Krausen not settling

[dirnker]

Hey everyone,
This is my first brew and I've noticed there is still quite a lot of gunk on the surface after 14 days.
Fermented around ~21 (don't have a chamber) and dry hopped pellets after 7 days (straight in the FV, no bag/mesh) and this is how it looks now (sorry for the shitty pictures haha)

I'm just unsure what to do now...
Are my options:
- Leave it longer (worried about 'grassy' taste from the hops though)
- Rack it to bottling bucket/secondary to bulk prime (hope that no floaties get transferred)
- Cold crash (put it in the fridge until they fall?) then prime
Any advice would be appreciated!

Oh, and I'm using Gash's Hoppy Pale Ale recipe

Thanks!

 

[mofox1]

Don't worry about it too much.

Has it finished? After 14 days @ 21 (assuming you are using us-05) it should be done, but there is only one way to tell. Get out that hydrometer and wait till you got stable readings (at the same temp) over a couple/several days.

If in doubt, just leave it a week and check the hydro readings again.

When it comes to bottling, a lot of folk do cold crash, but it's not mandatory. US-05 floc's out fairly well if you leave the bottles in the fridge for a week or so, but wait till they've carbed up first (a week or more at room temp). I'm not a bulk primer, but it seems *most* people will rack to bottling bucket / spare fermenter to avoid stirring up the dropped yeast/hops/trub. You'll also be able to better mix in the priming solution w/o having to worry about disturbing the dropped layers. Hopefully someone with first hand knowledge can chime in here.

Good luck and a belated welcome to the forum. :drinks:

Edit: Forgot to mention - when bottling, the surface gunk will most often stick to the sides of the fermenter as the liquid level drops. Just watch it as you get towards the tap level. You may find it useful to mark / label the last few bottles with sediment +1 powers.

 

[kaiserben]

Looks like hop material to me.
You could transfer to bottling bucket through a hop sock (sanitised, and over your hose/tube/tap or whatever it is you use to transfer).

 

[dirnker]

Thanks for the tips MoFox, I'm sure I'll still drink the cloudy ones haha

If I filter through a hop sock, wouldn't it aerate all the beer? Or doesn't it make much of a difference?

 

[pcmfisher]

Looks like pictures of the early Universe. B)