Contaminated! It fanally happened to me

[oguss0311]

So I have a nice pale ale in the secondary for- shoot- weeks on end now. I went to keg it now, as I want at least three things on tap for my 30th b-day bbq. I pick up the cardboard box up (its my no frills way to keep sunlight off of it while it matures in the basement) only to find that my undrilled bung.....Has fallen out! How long ago? who knows, but it must be weeks. So I assume that oxidation MUST have ruined it- if bacteria didn't. Gut I took a sip- and no- its fine on that front. I had like Maybe an inch of head space- so that must have helped. But- there ARE Puffy little white clouds floating in there! SH*T! Not too many, and the taste is .....Good! Great even. So, knowing that nothing can grow in beer that can Hurt us- I'm about to rack to the keg threw a nylon steeping bag in the hopes of Not letting these nasties into my keg. Hey- plenty of people will be there to see this one- I don't want to explain that they are looking at a foreign microbe's impersonation of a cyrus cloud in their beer.
Please give me your opinions on my current course of action, past experiences, etc.
Worse comes to worse, I have to assume this beer is harmless, and drink it myself.

 

[EvilTOJ]

With the bung popped off, oxidation won't affect the beer. CO2 is heavier than air, so even a little that bubbled out of solution when you racked will still protect it. Even then, oxygenation only affects beer when it's been mixed it, like say, vigorous splashing and mixing. Do NOT use a steeping bag! It'll aerate the beer.

If the beer still tastes good, rack underneath the fuzzies and leave a good inch of beer left in the carboy. I just bottled a wine I made back in September. It had a nice thick blanket of pellicle all over the top of it! I just racked and left it to rot in the carboy. The wine tastes fine. Your beer will be too if it tastes OK.

 

[7Enigma]

Since you are going to be kegging I would in-line filter it. I don't know where you could get one, or how much it would cost, but a nice stepped filter from say 10-0.2 micron would ensure nothing gets through to the keg. And since it already tastes good, you'll know it will be fine once in the keg.

If you don't want to do this (I don't blame you), I'd just be worried about potential off tastes (or worse) once you disturb the fermenter. If you know it is only at the surface you could aim for a spot not covered with your siphon hose get it down near the trub (so it's far away from the surface) and siphon until close to the surface and then stop. I figure you'll lose less than 20% of the beer if you're careful and this will be easier/cheaper than filtering.

 

[oguss0311]

In the end, I did (Before any replies were made) rack through a mesh steeping bag, and have since force carbonated. To date, nothing that was int here made it in- though whatever spores/whatever that stuff was Must have to some degree. But it tastes So good- I believe it may be my fav' of the three on tap at the moment.

 

[7Enigma]

Oh no! You've created a new style of beer that only you can replicate. Send AHBS a spore sample so they can mass produce it and sell it as an additive for a distinctive flavor. j/k Glad to hear it tastes great.