Brewing Master

Question:

[snip] With the Home Brewery/Wyeast configuration, the fermentation rate did not drop to below 1 bubble/minute until after 8 days, and after transferring to secondary, there are debris which look trub-like in nature floating around the top of the secondary; not alot and they kind of sink about an inch or so every now and then and rise back to the top. [snip]

Sounds to me like little clumps of yeast and/or trub that managed to make it into your secondary. Probably nothing to worry about. The bobbing activity you’re seeing is probably due to CO2 bubbles forming on the particles, which cause them to rise to the surface. The bubbles escape, and the particles start to sink. Lather, rinse, repeat… —

Response:

My last brew w/ 1056 completed primary in 3 days, secondary in 2 more, at 68F.  Even when the fermentation was completely done, I found little clumps of stuff floating at the surface of the secondary.  It certainly wasn’t bacteria, ’cause the beer is *very* smooth.  I would guess these clumps are yeast sticking to trub, and it’s nothing to worry about.  Your slow ferment, on the other hand, might be.  I would taste a sample and see what’s going on. Drew — Spam is here! Use this reply: Andrew Avis – aavis at freenet dot calgary dot ab dot ca StrangeBrew – http://www.cadvision.com/ctxcomm – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – [snip] With the Home Brewery/Wyeast configuration, the fermentation rate did not drop to below 1 bubble/minute until after 8 days, and after transferring to secondary, there are debris which look trub-like in nature floating around the top of the secondary; not alot and they kind of sink about an inch or so every now and then and rise back to the top. [snip]

Response:

Having only used the dry yeast w/ Brewers Best kits for first two batches, I used Wyeast 1056 American Ale w/ a Home Brewery Honey Wheat kit for a 3rd batch. In the dry yeast/Brewers Best episodes, primary fermentation ran 4 days at longest (transfer to secondary when fermenter bubbles less than 1 per minute), and no floating trub-like debris in secondary. With the Home Brewery/Wyeast configuration, the fermentation rate did not drop to below 1 bubble/minute until after 8 days

I use 1056 quite a bit and have found it to be a "steady" fermenter. Certainly not as explosive as the dry yeasts.  Whereas the dry yeasts I used in the past (Edme, Munton’s) went crazy for two or three days then slowed down very quickly, my experience with 1056 has been that it goes at a moderate pace for a longer time.  A week in the primary has not been uncommon.   and after transferring to secondary, there are debris which look trub-like in nature floating around the top of the secondary; not alot and they kind of sink about an inch or so every now and then and rise back to the top. Is this yeast that is still fermenting and will drop w/ time? Is this in anyway ‘typical’ with Wyeast?

– snipped some procedures — I don’t know what "trub-like" means, but I generally do get some foaming in the secondary, and the 1056 seems to taper-off gradually in the secondary.  It’s not unusual for me to see a bubble every few minutes from the secondary, even when the beer has dropped almost completely clear. In my experience, this yeast will drop virtually crystal clear in the secondary, and the yeast cake will be firm — easy to rack cleanly. I’ve found it to be an excellent "neutral tasting" yeast, which is why I use it often. Good luck! Tom Unsolicited advertisements cheerfully ignored.

Response:

Having only used the dry yeast w/ Brewers Best kits for first two batches, I used Wyeast 1056 American Ale w/ a Home Brewery Honey Wheat kit for a 3rd batch. In the dry yeast/Brewers Best episodes, primary fermentation ran 4 days at longest (transfer to secondary when fermenter bubbles less than 1 per minute), and no floating trub-like debris in secondary. With the Home Brewery/Wyeast configuration, the fermentation rate did not drop to below 1 bubble/minute until after 8 days, and after transferring to secondary, there are debris which look trub-like in nature floating around the top of the secondary; not alot and they kind of sink about an inch or so every now and then and rise back to the top. Is this yeast that is still fermenting and will drop w/ time? Is this in anyway ‘typical’ with Wyeast? I popped the wyeast pouch, let it expand to 2 inches and dumped into 16 oz. starter which I them pitched into wort 24 hours later. It began fermenting within 16-24 hours and continued strong for 8 days. The airlock on secondary is still bbubbling once or twice every two minutes or so…Any clues? Is it normal? Thanks for any information…

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