Is this infected? with pictures

[kronicking]

I have 2 Coopers IPA's brewing and one of them has some white stuff underneath the beer line that does not look quite right only on one side of the FV. Also the krausen seems to be a bit green on the side with the white stuff brewing. I used 1 oz pellet hops on the one with all the problems so don't know if this is causing it since it is my first time using hops. I added them for 15 minutes in a DME and water mix. I saw this yesterday and it didn't look like it had quite as much white stuff I think it may be spreading. Is this normal?

 

[chungking]

Not infected. It's in the middle of fermenting. The green is hop residue.

How long has it been in primary?

 

[unionrdr]

It's just an active krausen. Ale yeasts are top fermenting.

 

[kronicking]

K, Sweet I was a little nervous because I have never seen it happen before and when it grew in size I started to get really worried. I think it's probably the Nottingham Ale yeast because the Coopers has never done that before and it's my first time trying Nottingham.

 

[unionrdr]

I've gotten that with Cooper's ale yeast rehydrated. You have to remember that the Cooper's packet is only 7g (although NB & Midwest have the Cooper's 15g packets) vs the Notty's 11g or so. So you're pitching more dry yeast with the Notty vs Cooper's dry.

 

[kronicking]

That's true except this time I pitched 2 packs of coopers IPA yeast (14g) in the other brew beside it and I do not see this stuff on top. Also the one with coopers yeast was way more active. It started with 1-1.5 liters more but ended up with less.

 

[unionrdr]

The Cooper's IPA can's yeast is just their Ale yeast. Wort temp at pitch has a lot to do with how vigorous a krausen is as well. Cooper's ale yeast gets sluggish at 63F. Slow at 64F. It seems happiest at 65-69F.

 

[kronicking]

I wish my temps were that low. For these 2 brews they were up at 75 degrees on the stick on thermometers so probably almost 80. Hopefully it will be okay. Sure it will be cause I am drinking keystone right now which is the lowest of the low. I am thinking of rigging up a swamp cooler or ice water bath to get better temperatures next batch.

 

[unionrdr]

Give this batch 3-7 days after FG is reached to clean up by products of fermentation & settle out clear or slightly misty,then bottle. A swamp cooler would def help to keep those temps below 70F.

 

[kronicking]

I was thinking of giving these batches 3 weeks if not more for fermentation so hopefully that will be enough. FG for me seems to be reached within 1-2 weeks.

 

[unionrdr]

Ummm...how could the one with Cooper's yeast have less krausen activity,but be more active? That's a contradiction if I ever read one. And use your hydrometer to know when FG is reached. I don't like waiting & guessing myself.

 

[kronicking]

The one with coopers had a lot more krausen just not krausen that was actually in the beer. It was all on top and was spewing out my blowoff hose like no tomorrow.

 

[unionrdr]

Krausen is the foamy stuff on top of the beer,never "in" it. The stuff swirling around in the fermenting wort is yeast,cold break,trub.& the like.

 

[kronicking]

Than what is that stuff sitting below the beer level in my pictures? I can't see how that would be krausen since it is under the beer and yeast would be moving around. Also like I said it only seems to be on the side of the FV with the weird greenish krausen but I may be mistaking. Can't get a good look around it cause of the position of it but I could move my other brew and peek on the other side. Also in the 1st picture you can kind of see where it cuts off.

 

[kronicking]

I would like to add that I gave the FV a lil nudge to move the beer a bit and the white stuff in the beer seems to be stuck to the sides because it doesn't move.

 

[unionrdr]

The krausen starts to form a crud ring around the top level of the beer. Hop derise,cold break,krausen gunk,etc comprise this ring. Kinda like "ring around the collar" in those old detergent TV commercials. The stuff on the very bottom of the krausen is yeast & cold break,typically.

 

[kronicking]

I understand that there is usually a gunk ring (if not all the time) but I have never had gunk inside the beer. It was always where the krausen was formed which was on top of the actual beer. This is literally in the beer if you look at the pictures not on top of the beer just very close. Also I swear it grew quite a bit after I went to work.

 

[unionrdr]

Like I said,yeast or cold break at the botom of the krausen. Looks like it's settling down to the bottom a bit. It should just about all drop to the bottom by the time it's ready to bottle.

 

[kronicking]

K. Thank you for the help. I hope you are right and my first batch with hops isn't funky. I will post if it does not drop in about 1 week or so.

 

[unionrdr]

It'll be fine,trust me. It's not an infection,just a normal part of the process. And most of the time the krausen does drop,but some yeasts are stubborn & the krausen will hang on.