Page 1 of 1

The Blob ?

Posted: Tuesday Dec 23, 2008 5:45 pm
by wrighty
Just racked first brew ito secondary ,noticed leftover in bottom was like a blob of slimey light grey mud .Is this normal?.beer tastes slighty cidery bitter is quiet clear with light head sg 1008 been inprimary for 2weeks temp @16-18c start sg was 1028 .taste was offish infection ?

Re: The Blob ?

Posted: Tuesday Dec 23, 2008 8:17 pm
by FazerPete
That's completely normal mate so don't worry about it. It's just the yeast and other non-fermentable solids that have fallen out of suspension. You can get some horrible smells from it and it's basically what they make Vegemite out of.

Re: The Blob ?

Posted: Wednesday Dec 24, 2008 1:24 pm
by wrighty
Cheers pete ,put me off me veggy n toast abit .Merry chmas and happy new beers to you and all other crew in this forum

Wrighty :wink: :wink:

Re: The Blob ?

Posted: Monday Dec 29, 2008 2:04 pm
by Trough Lolly
wrighty wrote:Just racked first brew ito secondary ,noticed leftover in bottom was like a blob of slimey light grey mud .Is this normal?.beer tastes slighty cidery bitter is quiet clear with light head sg 1008 been inprimary for 2weeks temp @16-18c start sg was 1028 .taste was offish infection ?
As FP mentions, it's completely normal. It is a combination of break material / trub (pronounced Troob) in your fermenter and on the upper most layers, fresh useful yeast. When you do a brew, the yeast adapts to the environment, then multiplies in size and then does the fermentation / attenuation of the sugars in the wort - hence the lag you note between pitching the yeast and the airlock showing signs of CO2 generation. The point is that you can happily toss this stuff out, or, pitch a fresh batch of wort onto it and you can safely ferment at least one more batch using this fresh, healthy, viable yeast. You need to keep everything nice and sanitary otherwise the yeast can mutate and cause off flavours, but basically you could have re-used that yeast cake and done a second brew with the stuff that's been generated in the bottom of your fermenter.

I often find the second batch of wort results in a better beer thanks to the fresh yeast waiting in the bottom of the fermenter.

Cheers,
TL

Re: The Blob ?

Posted: Tuesday Dec 30, 2008 11:25 am
by wrighty
Cheers T.L
I plan to leave brew in secodary for about 3 weeks.Was reading somthing about diacetl rest before 2nd ferment i have not done this ,.will this give me any bad side effects . ? Wrighty.

Re: The Blob ?

Posted: Tuesday Dec 30, 2008 12:46 pm
by Trough Lolly
Diacetyl rests are occasionally used for lagering. I wouldn't get to worried about it right now unless you are encountering high levels of diacetyl in your lagers.

Have a search for diacetyl on the forum - there's plenty of info on it. By the way, what beer were you brewing?

Cheers
TL

Re: The Blob ?

Posted: Tuesday Dec 30, 2008 1:51 pm
by wrighty
I have 2 brews on the go
1 munich lager (brew craft)with 12g goldings hops & body biulder #35 saf s23
1morgans bml with 12g pride ring hops &aus larger mix can yeast
both were brewed in control fridge @12-14c 2weeks prmary now in secondry 1week.
Initial taste test was both very bitter morgans more so think i could have used more malt?
much appreciate your expertise T.L. as these are my first brews in a long time.
Im planning to keg both maybe 2 more weeks.

Re: The Blob ?

Posted: Tuesday Dec 30, 2008 4:25 pm
by Trough Lolly
The strong hop profile will eventually subside with further conditioning. I would agree that an extra kilo of malt extract wouldn't have gone astray...note it down for experience.

Cheers,
TL