Seperation in Wort During Fermentation

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Gkemp94, Oct 10, 2014.

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  1. Gkemp94

    Gkemp94 Initiate (0) Oct 1, 2014 Colorado

    Hey Again Guys,
    So just bottled my first batch and took a taste of one pre-conditioning. I'm not really sure how to describe the taste, it's not bad, but I have a long way to go, hopefully keeping it in the bottle for a couple weeks cleans up the taste a bit, and the carbonation should make it a little better as well.

    Today I brewed for the second time, and everything went a lot smoother. I made a milk stout, stats below.
    It's been 12 hours since i pitched the yeast, and bubbles have started to appear in airlock. However I have noticed that the color on the bottom of the carboy is a lot more cloudy-brownish, than the upper half which is pure black. Do i need to mix it more next time? Is this normal?

    Brew Method: Extract
    Style Name: Sweet Stout
    Boil Time: 60 min
    Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
    Boil Size: 2.5 gallons

    FERMENTABLES:
    3.3 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Pilsen (20.5%)
    3.3 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Dark (20.5%)
    8 oz - Lactose (Milk Sugar) (3.1%)
    8 oz - Maltodextrin (3.1%)

    STEEPING GRAINS:
    8 oz - American - Dark Chocolate (3.1%)
    4 lb - American - Dark Chocolate (24.8%)
    4 lb - American - Roasted Barley (24.8%)

    HOPS:
    0.5 oz - Magnum, Type: Pellet, AA: 13.5, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 10.91
    0.5 oz - Cluster, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.1, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 2.37

    YEAST:
    Danstar - Nottingham Ale Yeast
    Pitched Dry
    Fermentation Temp: 68 F
     
    #1 Gkemp94, Oct 10, 2014
  2. scurvy311

    scurvy311 Savant (1,135) Dec 3, 2005 Louisiana

    Who's recipe? 8.5# of dark roasted grain in a 5 gal batch? This will likely be a chewy roast bomb. As malts are kilned to a higher temp, the husks and barley kernal become more brittle and more pulverizes into dust during milling than lighter colored grains. It's normal to have a powdery layer settling, you just have about 6-8x more roasted grain than required so it's more pronounced. Even in a 5gal Russian imperial stout, you normally wouldn't have more than 1-2.5ish # of dark roasted grain.

    Also, that much dark grain, your pH will be much lower than it supposed to be.

    But at the end of the day you have to taste it. If you like it, drink away. If you find it's without flaws except for excessive flavor issues, the beer can be blended with your next batch so as not to waste it. I'm interested in the tasting notes from this.
     
    #2 scurvy311, Oct 10, 2014
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  3. sjverla

    sjverla Initiate (0) Dec 1, 2008 Massachusetts

    Also, tasting wort/pre-carbbed beer is rarely a reliable indicator of what the final product will actually taste like. You may get some clues, but I've had some make some big promises that they couldn't keep, while others tasted awkward and unfortunate and turned out stellar.

    But holy shit that is a lot of dark malts.
     
    #3 sjverla, Oct 10, 2014
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  4. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Are there some typos here? As others said, that would be way too much roasted grains. On top of dark extract no less. (Likely undrinkable IMO.) And what's the difference between American - Dark Chocolate and American - Dark Chocolate?
     
    #4 VikeMan, Oct 10, 2014
  5. ZDSmith87

    ZDSmith87 Initiate (0) Jul 18, 2014 Massachusetts

    Hey if it's your second batch and it fails who cares, if it's great, good for you.
     
    #5 ZDSmith87, Oct 10, 2014
    MikeDAdams likes this.
  6. utahbeerdude

    utahbeerdude Maven (1,374) May 2, 2006 Utah

    To answer the original question, the separation is caused by solids settling out. This is not a problem.
     
    #6 utahbeerdude, Oct 10, 2014
    MikeDAdams and nickfl like this.
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