can make. Wait til the gravity flattens out and keg/bottle when time permits for you.

Cheers!

 

[Sandy Feet]

If you are kegging and doing a substantial dry hop or a bunch of late additions, invest in a floating dip tube as well before you learn the hard way. I wonder how I know this

 

[Brew Cat]

that looks pretty dark for 3 weeks IMO
after three weeks it should be pretty close to your color
hows the taste?

 

[Brewer #450121]

Definitely not oxidized. Yeast will drift up into suspension in the beer during fermentation due to Co2 bubbles and yeast activity - which is what the white hue is you saw during fermentation. When it's done with its job or the environment has become too toxic (no o2 or too much alcohol), the yeast will drop to the bottom of the fermenter and go to sleep or die, which is what you see in the darker beer. Totally normal.

General advice; don't fuss with the beer until you see it in the darker state you see and bubbles in the airlock have stopped. There is huge debate on when to add dry-hops, do what works with your schedule, just don't leave them in longer than the recipe states (this will give you vegetal/grassy flavors).

Another note is don't worry how long fermentation takes - the yeast will work at the pace it wants depending on temperature and strain. I recently brewed a cream ale with WLP001 (common for Pliny) and it took almost 18 days to reach true FG. It looks like you have a temperature control setup, to me, a tilt and Brewers Friend are THE BEST investment you can make. Wait til the gravity flattens out and keg/bottle when time permits for you.

Cheers!
View attachment 33719

Great info thanks