My first infection.

[hopcop]

Well since my basement runs in the 72-75*F I decided to make a swamp cooler out of my sink. I make 10 gal batches and I can only ferment one at a time. So I pitched the yeast in one and let it go. The other 5 gal I put my lid on with airlock and hoped for the best for four days. This morning I changed out the one with yeast pitched and lone be hold. The wort waiting to ferment was already fermenting at a nice 73*F. Popped open the lid and this. Since it smelled great I'm still going to let if ferment out and mark that bucket. Clean the crap out of everything and start fresh. This is my first infection and I've been brewing for 3 1/2 years. Not as mad as I thought I would be.

 

[jonnyp1980]

Sorry. perhaps you can drink it fast or let it ride and see if you can make a good sour out of it.

 

[Poobah58]

Rack out from underneath and you should be fine.

 

[hopcop]

So in effort to save it, I should rack now? This beer didn't have any yeast in it that I pitched. After racking, should I pitch some yeast?

 

[jonnyp1980]

So in effort to save it, I should rack now? This beer didn't have any yeast in it that I pitched. After racking, should I pitch some yeast?

I'm confused. You didn't ferment your beer yet? How long has it been sitting in a fermentation container?

 

[cavalrymsh]

Sorry. perhaps you can drink it fast or let it ride and see if you can make a good sour out of it.

Concur - It's gone hog wild. Might be a great chance to explore a sour! Definitely want to work backward thru your process/system to see where it might have originated in order to eradicate. Simply airborne, or gunked up in a line, in a bottle or on a utensil somewhere.

 

[agcorry00]

If it smells nice, why not just roll with it? Your basement air might have lambic leanings.

 

[hopcop]

I'm confused. You didn't ferment your beer yet? How long has it been sitting in a fermentation container?

I only fermented 5 gals out of the 10. I only have one basin sink in my basement so I pitched yeast in one and fermented it. The other one I just closed up the lid and put an airlock in since Monday. Today I was switching them out and found it like the pic. So the infected one has no yeast added from me. It smells like a normal fermentation. Actually smells like the one I pitched yeast into. So I'm going to mark that bucket and clean all of my plastic that I have to make sure I can get rid of any infectious contaminants. I just don't know what to do with this contaminated 5 gals now.

 

[jonnyp1980]

I'd treat it like an experiment at this point. I'd pitch let it ferment and see what it smells and tastes like. If its sour tasting and has an off smell at that point you can either let it and see how knarly it gets and make a good sour or dump it if its not your cup o tea. Keep us updated and take pics!

 

[wilserbrewer]

As I'm sure you realize now, you can't let sweet wort sit around for 4-5 days without pitching yeast...unless of course that is your intention to ferment wild, which is what you are now doing...

Adding yeast at this point seems trivial, as the wild beasts have taken over...

Spontaneous fermentation may not be a bad thing, but it's anyone's guess at this point what's working away in there...

 

[hopcop]

Yeah. I knew I was rolling the dice waiting for that long without any yeast. I guess I will just let it ride, smell it before I decide to dump or just roll with a sour. I've never had a sour beer before so this seems like a good time to experiment. I already bombed my equipment and sanitized everything that I used that day. Just have wait for the fermenter now. I'm probably going to go through and replace a few things just to be safe. I have a log of all my equipment of being purchased, used on what beers and so forth. I will continue to take some pics of both brews since they're from the same batch.

Cheers

 

[Poobah58]

If you rack now and pitch healthy yeast you may be able to save it. If you like sour beers let it rock and roll as is...

 

[Justintoxicated]

gross, I'd just dump that crap out. Didn't pitch yeast...yea that is probably not going to end well.

 

[FlashGordon11]

gross, I'd just dump that crap out. Didn't pitch yeast...yea that is probably not going to end well.

Yeahhh... You might be in for a pretty nasty taste test if the majority of that isn't yeast. But then again, I guess this is about how beer was discovered in the first place. Just call it an ancient Mesopotamian ale.

 

[fizgig]

That looks like some mold on the foam, definitely rack it.

 

[RMS]

I agree to rack it and pitch and go with it. I think we forget the old way life styles when half cooked meat was stored in large clay pots in cellars and layered with lard and salt, if the top slice got that type of mold on it then it was scraped off and cooked, they ate it without issues.

 

[hopcop]

I just racked it to another fermenter. Left about 1 1/2 gal behind. The smell is a touch sour. I sanitized the crap out out the new fermenter. I also pitched a pack of US-05 just for a possibility of making something out of this. I did keep a sample of the experiment and chilling it down to try and get whatever it is to drop out of suspension.

I don't have much hope for this batch but I am keeping myself positive and have 5 gals of some tasty brew that is chugging along just fine.

 

[jonnyp1980]

I just racked it to another fermenter. Left about 1 1/2 gal behind. The smell is a touch sour. I sanitized the crap out out the new fermenter. I also pitched a pack of US-05 just for a possibility of making something out of this. I did keep a sample of the experiment and chilling it down to try and get whatever it is to drop out of suspension.

I don't have much hope for this batch but I am keeping myself positive and have 5 gals of some tasty brew that is chugging along just fine.

Sours are pretty tasty. You'd be surprised. Good luck.