I’ve done a few beers this winter with WY Pilsen lager yeast. They all have formed these flat globular floaters that I notice when I go to rack the beer. It’s like a light brown with maybe some green in it. I usually scooop it off before I rack and it tastes harshly bitter more than anything which makes me think leftover Krausen.
So the fact that it’s been in my lagers leads me to believe it’s either related to this yeast I haven’t used before or I have infection in my bucket.
All the lagers were fermented in the low 50’s. I’ve also been leaving all the trub/hops/break in the fermenter which is new to me but I don’t see how that would be a factor.
Also, I haven’t noticed any off flavors in the beers but maybe I don’t have the pallet (spelling?) for it yet or I just catch it early enough. They all taste / tasted pretty clean to me.
That doesn’t look normal for any type of lager fermentation, nor does it look fine for an ale. That doesn’t look like any sour beer I’ve ever made. In my experience it doesn’t even look like anything brettanomyces would generate. I shouldn’t even speculate what it is or isn’t, but I know it’s not normal.
also not an expert, but I can say that I have seen that on my beers more than once (both ales and lagers). Didn’t really think too much of it. It drops out with extended cold lager (at least for me).
No off flavors/bad stuff going on in the beer afterwards. Perhaps there is something in Yeast (White/Zainasheff) about it? It’s still just sitting on my bookshelf.
Thanks for the responses. Kind of what I figured / hoped.
Also, Not to hijack my own thread but is a ring of Krausen normal with lager yeast? The one in my pic was a little bigger than most b/c the beer was strong but I thought lager yeast was bottom fermenting.
Lagers definitely have a krausen ring. The CO2 that evolves from fermentation pushes yeast and other things that are in the krausen to the top… just like ales. In fact, I think budwiser has special fermentation tanks that help keep the krausen from falling back into the beer.
I call it fermentation residual resins. It’s the byproducts of the fermentation generated by the krausen layer that was busy fermenting the wort and they are sticky (oily) and bitter. It’s best to let them remain behind during the racking stage.
I’ve seen this before in my lagers (bottom fermenters). I always figured it was bits of trub that were lifted to the surface by CO2 bubbles caught up in the proteins. No worries.
I’ve got some of this going on with my Cali common that has been going for 7 days now. I am guessing the either Turb of Krousen (hop resins) hence the bitterness
