First Batch - Possible Infection?

[NateDawg]

Hi everyone,

I’m working on my first batch of beer, a hefeweizen, which has been in primary fermentation for 2 weeks. After the first 10 days, while I was removing the lid to take a gravity measurement, a small amount of tap water from my airlock leaked into the wort. I won’t make this mistake again, as I now know that it’s safer to fill the airlock with sanitizer.

Anyway, 2 days after this mishap, I noticed a white substance had formed on the side of the carboy, as well as a thin layer above the krausen ring. for whatever reason, this substance only formed on the side of the carboy and I do not see it anywhere in the wort and it has not spread beyond the area shown in the photo.

So my questions are...
1. Does this appear to be an early stage of some form of infection? My guess is it could be a strain of bacteria that can’t survive in the beer because of the alcohol content. If this is the case, then it shouldn’t be a problem?
2. If this is an actual infection, is there anything I can do to prevent it from spreading and salvage the beer?

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Nate

 

[jschein]

A picture would be great

 

[Sammy86]

Picture would be very helpful.

But to answer your questions:

1. Alcohol content doesn't mean anything, if an infection gets in the beer it is dunski.

2. No you can not stop an infection. Once that happens unfortunately the beer is going to an early grave (down the drain)

 

[NateDawg]

Sorry, just uploaded the photo

 

[Sammy86]

Sorry, just uploaded the photo

Looks like normal krausen with some yeast rafts...did it smell weird or off putting?

 

[jdauria]

Looks like a regular krausen with some yeast stuck on the side of carboy to me.

 

[NateDawg]

Thanks for the feedback. Good to know it’s probably just yeast. Looks like it hasn’t spread at all over the past few days so I don’t think it’s an infection. Smells fine, but I haven’t tasted it since the last sample. I’m thinking it will be OK, though.

Not sure how it got on the side of the carboy. It must have splashed onto the side when I was moving the carboy or something.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Fermentation will cause the krausen to stick to the sides of the carboy.

As others have suggested, when in doubt, smell it. You'll know quickly.

 

[NateDawg]

Yeah, there was no confusion about the krausen. The white substance in the photo is about 2-3 inches above the krausen ring and it appeared a few days after the incident, which is why I thought maybe it could’ve been an infection. Maybe it’s hard to tell from the photo, but the white substance is not on the surface of the beer, it’s on the side of carboy.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

I see it now. To me, looks like spit. Difficult to determine from photo. Something left in the carboy from cleaning/sanitizing?

Bad infection is normally black or pink.

 

[NateDawg]

I don’t think it’s residual sanitizer because I only used Star San to sanitize and the carboy was very clean (this was a brand new carboy and my first time using it). Also, this showed up after 12 days into fermentation.

Anyway, I’m thinking it probably isn’t an issue because it doesn’t appear to be spreading.

 

[bracconiere]

what kind of fermenter is that? the eye-glass sorta shapes make it look weird.....but the white stuff, "on the sides of", your fermenter are normal...lol (had to toss in a weird al joke )

 

[NateDawg]

what kind of fermenter is that? the eye-glass sorta shapes make it look weird

Thanks for the feedback. It’s the big mouth carboy from Northern Brewer: Big Mouth Bubbler® EVO 2 - Siphonless 6.5 Gallon Glass Fermenter with Harness

 

[Snark_Wolf_Brewing]

+1 on what everyone else is saying. Normal krausen ring with some yeast beasties hanging out above it.