Today is bottling day and there are layers in my brew

Yeast & Fermentation
1

Hello all, I am new to home brewing and I am currently on my second batch, which I came up with the recipe for myself. It is a pumpkin beer (not sure what type?) and it smells really good. Today it has been in the carboy for 2 weeks and I was going to bottle it, but when I brought it in to the kitchen I noticed there are layers in it that are different clarities and densities. I can only see 3 different layers, but I noticed that some of the trub stuck to the sides of the carboy came loose when I moved it and some of it has settled on an invisible 4th layer about halfway down. Is this a sign that it is not finished fermenting? Or is it done and I should just shake the container a little and let it settle again before I bottle it? OR did I just completely mess up and it’s ruined??? The ingredients I used are below:

Chocolate Malt
Crystal Malt
Breiss Pilsen Light DME
East Kent Golding hops
Hallertau hops
Cluster hops
Pumpkin
Butternut Squash
Cinnamon stick
Vanilla extract (added just after removing from heat to evaporate the alcohol)
Molasses
Safale s-04 Dry AMolasses

Thanks for your help everybody! Sorry for being such a noob at homebrewing.

2

Sorry I am on my phone so I guess it decided to add molasses in again… I meant to say Safale s-04 Dry Ale Yeast. Thanks.

3

Do you have a hydrometer for measuring gravity? It’s the only way to know for sure if fermentation is done. If you’re in the right ballpark and can measure the same value 2 or 3 days apart, you’re good.

I wouldn’t worry too much about bottling it if it wasn’t completely clear as it’ll settle out in the bottle - as long as fermentation is complete - but it would be better for it to clear on its own in the carboy.

4

I would give this beer another week or two in the primary for all this trub to compact. Without a compact trub layer you will be leaving a lot of beer in the fermentor and still need to leave quite a bit in every bottle.

5

Agree with Flars. Especially if you don’t have a hydrometer to confirm that you’ve reached FG. If you’re certain you’ve reached FG then you could try a cold crash before bottling but having never put ‘gourd’ materials in my beer I can’t guarantee that would settle it all out either…

6

When I first read the subject I thought it said “there are lawyers in my brew”
I was thinking “dump it; hurry! While there’s still time!”

But yea, do what Flars, said.