Heeelp - Sediment In My Bitter

[pikerinoz]

Hi all

After some kind advice about hops from some of you I got this brewing on Sat night.

ESB Bitter 3kg kit
Hop tea
- Small amount of kit in 700ml boiling water
- 5-10g Nelson Sauvin @20mins
- 20g Williamette @10mins
- 20g Williamette @ 0min
Safale S-04 yeast starter pitched at 23 degrees

It's been sitting at 18-20c with OG of 1056 dropping steadily to 1022 this morning (Day4). All seems wel except when I take the hydrometer readings I seem to have shitloads of sediment in the beer. A brown sludge accumulates at the bottom of the hydrometer vial and also some flakes of something in there (the flakes appear to have veins in them?!). I didn't put the hop pellets into a hop bag - they simply went in. But then this is the process I followed with my other 2 brews to date - a pils and a lager - and they've turned out fine.

Do I have a problem??

Cheers for your help

 

[Fourstar]

Sounds like hops and trub in your vial. dont worry my good man, once fermentation ceases, give it a 2-3day turnaround for the yeast to compact and you will be good to go. Another option is to crash chill it in a fridge for a few days post ferment. that will get it nice and bright.

Cheers.

 

[Ester Trub]

Safale s-04 will create a lot of sediment too!
If you're taking your sg readings using the first bits that run out of your tap, you're going to get a lot of crap in your hydrometer tube.
The good news is that all that extra sediment at the bottom means extra clarity in the final product. It's a quality of that particular yeast.

 

[Fourstar]

Safale s-04 will create a lot of sediment too!
...It's a quality of that particular yeast.

And let the de-railing begin!

 

[pikerinoz]

Safale s-04 will create a lot of sediment too!
If you're taking your sg readings using the first bits that run out of your tap, you're going to get a lot of crap in your hydrometer tube.
The good news is that all that extra sediment at the bottom means extra clarity in the final product. It's a quality of that particular yeast.

I'm opening the tap and filling up the tube straight off. If I let it run a little you reckon it would run clearer??

 

[mwd]

After only 4 days it will be like the sea after a typhoon full of silt. Top to bottom

 

[pikerinoz]

After only 4 days it will be like the sea after a typhoon full of silt. Top to bottom

and yet I didn't have the same amount of sediment with my pils and lager (both ESB kits with 40g of hops added) - is this a lager vs ale thing?? or maybe more noticeable cos this is a darker beer than the other two??

 

[mwd]

Ale yeasts are top fermenters (float on the surface), Lagers bottom

although after only 4 days the beer should still be very very cloudy whatever yeast.

 

[b_thomas]

You generally want to let the yeast drop out of solution fully ie. flocculate (typically happens after around 2 weeks or quicker if you suddenly drop the temperature on it) before passing judgment until then you'll see lots of lumps and chunks throughout your beer, especially if you've dry hopped loose leaves, they'll take longer to drop to the bottom.

 

[Ester Trub]

And let the de-railing begin!

Oh? <_<
I admit it's been a while since I've used s-04, but I seem to remember that it used to create quite a lot of sediment in the bottom. If you read the s-04 descriptions they all pretty much say that "the compact sediment adds to beer clarity."
Of course after 4 days the beer will still be cloudy, but the final product will be fairly clear.
Am I wrong?

Pikerinoz: When taking hydrometer readings you should always run about 50ml off first, throw that out and then take some more. Your readings will be far more accurate that way.

 

[Sammus]

mate i wouldn't worry about it, maybe run a little bit first, don't go nuts though. If you run roo much extra off and you're just wasting beer - a bit of sediment shouldnt really affect your readings.

 

[petesbrew]

Pikerinoz: When taking hydrometer readings you should always run about 50ml off first, throw that out and then take some more. Your readings will be far more accurate that way.

Don't throw it out. Drink it.
It puts hairs on yer chest.

 

[jeremyeanlittle]

Don't throw it out. Drink it.
It puts hairs on yer chest.

Puts hairs on your hairs!