Is my beer supposed to look like this?
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1977Brewer
Free Dan Hess.
Yes. Unless you wanted to drink it.
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need more info
prefermentation? postfermentation?
Why mason jars? I'm guessing bottling day with the corn sugar there, in which case it is pretty cloudy by my standards. And mason jars aren't safe for bottling. How long did you allow it to ferment? Original gravity and current gravity? Has the SG been stable for 3 days? Any attempt to cold crash or any other fining method?
prefermentation? postfermentation?
Why mason jars? I'm guessing bottling day with the corn sugar there, in which case it is pretty cloudy by my standards. And mason jars aren't safe for bottling. How long did you allow it to ferment? Original gravity and current gravity? Has the SG been stable for 3 days? Any attempt to cold crash or any other fining method?
SmokeyMcBong
Well-Known Member
put the lids and rings down and step away from the mason jars...
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Not necessarily, the pessimist in me says probably, but I have a couple thoughts of why you might be able to hold out some hope.
We need more information.
What was your original gravity, and what was your specific gravity tonight? Have you taken any other gravity measurements? This will give us an idea if you've achieved a reasonable attenuation level or if there's still a lot of sugar left to ferment. This is the most important, nothing else I wrote below matters until you answer this question
How long did you allow it to ferment? Did you use a secondary or only a primary? If secondary how long before you transferred it?
How clear would you say it is? To me it looks pretty turbid in the pictures (here's your ray of hope IMO, if fermentation isn't complete and less flocculant yeast is still in suspension it may be able to finish fermetation).
And what size are those mason jars? If they are 1/2 gallons and quarts you have about 5 gallons of beer that, if quarts and pints it's not enough beer that I'd bother trying to salvage.
Based on your forum join date and the image you provided I've got some deductions (I apologize in advance, I'm really good at coming off as an ass when I don't mean too and really bad at coming off as helpful when I'm trying to be, but there's a lot of people here who are happy to help). New brewer with a kit beer with directions that say to ferment in primary for 1 or 2 weeks then to bottle? Those directions generally suck. The beer in mason jars to me looks like it's not ready, but cameras can play tricks on us.
But if you have a little over 5 gallons there, and if the gravity numbers suggest it isn't finished, and if you use a bucket or some other vessel where you can carefully pour the beer back to complete (you want minimal disturbance/oxygen introduction). If you are using a carboy there is no real way to pour carefully, and siphoning 18 or so different mason jars doesn't seem worth the effort. Oxygen/oxidation is your biggest enemy here. Also if it's only 2.5 gallons or so it doesn't seem worth the effort. Get it warm (low 70s, this is terrible advice in normal conditions but you likely left a lot of yeast behind in the primary fermentation vessel) to get the yeast that is left active. In the mean time drink a couple of cases of your favorite non-twist-off variety of craft beers to rebottle this into and look at revvy's bottling tips thread in the bottling/kegging subforum. Mason jars aren't designed to hold positive pressure.
When I started typing this response it made me decide to go crack a bottle of golden strong that stalled out on me. I slowly ramped temps up on it and cannot figure out why it stalled, and after two months when I went to bottle it the beer was too sweet and cloudy like yours looks in the picture you attached. I ended up transferring it to secondary instead of bottling, adding some sucrose (situationally acceptable), and putting it next to my computer for some warmth for 3 months. Not terrible, but not a good beer as it is. I ended up bottling it instead of dumping it because: I have extra bottles, so it doesn't take up any space or prevent me from working on other beer, I invested a lot in this batch between time and money with a heavy grain bill, long boil, and long fermentation slowly raising temperatures, and under the weird sulfury flavor I'm getting there's something really promising. The costs of aging it to see what happens are pretty much non existent, otherwise I'd probably dump it. That's a decision nobody on this forum can make for you.
We need more information.
What was your original gravity, and what was your specific gravity tonight? Have you taken any other gravity measurements? This will give us an idea if you've achieved a reasonable attenuation level or if there's still a lot of sugar left to ferment. This is the most important, nothing else I wrote below matters until you answer this question
How long did you allow it to ferment? Did you use a secondary or only a primary? If secondary how long before you transferred it?
How clear would you say it is? To me it looks pretty turbid in the pictures (here's your ray of hope IMO, if fermentation isn't complete and less flocculant yeast is still in suspension it may be able to finish fermetation).
And what size are those mason jars? If they are 1/2 gallons and quarts you have about 5 gallons of beer that, if quarts and pints it's not enough beer that I'd bother trying to salvage.
Based on your forum join date and the image you provided I've got some deductions (I apologize in advance, I'm really good at coming off as an ass when I don't mean too and really bad at coming off as helpful when I'm trying to be, but there's a lot of people here who are happy to help). New brewer with a kit beer with directions that say to ferment in primary for 1 or 2 weeks then to bottle? Those directions generally suck. The beer in mason jars to me looks like it's not ready, but cameras can play tricks on us.
But if you have a little over 5 gallons there, and if the gravity numbers suggest it isn't finished, and if you use a bucket or some other vessel where you can carefully pour the beer back to complete (you want minimal disturbance/oxygen introduction). If you are using a carboy there is no real way to pour carefully, and siphoning 18 or so different mason jars doesn't seem worth the effort. Oxygen/oxidation is your biggest enemy here. Also if it's only 2.5 gallons or so it doesn't seem worth the effort. Get it warm (low 70s, this is terrible advice in normal conditions but you likely left a lot of yeast behind in the primary fermentation vessel) to get the yeast that is left active. In the mean time drink a couple of cases of your favorite non-twist-off variety of craft beers to rebottle this into and look at revvy's bottling tips thread in the bottling/kegging subforum. Mason jars aren't designed to hold positive pressure.
