https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3nIWsUoDjs2RVlsZ3FnaWdYRjQ/edit?usp=docslist_api I am brewing a double IPA. The beer is in the secondary and has been there for 10 days. I recorded 7.8% alc when I transferred it. I just noticed this green sludge in the top forming. I am dry hoping with an ounce of pellets in cheese cloth. There doesn't seem to be hair growing in the sludge. It's this hopsludge or mold? Thanks. The picture I'm including in the link makes it look brown but it looks more green in person.
If the stuff is green, then it's probably the fine hop material that got thru your cheese cloth. Have you confirmed that fermentation is done now so that you can proceed to bottle? If so, just leave as much of this trub behind when you transfer to your bottling bucket. You can try to cold crash the beer to see if this stuff will sink, but I don't know your circumstances to be able to do this or how much of a hurry you might have.
Green would imply hop debris, and though the picture doesn't make it clear...it's probably not mold. Anyway, it was unnecessary to secondary your DIPA, and I would recommend not doing so next time.
The First fermentation stage is done. Yeast was pitched 20 days ago. So you would recommend bottling now? I asked my wife what color she thought it was and she said white or brown.
I'm not in too much of a hurry, but I don't want to make it worse if it is infected. I haven't done the taste test yet. I'll do that next. I have enough room in a fridge to cold crash. So that is an option.
There is only one fermentation stage for a DIPA, unless you add sugar after fermentation is complete (uncommon). I'm saying you should have dry-hopped in primary, and then transferred to a bottling bucket when you were ready to bottle. Secondary is unnecessary unless you are aging on wood, fruit, coca nibs, etc...
If you have a hydrometer to confirm that fermentation is complete, I'd feel better about starting the bottling process. You would also confirm that your final gravity is close to what the recipe predicts. If you don't have a hydrometer, I think waiting another week is your next best option just to make sure. During this extra week, the hop debris could also drop, or you can use the time to cold crash.
Well it is all bottled now. It doesn't taste too bad. Same gravity reading as when I moved to secondary.
A kit, I assume? They generally still say to do a secondary for everything, even though it is no longer the norm.
