Infected batch?

[Franky]

Just bottled a Oatmeal Rye Imperial Stout.

I noticed these little guys floating around on the top of the secondary before transferring to the bottleing bucket. I can't recall in all my homebrewing over the past few years seeing anything like it.

Just wondering if the batch might be infected?

It tastes great and there is no funny smell coming off of it when I first opened it up.

I brewed it back at the start of January and had it in secondary soon after. It's been ageing since then on secondary.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[IslandLizard]

Those look like yeast rafts to me. But the bubbles are a bit suspicious after 5 months, especially the cluster on the left and the 2 big ones on the right side. Most infections go hand in hand with a slimy haze or pellicle on top. This may be the start of it.

I can't help but notice that huge headspace you've got there! A bucket? Those are not very suitable as secondaries for the large headspace and non-sealed lids.

Remember, each time you open a fermentor or beer container you expose it to bugs and air (oxygen). Neither are not good for beer: possible infection and oxidation. Now you've got a healthy amount of alcohol in that RIS that will help stave off intruders, but be careful! I've drunk my share of sour stouts, not all intentional.

So unless you can flush the headspace with CO2, use vessels that will yield small head spaces, and leave the lid on. Kegs are great aging vessels!

Just saw you bottled already. I'd bottle or better yet, keg that ASAP. If bottling, Let carbonate at room temps, (use a few small plastic soda bottles as testers) test one after 1, 2, 3 weeks, etc. and when done, store them cold, like in a fridge cold. If there is an unfortunate infection it may slow down or even halt. You could keep a few outside the fridge as gauges, in a suitable container, in case they blow.

Don't forget:
After 5 months of aging, when bottling, you will need to add some fresh yeast (rehydrated US-05 will do) along with the priming sugar for it to carbonate.

 

[day_trippr]

I vote yeast rafts. Carry on.

Cheers!

 

[Franky]

Those look like yeast rafts to me. But the bubbles are a bit suspicious after 5 months, especially the cluster on the left and the 2 big ones on the right side. Most infections go hand in hand with a slimy haze or pellicle on top. This may be the start of it.

I can't help but notice that huge headspace you've got there! A bucket? Those are not very suitable as secondaries for the large headspace and non-sealed lids.

Remember, each time you open a fermentor or beer container you expose it to bugs and air (oxygen). Neither are not good for beer: possible infection and oxidation. Now you've got a healthy amount of alcohol in that RIS that will help stave off intruders, but be careful! I've drunk my share of sour stouts, not all intentional.

So unless you can flush the headspace with CO2, use vessels that will yield small head spaces, and leave the lid on. Kegs are great aging vessels!

Just saw you bottled already. I'd bottle or better yet, keg that ASAP. If bottling, Let carbonate at room temps, (use a few small plastic soda bottles as testers) test one after 1, 2, 3 weeks, etc. and when done, store them cold, like in a fridge cold. If there is an unfortunate infection it may slow down or even halt. You could keep a few outside the fridge as gauges, in a suitable container, in case they blow.

Don't forget:
After 5 months of aging, when bottling, you will need to add some fresh yeast (rehydrated US-05 will do) along with the priming sugar for it to carbonate.

Thanks for all the help! There is a lot of head space. Unfortunately, don't have a lot of choices at the moment. I moved to Ukraine from the States and brought some of my equipment with me. Buckets etc were not on the list of things I was able to being. There are one or two online stores where you can buy Homebrew supplies from but not a lot of small batch supplies. I was able to find 3 gal buckets. In this case while it was still bubbling away I transfered it to secondary. The lid never came off then until last night when I bottled. I just kept feeling up the airlock with vodka. So not ideal but the beer should have only been exposed to a little oxygen. The lids are the type that seal. Anyway, I figured I can either not brew at all or I can give it a go with what I can find here and hope for the best.

One thing I didn't do is add yeast. I did however use a plastic bottle. My 4th batch of Homebrew back in the day were bottle bombs. Since then I am super super paranoid about it happening again. So since then have always used at least one plastic bottle. So I'll see in about 3 or 4 days if it starts to feel like it's getting carbed or not. If not I'll make a starter and use a dropper to add a little to each bottle. Hopefully it won't come to that.

I've done a few SMASH beers with great success here. I hope in the future when I have a bit of money to ship a few things here I can get better fermentation equipment and maybe setup for kegs. At this point though not possible for where I'm living and renting...

Thanks again for all the info.

 

[2_gal_brewer]

I had 2 last year. One was a Imperial Porter with canned cherries and the other a Saison with Dried Apricots. Made with prehopped malt extract as base.
I bottled them anyway.
Both are a little sharp tasting but quite drinkable - The one has tang from cherries and the other Saison tang so not obvious.
No idea what it was got into it. The Apricot one was exposed to open air a few hours before pitching, the other - no idea. They were different fermenters. Since they were plastic ones I chucked them away. I got replacements for $10 each.