What to do with infected brew?

[Homercidal]

So I got an IIPA that somehow got infected. The pellicle started out kind of spidery, but now it's white and fluffy with a bunch of small bubbles.

Last time I tasted it it tasted "FINE", like not infected fine. It's been just a while since then and I'm thinking about letting it go until it hits terminal gravity, then kegging or bottling. (Kegging because I have a 2.5 gallon fire extinguisher keg I can use and then bake it afterwards to kill everything!)

Any idea how long it will take? Any idea what the expected terminal gravity might be? I just want to be sure to not have bottle bombs is all.

 

[foltster]

If it was mine I would probably taste it and see where its at.

Most likely this is gonna be a dumper, but if it tastes ok now, then one option is to just keg it and get it cold, and keep it cold.

Other options are to let it ferment out, toss in other wild strains if you have them, transfer to a secondary, etc.

It will likely take a number of months to ferment out, depending on temperature, amount of attenuation left, and O2 exposure, etc.

 

[inflictor-of-grimness]

You should be drinking a iipa long before the infection has a chance to do a whole lot

 

[Homercidal]

You should be drinking a iipa long before the infection has a chance to do a whole lot

I agree. This would be a long shot in any event. I do know a guy who brett'ed up a batch of Two Hearted and it was actually really good.

But my beer tasted like ass last night, so I dumped it.

It had a very strong aroma like nasty cheese. Reminded me of the smell of Bleu Cheese or maybe Camembert. Not sure it was quite like ammonia, but definitely an odd aroma.

And it was dry. It got down to 1.002 and had no residual sweetness at all.

Wrong bugs I guess. The pellicle was pure white sitting on top of a layer of pellet hops, with a bunch of small bubbles poking through.

I soaked that plastic BMB with oxy for a few hours, then an overnight soak in a strong solution of Starsan. Hopefully it doesn't follow through to the next batch!

 

[secondbase]

Sounds like isovaleric acid, a result of a brett infection most likely. Personally, I would dump that bucket. Better to start fresh than take a chance of another unwanted infected batch.