Restirring the yeast cake

[sleizure]

Hi all,
Back into brewing after a 10 year hiatus and I've had a great run of 6 brews that have all gone rather well. Switched over to All Grain and quite happy with my results. My Pant size disagrees.

I brewed up an Irish Red Ale a few weeks back, pitched a starter into the carboy and experienced the initial stages of fermentation, all sorts of psychadelia going on inside the carboy when I unzipped an old jacket to peek at it, however very minimal krausen but no bubbling out of the airlock. After 1 week I wondered it stalled and noticed there a definite loss of SG, so forgot about it for another week. I went back again a week later and it was registering the same, so after giving the carboy a swish, trying to bump up the temperature in the room a degree or two, I opted to just throw in a pack of US-05. After 3 days nothing seemed to happen so I decided to just make sure that the seal to the Airlock was good, popped out the bung and noticed through the hole that the seal of my carboy was hanging off. There we go with the cause of why no action as the CO2 was leaking out of it.

I'm not entirely sure what got over me, but I decided it would be a great idea to give the wort a good stir, and then got entirely out of control and started scooping up the yeast cake with the spoon to resuspend it in the liquid. And then sealed around the carboy lid with moving film as it's going to take 6 days to get a new gasket over to me. Ya, I know.

Anyways, 2 days later, the top half of the beer is a darker colour than the bottom, I'm getting all sorts of white spots on the surface. I've resigned to the fact that this beer is going to taste off. The question is what did I do to this in more terms than "You screwed it up!".

I'll still drink it. That will be my punishment - lesson learned.

 

[chickypad]

The white spots could signify the start of a pellicle (infection), or they could just be CO2 bubbles. Kinda hard to tell without a picture. It sounds like your beer was fine initially, most ales should be finished in less than a week. Instead of doing all that crap next time just take a gravity which will tell you what's going on. Besides risking infection you also have to worry about introducing oxygen by stirring it up after its done, which will make it stale faster/possibly lead to off flavors. If you attach a pic maybe we can help with the infection question.

 

[sleizure]

Thanks for the reply! I will wait till tomorrow to get a picture for the infection, I'm guessing it is pellicile. I suppose I should have actually posed a better question in my OP. What sort of damage have I done to the beer by resuspending the entire yeast cake in the beer? My thoughts now are to let it settle for a few more days and rack it into a keg and hope for the best.

 

[IslandLizard]

Resuspending (rousing) the yeast cake is fine, as long as you stir gently, trying not to whip air into the beer. During active fermentation the fermenter's headspace fills with CO2, driving air off, while keeping nasties out, even if the bung was leaking. As soon as you remove the bung air starts to mix with the CO2. The gentler you stir the better.

Have you taken a gravity reading of a sample using a hydrometer? That tells you where the beer is. Also gives you a taste for reference.
What yeast did you pitch the first time? How much?

As @chickypad said, white specks floating on top may from outgassing or the start of a pellicle forming, which comes from bacteria (or wild yeasts) that got inside and are trying to take over. Review your sanitation methods, something may have been missed.

Since you mentioned having a keg, you should flush headspaces with CO2 after or while working with the beer underneath, when taking samples, etc. If you stream in CO2 at a low rate, nothing can get in, even (most) air is kept out.

If it's drinkable and definitely infected, keg up ASAP, keep chilled to prevent "bugs" from growing, and drink up fast.

 

[sleizure]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I've attached a photo and it is textbook start of pellicles. I'll be putting it into a keg today and be careful not to disturb the surface.

For what its worth, my readings are this:
2018-10-13 Preboil 1.049
2018-10-13 OG 1.058
2018-10-13 Pitched 1litre starter WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast
2018-10-17 1.040
2018-10-24 1.027
2018-10-24 Pitched 11g of US05

Recipe called for an estimated FG of 1.012 but I believe my waiting to hold out for any more movement is done with the infection. I'll report back on how it tastes before going into the keg, and once carbonated.

 

[RM-MN]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I've attached a photo and it is textbook start of pellicles. I'll be putting it into a keg today and be careful not to disturb the surface.

For what its worth, my readings are this:
2018-10-13 Preboil 1.049
2018-10-13 OG 1.058
2018-10-17 1.040
2018-10-24 1.027

Recipe called for an estimated FG of 1.012 but I believe my waiting to hold out for any more movement is done with the infection. I'll report back on how it tastes before going into the keg, and once carbonated.

That photo is also the textbook picture of yeast rafts being carried to the surface by escaping bubbles of CO2. I don't think you have an infection.

 

[IslandLizard]

That photo is also the textbook picture of yeast rafts being carried to the surface by escaping bubbles of CO2. I don't think you have an infection.

Exactly!

Pellicles usually start as a whitish haze forming over the beer surface, becoming increasingly thicker, threadlike, like a coarsely woven blanket. Not white dots all over.