Some odd yeast behavior

[Andrew5329]

So I recently started brewing, my first batch was an amber all-malt kit, everything went smoothly and made great beer. So, for my second batch I decided to make a holiday beer recipe.

The recipe was a fairly standard mostly malt-extract brew with some crystal malt and chocolate malt grains for flavor. The spices I used were Orange zest, cinnamon and ginger as primary spices.

Boiled everything together following directions and proper sanitation, ect... At the end, I became somewhat pressed for time (bringing a brew-pot to boil outdoors in New-England during late fall took quite some time) so in my haste I pitched my yeast somewhat early (probably about 80-85 degrees Farenheight...) and I also left a muslin bag w/ the spices, and one muslin bag with the boiling hops in the fermenter when I sealed it.

The first odd behavior was that Fermentation really didnt get started untill day 4-5 in the fermenter. I hypothesisied that I shocked the yeast by pitching it too warm and decided to keep it in longer than normal to make up for the delayed start.

So here I am 19 days after I first placed my brew in the fermenter (about 14 days after fermentation began) and I open the fermenter to prepare for bottling, and there is yeast caked all over the bags and there is an extraordinary amount still in suspension. I removed the bags which I presume to be my major mistake (somewhat agitating the brew) and I reattatched the cap w/ the airlock.

So I start searching for answers in a verifiable panic that my brew might be stillborn, when I come back downstairs and CO2 is happily bubbling up through the airlock. So I placed the fermenter back in it's spot and I now ask you veterans as to what I should do next.

Firstly (the predictable newb question), has this happened to anyone here before, and did the brew still turn out ok?

Secondly am I correct in postulating that by re-agitating the yeast have I gotten fermentation back on track?

Thirdly, was leaving the bags in to blame for the incomplete fermentation or was the early pitching/rapid sealing of the fermenter?

Fourthly, on what timetable should I be looking to bottle the beer now?

I thank you all in advance for your help/possible confirmation of my theories as to what went wrong.

 

[smagee]

Agitating the beer could have woken up some yeast and gotten them back going, but more likely it knocked some CO2 out of suspension, resulting in bubbling. Leaving bags in during fermentation is fine, although I would've just left them in there at that point--this isn't really a big deal one way or the other, I just find my experiences go better if I leave well enough alone.

Given that your beer is still pretty heavily clouded and you may still have activity, I'd give things another week to settle down. Did you check the gravity while you were digging around? If you get a reading now and then another after a few days, verify that they're the same. If so, fermentation's done, and you're ready to bottle. I don't see any mention of hydrometer readings in your description, so I'm not sure how you know that fermentation was only partially finished, but gravity readings are the only way to ensure that you know what's going on with your beer. Gauging bubbler activity is a guess at best, and can be dangerous as it can lead you to bottling up some bombs-in-waiting.

 

[Andrew5329]

Actually did noob-move #2 there, in my haste i flaked and forgot to take a hydrometer reading. Kinda did the same today during my "oh crap" moment.

 

[h22lude]

The muslin bag of hops is completely fine. The muslin bag is used to remove the hop debris after boiling. Some people do this by using a funnel with a filter. Some people don't do it at all. The bag was sanitized when it was being boiled so that isn't anything to worry about. You could have left it in there until bottling time.

The muslin bag of spices is the same thing. The bag itself got sanitized by the boil. Even if you filter your wort after boiling, you won't filter out the spices as the become one with the wort lol

I have pitched a little warm like you have and it came out fine. Pitching warm you might get some diacetyl which has a buttery taste or a slimy feel but that be be fixed by bringing fermentation temp up a little for a day or two before bottling.

Shaking the bucket will get yeast back into suspension and can cause some fermentation to start again, especially if the yeast didn't ferment out fully.

Leaving the bags in shouldn't have done anything to your fermentation. That could be due to any number of reasons (pitching temp was higher, did you pitch enough healthy yeast, did you keep fermentation temp where it should be).

Your beer will be fine. You will find out that you can actually do a lot to beer and yeast without getting an infection or a ruined batch. You really do need to take a gravity reading to actually tell if fermentation is complete. Once it is complete, you can bottle it and let it sit in the bottle at room temp to carb and condition. If it isn't done, let it sit longer. It won't hurt anything if you let it sit.

RDWHAHB - Relax, Don't Worry, Have A HomeBrew...or commercial if you don't have any homebrew lol