Is this mold?

[Damnitjohn]

Belgian Tripel, been in a stainless conical for 4 months. Is this mold? Is it ruined?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

It looks like the beginning of a pellicle to me.
Give it a taste.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Unfortunately, yes it does appear as mold.

Ruined? Depends. Taste it. Perhaps a new style Sour Belgian Tripel.

Was this 4 months in primary fermenter?

 

[Damnitjohn]

Unfortunately, yes it does appear as mold.

Ruined? Depends. Taste it. Perhaps a new style Sour Belgian Abby.

Was this 4 months in primary fermenter?

Yeah 4 months in primary. Life happened.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

I understand things happen.

Taste it.

 

[Falstaff]

Could be rafts. 4 months seems like enough for almost anything. If it is anything bad then opening the fermenter would have given it a breath of oxygen. Given these two things I'd Bottle asap.

 

[Damnitjohn]

Could be rafts. 4 months seems like enough for almost anything. If it is anything bad then opening the fermenter would have given it a breath of oxygen. Given these two things I'd Bottle asap.

I think it’s already been breathing the fresh air...after looking closer my PLAATO airlock definitely doesn’t seal. This baby has been getting some good clean oxygen for 4 months. Ugh.

 

[Falstaff]

That'd be the culprit. Doesn't look bad though.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Yeast rafts are not white/grey.

 

[Falstaff]

Yeast rafts are not white/grey.

Yup. My b.

 

[IslandLizard]

I'm not convinced it's mold. Mold is usually fuzzy. You'd also likely to see mold patches on the sides, as it's damp, and much more enticing for mold to grow on/in.

They may well be yeast rafts, lighting can be deceptive in color rendering.

There's a slight white haze, which could be the start of a pellicle forming. The little bubbles clinging to them can be the start of an infection starting to get hold.

Did you taste some?

 

[Falstaff]

Bottlebottlebottle or kegkegkeg

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

I'm not convinced it's mold. Mold is usually fuzzy. You'd also likely to see mold patches on the sides, as it's damp, and much more enticing for mold to grow on/in.

They may well be yeast rafts, lighting can be deceptive in color rendering.

There's a slight white haze, which could be the start of a pellicle forming. The little bubbles clinging to them can be the start of an infection starting to get hold.

Did you taste some?

Somewhat of an ambiguous/contradicting answer. Begins with "I'm not convinced it's mold.", but then closes with "...which could be the start of a pellicle forming. The little bubbles clinging to them can be the start of an infection starting to get hold.".

 

[Dgallo]

Does not look like mold what so ever. Looks like the beginning of a pellicle. Mold is fuzzy and typically off colored which neither are the case here.

it is safe to taste. If it still taste like Belgian triple, bottle it and once carbed get them all cold so you don’t have bottle bombs.

if it taste different but not bad or even interesting, keep it in that fermenter or rack it to another fermenter giving it the least amount of head space possible. Then just age it another 2 months, take a gravity reading and taste it again. If your sup 1.005, check the gravity again abd see if it’s stable. If so bottle, if not repeat again in 3-4 weeks.

if it taste bad, dump it

 

[Miraculix]

This is clearly not mold. Mold is fuzzy and given the time, would have left the liquid on the sides.

I had similar stuff back in Britain and it was probably oxygen loving acedobacter, vinegar bacteria. First they destroy the head of the beer and much later the taste. I'd check the taste, if it's ok bottle and see where you end up. If it tastes bad, down the drain it goes. Or better on the field. Beer has a huge oxygen demand in the wastewater cleaning plant, you don't do them a favour by pouring it down the drain.

 

[Miraculix]

Unfortunately, yes it does appear as mold.

Ruined? Depends. Taste it. Perhaps a new style Sour Belgian Tripel.

Was this 4 months in primary fermenter?

If it would be mold, it should be dumped, regardless of taste. Mold produces toxins that are all over the liquid once it starts to grow and you often cannot taste these toxins.

 

[superiorsat]

Mold tastes just like it smells if you ever got a whiff of a big mold area. Just dumped 2 kegs from 2 separate fermenters that I used Philly sour, 2 packs for each fermenter( first time I ever tried it instead of kettle souring and won't use it again ). Air born mold spore must have gotten in and I saw no activity for 4 days which is ridiculous ( basically was freaking out that mold or other organisms might have a chance due to little competition ). I didn't really know what to look for since I had never used the yeast I just kept expecting krausen to form and anything on the top I figured was the beginning of that. Talked to Lalleman and they were like it is a really slow starter as it produces lactic acid first and said I should use yeast nutrient to help get it going which I ALWAYS do and fermented at 73F. The mold flavor was there after the initial fermentation was done but I couldn't put my finger on it but was leaning towards mold. I shouldn't have wasted $50 in fruit on these beers but was hoping it was save able so after adding heavy fruit additions to each fermenter I couldn't actually see any problems other than the taste but after I kegged and had Fermonster filled with water to soak you could see dark fuzzy floaters at the top and that is when I was positive the taste was mold. I have never dumped a single batch before this but drinking mold is bad stuff. If you are at 4 months I would think you would have a full on mold carpet thing going on if it was mold unless the high alcohol held it back.