Colour change when racking

[Ajhutch]

I bottled a Pilsner last night and was absolutely staggered by the change in the colour of the beer when I racked from the FV to bottling bucket. It went from being a clear golden colour in the FV to the offspring of a NEIPA and a hefeweizen in the bottling bucket. I’m completely mystified.

All my syphon kit, bottling bucket etc had been cleaned with PBW and sanitised with StarSan as normal. The sugar solution was already in the bottling bucket and I racked the beer on top, but I can’t believe that colour change is only caused by adding priming sugar, I’ve never noticed this before.

The pictures attached are of the beer in the bottling bucket, FV and a sample glass from each (bottling bucket on the left, FV on the right). The colour change didn’t reverse or settle out in an hour.

Any thoughts? Anything obvious I’ve not considered?

 

[simon12]

Theres something strange there, how do they taste?

 

[Leon103]

Is it not just the yeast and trub in suspension

 

[Simonh82]

How much splashing was there during the transfer. Oxidation can cause a pretty rapid colour change.

 

[simon12]

Good point have you just sucked up all the sediment? If so leave it to settle out again.

 

[Ajhutch]

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

Simon12 - good question which I should have mentioned in the OP. There was no difference in taste that I wouldn’t put down to the priming sugar

Leon103 - possible of course but I don’t think so. I was originally racking from right at the top, and the change of colour was almost instant. Also this was a beer that had been lagering for 8 week. The glass full from the FV was just scooped out from right on top of the yeast cake which was packed right down. I really wanted this to be a clear beer so I ‘budgeted’ 2 extra litres to not rack to the bottling bucket so I didn’t suck up yeast cakes. Notwithstanding the precautions I took, it is certainly a possibility and hopefully the beer does clear again in the bottle.

Simonh82 - there was no more splashing than ‘normal’, I’m not brilliant at racking it has to be said but it certainly wasn’t slopping about. One thing I considered was if it was CO2 nucleating like when you pour a glass of beer, but I’d expect this to have dissipated quickly.

 

[Covrich]

It doesn't look too outrageous if like they say you disturbed it a bit during transfer

 

[Covrich]

To add, you have a dark backdrop and the cloudier racked version is less translucent to the backdrop..

I know it sounds odd as I am not ther ein person but it just looks cloudier to me?

 

[Pavros]

Like Covrich, when looking at the glasses, I don't think there is much wrong with it especially if the taste is ok. I often have pretty clear beer in the fv which turns cloudy when transferred to the bottling bucket and then clears after a week or less in the bottles. It can look very cloudy straight after bottling and I often wonder how the bottles can be so cloudy when the beer was clear coming out of the fv.

I also find that the colour in a fermenter can be deceptive in that a beer can look darker when looking at a mass of 20 litres, then look straw-like in the siphon tubing and somewhere in between when the final product is in a pint glass after conditioning. It can also depend on the lighting and backgrounds of the pictures.

 

[Ajhutch]

Hopefully you’re right and I am worrying about nothing. I was just a bit taken aback because I’d never seen it like that before. Maybe it’s because I’ve never had clear beer in the FV before

 

[-Bezza-]

I'm wondering if it's just some CO2 bubbles making themselves a bit visible. Kinda like sometimes you can get cloudy water out the tap because of the air in there. Perhaps leave a glass in the fridge for a couple of days and see what happens - does it clear or not? If it does, is there any sediment in the glass?

 

[Ajhutch]

This beer is now carbed. The colour/consistency hasn’t changed. And it tastes........weird. It smells like strawberry yoghurt and tastes, and I realise how strange this sounds, milky. Not sour milk, just regular milk.

Clearly something went wrong somewhere, but given the way it happened so suddenly I’m stumped. I think throwing away the racking tube is step one, certainly seems like something wasn’t right in my sanitation.

Update. It’s rank. I’ll try another tomorrow but it’s looking like drain fodder.

 

[BeerCat]

Thats a gutter isnt it. Rack your beer to a FV and it turns into mess like that. Do you think there was a clump of pbw stuck to the FV? Looks a bit soapy to me. For bottling lager i would just use a funnel and measuring spoon. I had a lot of trouble with oxidisation in my bottled lagers to the point i gave up and only keg them now. I would of thought a bottling bucket increases oxidisation. Sucks though, horrible throwing away beer.

 

[Leon103]

This beer is now carbed. The colour/consistency hasn’t changed. And it tastes........weird. It smells like strawberry yoghurt and tastes, and I realise how strange this sounds, milky. Not sour milk, just regular milk.

Clearly something went wrong somewhere, but given the way it happened so suddenly I’m stumped. I think throwing away the racking tube is step one, certainly seems like something wasn’t right in my sanitation.

Update. It’s rank. I’ll try another tomorrow but it’s looking like drain fodder.

sanitation?

Maybe a typo, but made me laugh

 

[Ajhutch]

The act of sanitising? That’s the word isn’t it?

 

[Ajhutch]

Do you think there was a clump of pbw stuck to the FV? Looks a bit soapy to me.

That’s a good thought. It makes the most sense to me of all the things that have come up in the replies.

 

[BeerCat]

That’s a good thought. It makes the most sense to me of all the things that have come up in the replies.

These things happen. A while back i kegged the wrong fv. Was only a week old and tasted foul.

 

[Leon103]

The act of sanitising? That’s the word isn’t it?

sanitisation

The one quoted originally is about getting rid of human waste.

 

[Ajhutch]

Ah ok. Nothing to report on that front despite the dodgy beer

 

[Covrich]

Damn, sorry to hear that mate, not nice having to pour one away