Is this stuff floating in the brew normal?

Im almost 2.5 weeks into a ferment of a block party ale. I havent notice any bubbling in the air lock for several days so I took a peek last night. The beer smells good and is clear but still has some stuff floating on top. Its the same color as the foamy stuff that is stuck to the side of the bucket. Im guessing leftover yeast or hops? Will this eventually sink or do I just need to siphon above the bottom sediment and below the floaters when I transfer to my bottling bucket?

Looks like yeast. If it was krausen. You would see like a ring on the side of the bucket when the krausen would drop. There was airlock activity. In the beginning. Take a hydrometer reading see whats going on. And a taste sample otherwise wait bit longer untill everything drops to the bottom.

Looks almost like the American Amber Ale I bottled a few days ago except the floating yeast was in larger chunks. Amber ale was fermented with US-05. The floaters won’t sink. Just stick your siphon and proceed.

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Cold crashing your beer for 24-48 hours before bottling will drop out anything floating such as yeast, hops, krausen, etc. if you had an infection you would be able to smell and or taste it most likely. Just to make sure, you had airlock activity at some point right?

Yes I had airlock activity. It smells like good beer to me. Ill look up cold crashing.

Yeah I’ve had a couple of suspect floaters in the beer before. I always make sure to work in a clean environment and sterilize and sanitize equipment to avoid infections. I’ve never encountered an infection before, but I’d almost be interested in doing a small batch and creating an infection intentionally just to gain the experience of knowing when in fact my beer does have one.
Cold crashing is simple, but requires you to place your Carboy into a fridge or freezer with a temp controller (So you don’t freez the beer). You will drop the beer temp to 36f-40f for 24-48 hours. The cold temps will force anything in suspension to the bottom. As for the yeast, there will be plenty of yeast still in suspension for your bottling (assuming you bottle). Don’t worry about allowing the beer to heat back up to room temp when you bottle, bottle it cold. If the beer heats back up, you will slowly start to see floaters such as krausen, hops, etc make their way back to the top.
In the event you bottle, use the same amount of priming sugar you normally would. I know the priming sugar calculators ask you for the temp of the beer. Don’t put 38 degrees. Put the temp the beer was when primary fermentation was over (eg:68degrees).

Also, switch out your airlock to an Stype airlock. I fill mine with vodka or even Jameson. This style airlock will allow for pressure to go out of the carboy as it will also allow for pressure to go back inside. When you cold crash your beer, the carboy will want to suck back in and cave in. Just like you leaving a half consumed coke in the hot car for hours it would expand. Put it back in the fridge and it will go back to normal.
Hope this helps

I pull the airlock and put a piece of electric tape over the bung and then I drink the Jameson.

HA!!! YOU GOT IT!! Nothing like some good ol Jameson

Tomorrow will be 3 weeks and I was getting everything ready to bottle. I went and checked on my batch and I was getting airlock bubbles. I popped the lid and I have fewer floaters. Time wise I’m ready to bottle bit I’m not sure with the airlock activity. It seemed less clear than it was last week?

A few degrees in temperature has a HUGE roll in airlock activity AND beer clarity. If your not using some type of chest freezer with a temp control or something similar, your temp probably fluctuates 3-5 degrees without you even knowing it. Like others have said, if your concerned about fermentation being complete, sanitize your hydrometer and drop it in the bucket. Take a reading and then repeat that process in 2 or 3 days. If your reading is the same, fermentation is complete.

A rule of thumb, primary is more than likely over when you aren’t getting more than 5 bubbles a minute though the airlock; although I don’t like to see any personally

Hey all! Similar issue here. I have tons of tiny floaters and a few larger clumps. All yeast color.
My concern was bc this is my 5th week in the fermenter. I did 2 in primary and racked to secondary and we are nearing the end of 3 weeks.

It’s sitting at 72* in a bathtub full of water.

I did open the lid to add nibs a couple weeks back, but it was for only a few seconds.
The nibs had soaked in bourbon for a week, so I assume they were clean.

Ideas? Just being a worrier?
Should I go ahead and bottle this weekend? Uploading…

Just for information. Watch the bottom of the upload screen. When the upload is done “Uploading” will disappear and the upload will show in the preview screen.

Yea. Having troubles from the phone. I’ll have to do it from a desktop later.

Thanks!

Looks normal. Some of the floating yeast will stick to the side of the fermentor as you siphon. Check the SG to make sure it is done fermenting before bottling. Move the fermentor the day before siphoning to the bottling bucket, if you do need to move it, to give floaties and yeast breaking loose from the the side of the fermentor more time to sink.

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