When I started typing this response it made me decide to go crack a bottle of golden strong that stalled out on me. I slowly ramped temps up on it and cannot figure out why it stalled, and after two months when I went to bottle it the beer was too sweet and cloudy like yours looks in the picture you attached. I ended up transferring it to secondary instead of bottling, adding some sucrose (situationally acceptable), and putting it next to my computer for some warmth for 3 months. Not terrible, but not a good beer as it is. I ended up bottling it instead of dumping it because: I have extra bottles, so it doesn't take up any space or prevent me from working on other beer, I invested a lot in this batch between time and money with a heavy grain bill, long boil, and long fermentation slowly raising temperatures, and under the weird sulfury flavor I'm getting there's something really promising. The costs of aging it to see what happens are pretty much non existent, otherwise I'd probably dump it. That's a decision nobody on this forum can make for you.
Dynachrome
Well-Known Member
Does it taste like beer is usually a good indication.
Why the bedroom?
What year were you born please?
Why the bedroom?
What year were you born please?
if it is done drink flat and try again
I'd test it to see if it's in the FG range specified in the recipe. Then put it back in the fermenter of it isn't & try to get it to finish. I don't bottle till the beer is at FG & has had 3-7 days to settle out clear or slightly misty first.
How did you get the beer in there? Did you carefully siphon from the fermenter into a bottling bucket, then fill with a bottling wand?
Or did you just pour from the fermenter into the jars? If it's this, then yes, your batch is trashed, or soon will be.
DennisinIowa
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Looks like pretty good chicken stock. Got 4 gallons on the stove myself right now. Canned 70 pints of breast meat this week.
D
D
Hey there larder.
Ok...first off, fnord's advice is right solid. I'd follow it if I were you.
Second....let me add a few things that might help explain a little. I'm a relative noob - only been brewing a year or so, so I can identify with the "OMG, I have BEER!" feeling, followed by the "What IS this stuff??" feeling. Never fear, it gets better. I'm also assuming that you're just starting out, so please excuse the following if you're not.
What you need first is the proper equipment. There's certain things you need to have and certain techniques that you need to learn.
You need a Hydrometer and a test jar. This will let you measure the specific gravity of the beer before it ferments, and measure it afterwards. Short version - it'll tell you how much sugar is in the liquid that has the possiblility of fermenting.It'll also tell you how far along in the fermentation process you are, once you get used to using it.
You need a way to get beer from the original fermentation vessel to where you want it to be without adding a lot of splashing. This adds oxygen in the beer, and that's a bad thing. It also allows you to get the beer off of the sediment, and that makes clearer beer. Look online for a beer siphon. What is seen in your picture might very well be the sediment from the fermentation process suspended in the beer. If you poured the beer from the fermentation vessel into those jars, it would look like that.
And you need a place to put the beer when it's finished fermenting. Typically, that's beer bottles or kegs, but you can use screw-on top PET plastic bottles, or anything that will hold the pressure of that last bit of fermentation that is called bottle conditioning. Mason jars have a tendency to become grenades when pressure is built up inside 'em.
This batch might be trashed, but try the advice given here by fnord and others here. In any case, a little reading and preparation will make your next batch better! And the folks here are always willing to help. We've all been there, buddy. I think that there probably aren't too many brewers here who haven't had a really "interesting" first try!
Don't give up!
Ok...first off, fnord's advice is right solid. I'd follow it if I were you.
Second....let me add a few things that might help explain a little. I'm a relative noob - only been brewing a year or so, so I can identify with the "OMG, I have BEER!" feeling, followed by the "What IS this stuff??" feeling. Never fear, it gets better. I'm also assuming that you're just starting out, so please excuse the following if you're not.
What you need first is the proper equipment. There's certain things you need to have and certain techniques that you need to learn.
You need a Hydrometer and a test jar. This will let you measure the specific gravity of the beer before it ferments, and measure it afterwards. Short version - it'll tell you how much sugar is in the liquid that has the possiblility of fermenting.It'll also tell you how far along in the fermentation process you are, once you get used to using it.
You need a way to get beer from the original fermentation vessel to where you want it to be without adding a lot of splashing. This adds oxygen in the beer, and that's a bad thing. It also allows you to get the beer off of the sediment, and that makes clearer beer. Look online for a beer siphon. What is seen in your picture might very well be the sediment from the fermentation process suspended in the beer. If you poured the beer from the fermentation vessel into those jars, it would look like that.
And you need a place to put the beer when it's finished fermenting. Typically, that's beer bottles or kegs, but you can use screw-on top PET plastic bottles, or anything that will hold the pressure of that last bit of fermentation that is called bottle conditioning. Mason jars have a tendency to become grenades when pressure is built up inside 'em.
This batch might be trashed, but try the advice given here by fnord and others here. In any case, a little reading and preparation will make your next batch better! And the folks here are always willing to help. We've all been there, buddy. I think that there probably aren't too many brewers here who haven't had a really "interesting" first try!
Don't give up!
Basically, what we're saying is there are some bits of equipment you can't cheap out on. You need a capper, caps, bottles, hydrometer & test tube, siphon or racking tube to get the fermented, clear beer into the bottling bucket with the priming solution. That way, you don't splash or otherwise oxygenate the beer. Then use a length of tubing to connect a bottling wand to the spigot on the bottling bucket. This will fill the cleaned & sanitized bottles from the bottom up. This prevents oxygenating the ber as well.
beergolf
Well-Known Member
I agree. Do Not attempt to bottle in Mason jars. They cannot withstand the pressure. You really do need to do a little more reading up on the whole process.
Some of these posts referred to the beer being at FG. You check for this by checking the gravity when you think it's done - then check again two or three days later. If it has dropped at all, it's still fermenting - don't bottle. If it's stable, then you can bottle.
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