What's up with my brew?

Looks alright to me. Are you sure you don't want to wait a little longer to bottle? I like to wait 4 weeks to let the yeast clean things up a bit. The trub will probably fall by then too.

 

That is a little odd, but not specifically worrisome. I'd say if it smells good and tastes good.... it's still good!

 

I'm inclined to agree that waiting could be beneficial. I do not "schedule" when a beer will be complete; take at least one hydrometer sample to help evaluate whether you have hit terminal gravity, and by all means taste that sample and decide if it tastes right. Yeast clean up after themselves, to some extent, ridding your beer of compounds that cause off flavors like diacetyl and acetaldehyde. It is between the 2nd and 3rd that I usually decide I am ready to package; it might be the 4th week that I get a chance to do it.

 

I've done the same 2-jug-experiment-with-hops and had similar results. One set of hops is more active/clinging/messier . . . but no real cause for concern.

What would concern me is your bottling schedule. Fairly certain neither of these will be ready to drink for another month. So you bottle at the 2 week mark and then "look" at them for another month before drinking. As stated by pweis909, maybe you want to give them another week. There is practically no danger in waiting and possibly some real benefit. In one gallon jugs it's difficult to take hydro reading (which is normally how you tell it's ready). I would give another 3-7 days if it were my brew, then cold crash for at least a week (two weeks is better) . . . these jugs will fit in your fridge (spouse permitting) and should clear-up measurably. No need for airlock once chilled. Somewhere around the 4-5 week mark I would think about bottling, knowing it will need another 2-3 weeks to carb.

When you go to rack/bottle you will find it difficult to position the siphon to get all the beer because of the restricted neck opening. Prepare to leave behind some beer along with the trub . My last suggestion; before racking, position the jugs several hours in advance (overnight) before starting the siphoning . Allow the trub to settle and don't move the jug again until you've gotten as much beer as possible. What's the brew?

 

If you are winging it with regard to gravity, you really owe it to yourself and the beer to taste it before packaging. Until you really are comfortable with the process (and that includes getting a sense for when to package), you should take every opportunity to glean some information that will help you evaluate this beer and add to the accumulation of knowledge and experience that will benefit your future ones.

And get yourself a hydrometer! You can find a good one for less than 10 bucks, and without it, you are brewing in the dark ages.

 

Cold crashing drops the yeast out of suspension. You should get a hydrometer. I've got 18 gallons of a Belgian clone in the basement that is at the 4 week mark and is still 14 points too high. It will help prevent bottle bombs.

 

I do understand the reluctance to sample when you only have a gallon. You might be able to get 9 bottles out of that, not a lot. But would you rather bottle 9 unknowns or 8 beers that you know are ready? Bird in the hand, and all that.

 

Here is more info on cold crashing, a Google search can give you some more tips. The hops you brewed with should give you some excellent feedback, you'll quickly learn what you like. Not to complicate things, but your next round probably will be to "blend" hop flavors/aroma. Many good IPAs will have 2-3 finishing hops.

 

Two things...
1) Ubër-small batch brewers simply can't afford to draw a minimum of two hydrometer samples.
2) More better is practicing patience...as in allowing three full weeks to complete fermentation for all but wheats which need only two of them. Use the last week to dry-hop.
3) Bubbling rates are an over-rated homebrewing relic circa the 90s. Fuggetaboutit unless you're into under-attenuated beer or bottle bombs.

One more thing...
There's way too fookin'much trub getting into these fermentors.
So much so...quality of the final product could suffer.
A little bit is OK but OP's decanting technique between kettle and fermentor needs some major remedial work.

 

Pro Tip for Autosiphons:
Tilt the kettle when the wort level begins to get low.
Position the siphon to draw wort from the near-surface layer to avoid ingesting trub into the fermentor.

 

Looks fine.

 

So when you say "all but wheats ", do you mean hefeweizens?

 

I prop my fermenter on a tilt hours before racking or bottling to allow the trub to settle
In the corner. That has allowed to exact the most amount of wort/beer without sucking up too much junk.

 

Yeast does weird stuff so unless you draw a sample to determine if anything is out of place the beer should be fine. I am a newbie and each time I brew there is something that looks "wrong" however the beers have turned out solid.