Floaters in my brew

[hong]

I have a Youngs barley wine kit in the primary for 2 weeks now. I used a 1kg of BKE, & all seemed fine but just noticed there is floaters in the brew. I am presuming that they are undissolved bits of BKE. Will this be ok? Should i just leave it? In future is it best to dissolve the BKE in a pan of boiling water before adding to the bucket?
Cheers for any help.

[rootsbrew]

Firstly, yes: always make sure the dry ingredients are fully disolved before adding the yeast. Boiling them in a couple of litres of water is an effective means of achieving a uniform solution.

Now, to remedy the floaters...
Try slowly warming the FV up to 22°C and checking it in a few days time. If it's definitely just a bit of BKE, a good bit of plunging and swirling with a large spoon should help. If the floaters are mould, the infection will be more obvious after agitation and a few days' warmth and you'll know whether you should bother bottling or just bin the brew.

For inert particles, like tired hops, simply syphon the beer into another FV via a fine mesh strainer (all sterile, of course). Racking to a second FV at 14 - 21 days is no bad thing, so long as sanitation is observed - just filter the beer as it's entering the second FV, using something like a very fine tea strainer.

Good luck

[hong]

Great answer, cheers mate!

[Greatcthulhu]

I'll be quite happy to be told I'm wrong, but if your beer has been in the FV for two weeks, then fermentation must be complete, or very close to it and a vigorous stir is going to oxygenate the beer, which means that you run the risk of oxidizing it. What colour are the floaters? If they're brown it might be from the krausen when it subsided after the initial rush of fermentation.

[cellone]

I'm a simple fella so I would brew it as normal, albeit a little longer or slower. The chances are that it's happy and well and will produce a nice clear beer. Taking it a little slower will give time at worst to show up any infections and at best let it do it's thing and end up a very decent drink. I would also be worried that too much fiddling runs the risk infection or oxidizing( wrong word but you know what I mean).

It's only one brew in a long line that you'll lose count of.

[rootsbrew]

...if your beer has been in the FV for two weeks, then fermentation must be complete, or very close to it and a vigorous stir ... means that you run the risk of oxidizing it.

My thoughts were that a single bout of stirring and plunging would be unlikely to cause too much harm re: oxidation, but would cause either complete metabolism of residual fermentables or proliferation of the possible infection (kill or cure!).

What colour are the floaters? If they're brown it might be from the krausen when it subsided after the initial rush of fermentation.

There is that too. Racking would probably remove these, though.

...Taking it a little slower will give time at worst to show up any infections and at best let it do it's thing and end up a very decent drink... It's only one brew in a long line that you'll lose count of.

Pragmatic approach. Probably correct, too. However, still aiming at the same thing - either let the infection show itself properly or let the beer clear up by itself. I like the philosophical note about it being one of many - sometimes easier to say than do when there appears to be a problem in the brew.

[hong]

I stirred it yesterday, & have bottled today. The floaters have gone & the beer tasted good, very strong. Thanks again for your advice. Will be doing a Ditchs stout tomorrow!

[cookoff]

i always use a saucepan to heat up my fermentables before adding it to the FV.

-heat up a litre of water.
-add either tins, dry spraymalt or sugar.
- mix well.
-add boiling / hot water from kettle to tins, stir and using oven mitts add to the saucpan.
-after the saucepan contents are mixed well and are smooth, add to the fermentation vessel with water already in it.
-top up to 20litres or so...
- thermometer on the side.....
- under 24C add yeast.

-wait.