Same yeast, different look

Hi all!

Pictured is two 1 gallon jugs with nearly the same grainbill, same hops, and the same yeast that came from the same pack that I split into two quantities. (Experiments with slight grain variation)  year is Super San Diego from White Labs.

why does one look like normal, and the other looks like it has a SCOBY floating?
PrUj3mbSPiMFAotN9 (905 KB)
Google Photos

Looks off, that’s for sure. Definitely not typical. But how does it taste? Ultimately, that’s the only thing that matters.

Very interesting indeed.  I’m also very curious as to why this happened.

Update: Final gravity was within .003 of each other. Nothing off on taste. Bottled each, will see if final product is different.

The floating yeast colony was a custard-like solid, broke up with firm pressure. Anyone else have an idea?

Interesting indeed. Looks like all the trub is going instead of sinking to the bottom. Glad they taste okay. Not sure what exactly would cause that but what was the difference in the grain bill you were testing?

I’ve been able to replicate the oddity. It seems I added the yeast then aerated, so the yeast seemed to ride the bubbles and formed a floating city.

I don’t know why I did it in that order, I’ve never done it in that order, nor remember doing it in that order.

Learn from my mistakes; aerate THEN pitch.