Suspended Yeast in Beer??

[kingdarb]

Hey all.  I am new to this forum and to brewing at home.  My first batch was a 5 gallon amber ale partial mash kit.  I followed the directions on the kit, and into the primary fermenter (bucket) it went.  Bubbled away for a few days.  At day ten I siphoned the beer into a 5 gallon glass carboy for a secondary (I know opinions vary on this - was following the kit directions).  It's been in the secondary for about six days now.  Having said that, the beer does not appear to be "clearing" the way it is supposed to in the secondary.  The beer itself is very murky, and there appear to be suspended particles of yeast throughout the carboy.

The carboy is in the basement and the temperature there goes between 68-70f.  The yeast used in the kit was dry yeast (nottingham) and was pitched on top of the wort after the cold break and transfer to the primary.  I have read that cold-crashing can help, but at this time I do not have a secondary fridge or freezer that I can use for this purpose. 

I have attached a couple of pictures.  Does this look normal to you more seasoned home brewers?  Do I just need to leave this for longer to let the yeast settle and the beer clear at bit more?  I  sure don't want to bottle it with wee floating boogers throughout.

Thanks!

[jtoots]

looks normal to me, and without a temp drop i'm not sure how much better it'll get.  my suggestion would be to wait for another week or so, then...

-siphon into your bottling bucket while keeping the bottom of the siphon off the bottom of the carboy
-don't worry about losing a touch of beer instead of pulling yeast up into the bottling bucket
-don't worry if your beer isn't clear
-don't worry.

I keg now, but even in the keg I find that (other than gelatin) the best way to clear a beer is to keep it in the fridge/cold keg for a couple weeks.  I even find this on some brews that I cold crash in the fermenter.

[kingdarb]

Great thanks for the info.  This being the first time, I am likely putting a lot more thought into it than I should!

[jtoots]

my pleasure!  brew lots and it'll start to feel like clockwork.

[kingdarb]

Starting to get a bit better at it.  Did a wheat beer a few days ago (it's in the primary now) and that process went a bit smoother than the first time.  Next thing I am going to try is an imperial stout - might as well get it going now so it's ready for winter!

[jtoots]

yummy.  i'm so bad about brewing for the future months.  hmm, maybe an octoberfest next....

[KellerBrauer]

I'll go ahead and throw my two cents in...jtoots is correct with his/her assessment.  My thoughts are, however, to go ahead and bottle it after its been in the secondary for about a week or so.  After its bottled, let it condition for a few weeks at room temp, then cold crash it.  And, you don't have to crash it all at once.  What I have done is place about a case in the fridge for about a month.  Then simply replenish what I take out with "un-crashed" beer.  Providing you don't drink a full case very quickly, the beer will be clearing while you're enjoying a nice clear beer that you put in a month ago.

Good Luck!!

[kingdarb]

Great thanks again fellas.  I am busy working right now, but I am on days off in a few days so I am going to set to bottling the batch then.  Will be a bit of time before it's ready to drink but that's cool.  Will give me some more time to drink some Hacker Pschorr so that I can get some empty swing tops. 

[KipDM]

since you haven't posted: how did your first 2 beers turn out?
since then?

also, as i'm sure you know by now, always let them bottle condition a minimum of 14 days [preferably 21+] before you refrigerate. i personally try to let them refrigerate for at least a week before drinking to let more yeast settle/better clarity.

but to your original issue: as others have stated: until you do any form of temperature crash there won't be THAT much settling of the yeast, and just making wheat or dark beers helps hide how much yeast is still suspended...LOL, people notice if a pilsner is cloudy, who ever notices a wheat or stout being cloudy?