Floaters in my beer

[clyne]

Hey all. So I’ve got a weird problem and just not sure what it is. I’ve got about 4 brews now which all have tiny little floaters in them. The first couple I dry hopped so thought it might have been that. But then I had a kit which also had similar floaters (the other three are all grain using my robobrew). The last one I moved from fermenter to keg today and noticed the same. Took a couple of pics which I’ve added here.

I can’t think what it could be as it’s a variety of methods, grain, yeast etc. The only thing I noticed was that my SS chronical Fermenter had what looked like a bit of a build up of limescale on it. I’ve given this a good clean with bar keepers friend, could this have been the cause?

I’ve tried filtering the last beer (a porter) through a fine muslin bag and yet there’s still floaters. The beers don’t taste off - quite a bitter aftertaste but otherwise ok.

Help!

 

[clyne]

I forgot to mention above that I’ve tried cold crashing and gelatin to try and clear but even after a week these ‘bits’ refuse to settle. Planning a lager next weekend so would love to get to the bottom of it before then

 

[jceg316]

Looks like yeast to me. What yeast(s) are you using? Are the beers fully attenuated when you keg?

Have you noticed these affect the clarity of your beer? I've bottled quite a few beers with similar chunks floating on top but it hasn't seem to affected the beer's clarity.

 

[clyne]

Yeah yeast is my instinct too but strange as it’s been different types. Some dry (the kit), some harvested yeast made up into a starter. All well attenuated and left to ferment for at least 2 weeks before kegging. I’d say it’s definitely affecting clarity - can’t get them to clear for love nor money!

 

[jceg316]

Something else to consider for clarity is using enough protafloc/Irish moss/whirlfloc etc. I've started brewing on a larger system and my beers are less clear due to not enough protafloc (once I forgot to put some in altogether and that was a haze bomb). Ingredients can play a part: more hops tend to == more haze, but when you put them in will have an affect too. Certain malts high in proteins like wheat, flaked barley etc will contribute a haze difficult to remove. Certain yeasts will remain in flocculation and cause some haze too, although these tend to be wheat beer yeasts for hazy styles like wit, NEIPA etc.

I've tried this method before Lager Method to clear my lagers and they have come out crystal clear with minimum sediment in the bottom. I've tried it with ales as well, changing the fermentation temperatures accordingly.

Do you check the attenuation with a hydrometer? What is the carbonation like on the final beer?

 

[clyne]

Thanks @jceg316 - some useful info there. What's annoying me is that I've never had this issue before and this is probably around my 20th brew - but only recently started to have this problem. I've actually been reading on that lager method quite recently (in prep for my lager brew next weekend!). It did make me wonder whether a slightly higher fermentation temperature might be causing these "floaters" as I think I've had my fermentation fridge up around 23 for a wine I was doing at the same time - could that be stressing the yeast out too much?

I normally take a gravity reading with a hydrometer after 2 weeks and as long as that's in a normal FG range then I rack to my keg (around 1006 or thereabouts).

I force carb most of the time so able to control the carbonation, although I am considering bottling some of each of these beers and seeing if they settle any better if left in a cold fridge and some patience.

 

[bobukbrewer]

I ferment for 3 to 6 days, then bottle. I use irish moss in last 20 minutes of boil, and clarex on day 2 of fermentation. Safale 04 yeast. 3.8% abv

 

[Beebee31]

Feel free to ignore this as you’re much more experienced than me but....if it’s something that’s common across your brews and it’s only started relatively recently....could it be something from a less than perfectly clean bit of kit that’s getting reused?

maybe something inside the tap on your FV, the bit of your mixing spoon that you hold while cleaning so it doesn’t get 100% clean?

I know. I’m clutching at straws but it sounds odd that it’s common to all brews....

 

[clyne]

@Beebee31 - That's what's also going through my head, but I'm normally pretty anal about sanitisation. That said, I did wonder whether that build up on my FV could have been the cause of it. I guess I'll find out soon enough as I'm going to have another brew day next weekend. I'll make sure I keep this thread updated. Also going to try and transfer between kegs and use another muslin bag to see if I can filter most of it out. It doesn't bother ME too much about drinking the little bits as long as it tastes OK - but I'm sure you guys all know the reaction you get when you give friends a bottle and it's less than perfect. See other threads on similar topics :) May post a couple more pics of the floaters in each of the beers see if some of the more experienced brewers recognise it. At the moment I'm thinking it's either yeast or it's limescale(ish) from the inside of the FV. One thing I don't normally do (as our highland water is generally good quality) is add a campden tablet, but I'm going to start doing this as I have noticed (coincidence?) our kettle getting more of a build up of limescale than it used to so maybe our water has changed recently. Ramble over!

 

[jceg316]

I've had my fermentation fridge up around 23 for a wine I was doing at the same time - could that be stressing the yeast out too much?

It really depends on the yeast. Some yeast is really fussy with temperature fluctuations and being a little warm, a lot of Belgian strains will produce fusel flavours which aren't nice and even US-05 starts spitting out less than desirable flavours at higher temperatures. Which makes me think if you are using US05 or something similar and it's in a fridge at 23°c, it's likely that off flavours could be produced as the fermenter could be a little warmer at 25°c. However as you say the flavour is fine, something I have noticed is yeast doesn't flocculate so well at warmer temperatures and cold crashing for a week might help.

As I was writing this I had another thought. You mentioned you're repitching yeast? Yeast changes after a certain number of repitches and depending on the yeast health, conditions it's kept in and the strain, that change can happen a lot sooner than later. 5-6 repitches is the rule of thumb, but some have said it can happen as soon as 3. A change yeast can take is it can no longer flocculate, or attenuates lower, or gives out slightly different flavours etc.

One yeast I really love is W-34/70. It seems really resilient, can handle being fermented warm (up to 25 or so, it's a lager yeast) and still produce clean flavours. If using to ferment at lager temps though 2 rehydrated packets are recommended.

but I'm sure you guys all know the reaction you get when you give friends a bottle and it's less than perfect.

I've spent loads of time trying to create a good tasting beer whcih is also clear, and then NEIPAs and unfiltered lagers become the next hype and all my friends are going after these dishwater-looking pints. They now love it when I hand them an opaque yellow glass

 

[Gerryjo]

It's certainly looks like yeast and I've had issues before when I've fermented too high with S04 and bottled too early without cold crashing.

 

[clyne]

Some good info above as well, thanks both @Gerryjo and @jceg316 (must try that yeast strain you mentioned!). So, decided to get a little bit more scientific about it this afternoon and park the emotion (oh no! I can't brew beer any more!) and focus on the facts. So, I took a small sample from each beer - put it in a glass, then filtered it through a fine muslin bag to capture the "floaters". I've attached the pics for reference, but I'm happy to report that I'm pretty confident that 3 of the 4 is just hops. Two of the brews were dry hopped and obviously just haven't settled entirely yet (and may not I guess). I'd forgotten that the kit I did also had hops added at the end post fermentation so would explain this as well (and I can't remember - and stupidly didn't make my normal notes as it was "just" a kit - but I think I may have fired in some of my own hops too!). So, explains the hops in all three. The fourth - I'm pretty sure, as per @jceg316 (and a couple of others) - this is just yeast and it will also settle out now that it's resting in the keg. I'm going to put this to bed for now and see how it goes next weekend (no dry hopping involved!!).

Love this forum - thanks guys!

p.s. the pic with the muslin bag is the last one - just out of fermenter.

 

[bobukbrewer]

I predict you will meet a tall dark and handsome stranger who will make you an offer you cannot refuse.....

 

[clyne]

Haha! Can’t wait!