How to know if your brew is infected

[brew703]

Being a new brewer, my biggest fear is an infection. I am anal about sanitizing and cleaning but there is always a chance it could happen.
I've read several posts about infections and looked at several photo's that were posted. I've seen some really cool looking photo's that were infections so that I thought were not infections but were, at least according to the posts I was reading.

If someone can post any photo's of common infections so I know what to look for when I open my fermenter I would appreciate it.

I mainly use glass carboys (1 gallon) but I recently got a 2 gallon bucket and being you cant see what's going on inside I was really anxious when I opened it up yesterday to bottle. This is what I found. I was relieved to see that there was no infection.

 

[m00ps]

That looks totally fine, jsut pid the lid back on, satnizied, and dont sweat it. search for hte mega-thread "Show us your infection"

how often are you opening up your fermentor to check it? Less is always better in terms of oxidation and sanitation. May be good to get some glass or plastic carboys to give you peace of mind that it looks OK

 

[MDExile]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=71400&highlight=infection

 

[unionrdr]

+1^^

 

[brew703]

That looks totally fine, jsut pid the lid back on, satnizied, and dont sweat it. search for hte mega-thread "Show us your infection"

how often are you opening up your fermentor to check it? Less is always better in terms of oxidation and sanitation. May be good to get some glass or plastic carboys to give you peace of mind that it looks OK

I don't open until ready to bottle. The photo was taken as I removed the bucket from my ferm chamber and was getting ready to bottle.

 

[brew703]

Can you tell if there is an infection simply by smell? I ask because the Cali Common I brewed this past weekend is in the fermenter. When I opened to check on it, there is an aroma that I have not experienced with any other brew. Could it be I used a liquid yeast vs dry? I can't see it as it's in a bucket. The airlock is still bubbling and I can only assume all is ok.

 

[TheBigLebrewsk1]

I don't get this post. Why don't you just taste it?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

If you vomit when you taste it or smell it, it's infected.

OK, infections might not be that bad, but you are seriously very unlikely to get an one if you follow good sanitation procedures. I've only personally seen one infection, in a mate's fermenter that was over ten years old that he leaves for days at a time before cleaning. I haven't had one in well over 100 batches with mediocre cleaning/sanitation.

IMO, oxidation is a much bigger enemy for new brewers.

 

[ncbrewer]

I don't open until ready to bottle. The photo was taken as I removed the bucket from my ferm chamber and was getting ready to bottle.

I share your concern about infections and also have a rule about not opening the fermenter. But safety is the only concern greater than infection, so I always open to get a gravity sample three days before bottling, to make sure gravity is stable.

 

[brew703]

I share your concern about infections and also have a rule about not opening the fermenter. But safety is the only concern greater than infection, so I always open to get a gravity sample three days before bottling, to make sure gravity is stable.

I'm going to take a sample before bottling this batch.
Infection is always a concern for me- I do practice good sanitation and I feel confident but there's always that chance.

 

[unionrdr]

Pic looked fine to me, just krausen left-overs on top.

 

[donbrew]

Early on in fermenting the yeast can smell bad. Depends.

I have found that an ugly Orange color is a good indication of infection.