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Floating stuff in the secondary

Djehuty

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I may have a problem with my current batch of beer.  I transferred it to the secondary fermenter yesterday.  I just went down to the basement to check on it, and there are lots of little patches of slightly foamy white stuff floating on the surface.  It looks worrisomely like the stuff I found floating on some coffee I accidentally left in a thermos bottle for a month or so.

Now, it occurs to me that I've never used a lager yeast before.  So it's just possible that this is what happens when the carbon dioxide bubbles up as a lager yeast works.  But it looks less than appetizing.

So... am I doomed?
 
Time will tell - if its really something alive ---- it will multiply. Its not unusual t see small clusters of small bubbles on the surface. Relax and have a home brew !
 
Doomed?
I don't think so! Why did you go with a secondary? How long was it on the original yeast? Does it smell (funny?) It may be just junk that was transferred and later floated? Give it a chance because by transferring you may have given oxygen to a oxygen depleted yeast and it may take off again? "Relax and have a home brew"
 
Thanks... I could be wrong, but I don't remember those bubble-clusters floating on previous brews.  But then it's been a while, and I'm better sometimes at forgetting than at remembering. :)

I transferred it to a secondary because... um... it seemed like a good idea at the time?  I thought time in a secondary fermenter would improve the brew.  It spent a week in the primary, and I've allotted it a further week in the secondary before bottling.
 
Djehuty said:
Now, it occurs to me that I've never used a lager yeast before. 

It spent a week in the primary, and I've allotted it a further week in the secondary before bottling.



Lager yeasts need much longer in primary to fully ferment, and then longer in secondary (lagering) to clean up and to clarify.  Two to three weeks primary, then four weeks lagering is not uncommon. 

Some gravity readings are in order to see where it stands.
 
Oh, hell's bells, did I ruin the beer by moving it to the secondary?  I waited until there was very little carbon dioxide making its way out of the airlock (after five minutes, a bubble made it less than halfway through), then siphoned it into a carboy -- as I do with ales.

Would this be less catastrophic if I mentioned I'm making a California common?  As I understand it, the process for that is the same as for an ale, except for the yeast strain.
 
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