What is this Buildup?

Welcome to the BA site, Ray, and to this great hobby and to the Homebrewing forum. You'll have a blast!

Unfortunately this site does not store pictures that are inserted into forum posts, so your picture is not visible. To insert a pic inside a post you need to use a third party hosting site. I use imgur.com and it is a popular choice by members here. It's free too. If you choose to use it, upload your pic there, then go to your gallery and click on the pic. Then copy the Direct Link on the right side to your clipboard. On the edit bar above your post composing window is an icon for Image (next to smiley face). Click it open, paste the link from your clipboard and your pic will appear where your cursor is positioned.

Then you'll get some action on your question.

 

I see nothing unusual. It looks like yeast.

 

Thanks, I forgot about that right-click trick.

It looks to me like your fermentation has already peaked and went right up to your stopper and is in the process of receding now. The bubbles around the stopper look mostly like krausen remains, but the light-colored dribble down the side of the carboy looks like it could be residue from liquid yeast. I don't see anything to worry about. Just monitor the progress of the fermentation until you think it's done (use a hydrometer to confirm fermentation has ceased if you have one) and proceed to bottling/kegging.

 

The URL you need to put in the "Image" dialog is the URL for the picture itself, not the URL for the imgur web page it was displayed on. If the URL doesn't end in .jpg (or whatever picture format extension), it's not the right one. In this case, that URL should be...
https://i.imgur.com/5rxqvt1.jpg (and not https://imgur.com/5rxqvt1 )

Here you go...

 

VikeMan: a true homebrew BeerAdvocate...also a part time OnlinePhoteAdvocate

 

Your krausen appears to be aggressive so I'm wondering if this beer has a high Original Gravity, or maybe it fermented at a temperature that is a bit warm. Does your recipe indicate the expected OG or the expected abv?

If you are brewing a high gravity beer, it can be a bit more unpredictable for the length of fermentation, so I highly recommend using a hydrometer to detect the beer's status rather than relying on the calendar.

 

Nope. Looks like the linked URLs are the imgur web page URLs and not the URLs for the pictures themselves. Are you selecting Direct Link when copying the URL to your clipboard?

 

Okay, your beer is just a moderate abv and should be predictable to figure out when fermentation is done. But don't follow the calendar if you have a hydrometer. If it's still bubbling after two weeks, let it continue.

The hardest part of using a hydrometer when you are using a carboy is getting a sample to use for your reading. Did the hydrometer come with a sample jar? I use the plastic cylinder that the hydrometer is stored in. You'll need to figure out how to get some of the beer into the test container, and a wine thief is great for getting down into the carboy thru that small neck. Your instructions that came with the hydrometer should take it from there. Just be sure to sanitize everything before taking your sample and using the hydrometer. Take two readings a day or two apart, and if they are the same readings (or very close) you're done and ready to package.

 

The Fermentation Range” is the manufacturer’s suggested optimal range for the specific strain of yeast. Whether or not that range is in fact optimal depends on what you’re trying to get from the yeast (a hefty discussion).
I’m guessing the “temperature gauge on the bottle” is a stick-on fermometer similar to this one.
If that’s the case, it’s reading the temp where it’s attached to the bottle (essentially the ambient temp of the bottle). When yeast is very active, they produce heat and the actual temperature of the wort>to>beer can be 5° to 10° higher than ambient.
So, your fermentation might be a bit above the “Range”....probably not a big deal at this point.

Using a hydrometer is fairly straightforward; draw a wort sample from your fermentor, add it to the sample jar, ease the hydrometer into the tube, spin it a bit to get the bubbles off the hydrometer, note the reading at the meniscus (not critical, but a good habit to develop). Of course, as mentioned, sanitize everything that will touch the fermenting beer.

The reading might need to be adjusted, depending on the temperature of the wort. Mine came with a quick 'n dirty reference, but there are online calculators available for making the adjustment.

Welcome to this phenomenal hobby!

ETA: Just curious, what size batch is this?

 

Too late to edit.
I didn't mean to suggest temperature control isn't important.....it is.
If you can, move the fermentor to a location that has a reasonably stable ambient temperature a bit lower than where it is now.

Also @Ghigs , great point you made about making sure how to use the hydrometer before "opening everything up". Unnecessarily exposing your beer to air at this point (and beyond) will make it susceptible to unwanted bugs and oxygen, which can accelerate staling.

 

It's not two measurements per day, but two measurements that are a day or two apart. If those two results are more than .004 apart, then wait two more days for another reading to see if that #3 reading comes close to #2, etc. You didn't mention the expected FG in your earlier post, but I assume the recipe also gave that to you. Your final reading should also be close to that number. If it's not we need to figure out why.