Beer Forum

I have a beer (pale ale with all home grown hops) that went through a vigorous fermentation. Fermentation started a couple hour after pitching. It acted like every other pale ale fermentation I have done... it slowed way down after day 3ish. But there is a layer of off-white bubbles on the top... big bubbles. Its now day 12 and they are still there. This has never happened in any of my beers.

I tasted it and it tastes fine, no hint of contamination. The other odd thing is its very cloudy. And I can see a distinct color difference, its lighter on the top and darker towards the bottom. I'm assuming this is yeast hanging in suspension?

Anybody experience this and is this an infection, did I overpitch or something else?

Here is some details of the brew:

7.75lb pale 2 row
6oz carapils
6oz munich
4oz c60
2oz honey malt
2oz flaked wheat
.75oz chinook @ 60
.5oz cascade @ 20
.25oz chinook @ 10
.25oz chinook @ 0
.25oz cascase @ 0

I mashed at :152 to 153
SG: 1.044
Yeast: I pitched about 150 ml of wyeast 1056 slurry from a previous batch into a starter 48 hours before pitching. I kegged the previous batch 3 days before so the yeast was fresh out of that batch (And that batch tastes great, no infection).

current gravity: 1.005 (I've taken 3 measurements and it has not went down from there)

sounds like the yeast are just hanging around longer. Sometimes those bubbles come from temperature changes, like if the beer gets warmer at the end of fermentation, some of the dissolved co2 comes out.

I'd rack it to a secondary this weekend and then cold crash it after a couple days, just to give it a little extra time to clear up.

Can you link to a picture of the bubbles?

I've seen it when I warm the temperature up, cool it down and they go away.

I'll post a pic or two later tonight.

I'll probably rack to a secondary tonight with isinglass and give it a few days.

Here is the pic of the bubble through the better bottle... I'm racking to a secondary now:

That looks like a normal end to fermentation to me. Have no fears and drink your beer!

Yep, I racked to a secondary vessel with isinglass and it is still and clearing up. I'll keg and crash cool on Turkey day most likely. Thanks to All!