Post your infection

[unionrdr]

I've had that a time or two. Whatever it was is going belly up in the co2-rich environment. So it must not've been that bad.

 

[Redhook]

So I got what I believe to be a wild yeast or something that can live (& ruin) a 9% abv beer.

All my fermentors are plastic. Is bleach a viable option? If so how should I go about it?

If not... :\

Use PBW to clean your equipment.

 

[jfinke]

First time with a Belgian Wit with bitter orange peel and coriander seed. Went into the secondary a week ago. Thoughts? iphone didn't really want to focus on what I wanted.

Untitled by jfinke, on Flickr

Untitled by jfinke, on Flickr

Untitled by jfinke, on Flickr

 

[unionrdr]

Looks like it could be yeast rafts.

 

[DrunkleJon]

So I got what I believe to be a wild yeast or something that can live (& ruin) a 9% abv beer.

All my fermentors are plastic. Is bleach a viable option? If so how should I go about it?

If not... :\

Bleach is an option, just make sure you rinse well (with pre-boiled water or regular then sanitize again with your normal sanatizer) until you cannot detect bleach anymore. Otherwise PBW should work.

 

[Davemci]

Any idea what the white stuff is. It still smells like beer. I'm goin to bottle anyway once I get enough bottles. It is a traditional roggenbier that was in primary for 2 weeks and in the secondary for 1 week.

 

[WayFrae]

Has anyone else noticed that most of these infections show up in secondary vessels with too much headspace?

 

[BGBC]

Any idea what the white stuff is. It still smells like beer. I'm goin to bottle anyway once I get enough bottles. It is a traditional roggenbier that was in primary for 2 weeks and in the secondary for 1 week.

That is a pellicle, and a pretty one at that. Also a sign that you have an infection, possibly Brett or Lacto.

Be careful bottling, make sure the gravity is stable, etc. If you don't want the infection to develop, you may want to drink it quickly. Or you could embrace the infection, pitch some sour bottle dregs and let it ride in secondary, if you're into that.

 

[Davemci]

That is a pellicle, and a pretty one at that. Also a sign that you have an infection, possibly Brett or Lacto.

Be careful bottling, make sure the gravity is stable, etc. If you don't want the infection to develop, you may want to drink it quickly. Or you could embrace the infection, pitch some sour bottle dregs and let it ride in secondary, if you're into that.

If i kegged and force carbed it how long will it last u think?

 

[BGBC]

If i kegged and force carbed it how long will it last u think?

I assume you mean how long until the flavor changes, which is tough to say. It depends on the bugs. But if you keep it chilled, it should slow the process down significantly.

I don't keg, but I'll let other address the issue of cleaning the keg, beer lines, etc after, unless you plan on dedicating that keg to sour/funky beers.

 

[Davemci]

Thanks

 

[DrunkleJon]

If you put an infected beer in a keg you have to make sure you clean and sanatize it thoroughly. It is not as persistant as root beer, but the last thing you want is an accidental infection through your keg/lines. Treat it like you would with any other equipment that sees bacteria.

 

[jfinke]

Looks like it could be yeast rafts.

Thanks, it does not smell bad or anything, so I think I am safe.

 

[Chrisbrewbeers]

I took a hydrometer sample which broke it up but there was a film on top of it.

 

[Chrisbrewbeers]

This is the one that I decided to take first runnings 200 ml microwave 2.5 min the dilute with distilled to starter gravity. 2 week old 2nd gen Wlp 090 slurry went in it overnight. Pitched in morning after 2 days I added a pack of us-05 because I know things go differently with a new yeast starter using dme...... Realize now these were all bad ideas that I was having.

 

[Chrisbrewbeers]

That's the best picture I can get.

 

[arpeter4]

Thoughts on this blue mold



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[lowtones84]

Definitely not good ^

 

[DrunkleJon]

Looks... moldy. Yuck.

 

[unionrdr]

First time I ever saw one that looked like that. Definitely not good.

 

[northern-monkey]

this doesn't look that bad, but bear in mind... it's the second batch in a row this has happened. tasted absolutely great in gravity samples for a couple of weeks, but then suddenly tastes sour/vinegary and generally smells unbearable. 2 days ago threw in some pellet hops and there were no visible bubbles/foam on the top. krausen had fallen back in and surface was basically clear. now this...

the previous batch certainly had what looked like mould on the top of the dry hop bag that was floating in it when i racked. i kegged it on the off chance i was wrong but it never really recovered. tempted to dump this one and buy a new fermenter (plastic, just over a year old, suspecting that might be the culprit). one more thought... had an eruption a couple of batches ago from a high gravity fruit beer. the fridge i ferment in has had a good clean, but could there maybe still be something lurking in the ambient air?

 

[podz]

Although I've never had a contaminated batch of anything, I'm not a big fan of dry hopping for exactly this reason; it's a potential avenue for introduction of contaminants. Your beer was fine until you tossed those hop pellets in...

 

[unionrdr]

Did you use a muslin hop sack? Did you soak it in Starsan for a while? Sometimes I think even a well-sanitized hop sack gives the nasties already present something to anchor to.

 

[aslander]

That's the best picture I can get.

Hard to tell based on these pics Chris. Gotta shine a light in there or something, its too dark.

 

[northern-monkey]

Did you use a muslin hop sack? Did you soak it in Starsan for a while? Sometimes I think even a well-sanitized hop sack gives the nasties already present something to anchor to.

usually use a disposable empty tea bag and just throw it in, never had a problem. this time i actually just chucked the pellets straight in, no bag. so am inclined to think the hops might not be the problem. but who knows. am adding after a couple of weeks of primary, so a little later than normal. new fermenter and a nice quick malty bitter might be in order. leaning towards chucking this one. tastes pretty nasty....

 

[unionrdr]

Maybe time to pitch the FV too. Get a new one & try not to scratch it if it's plastic. I'm always careful not to scratch mine inside.

 

[Erythro73]

Haven't brewed in three years and I guess I lost my RDWHAHB-ness. My beer is in primary since two weeks ago. Today, I took a sample to measure my FG.

Is this an infection, or merely yeast rafts?

http://imgur.com/XE99k4O,dOspts3#0
http://imgur.com/XE99k4O,dOspts3#1

 

[unionrdr]

Looks like normal krausen to me, but if it tastes vinegary, then it's infected.

 

[Erythro73]

Looks like normal krausen to me, but if it tastes vinegary, then it's infected.

The hydrometer sampling I took tasted very sweet (at 1.031, I guess it is normal).

 

[SaguaroMan]

Although I've never had a contaminated batch of anything, I'm not a big fan of dry hopping for exactly this reason; it's a potential avenue for introduction of contaminants. Your beer was fine until you tossed those hop pellets in...

Hops by their very nature are anti-microbial. Whatever contaminates your brew usually gets introduced beforehand, i.e., not cleaning/sanitizing everything that touches your wort post boil sufficiently

 

[LaCroix99]

Here is a pumpkin ale that got some hazy white swirls in it in secondary. When I moved the fermenter to bottle it coagulated into these chunks.

What is it?

 

[IJesusChrist]

coagulation? Hmmm, unlikely to be bacteria, I would think.

How did you make the "pumpkin" in your ale? Real pumpkin?

 

[Chrisbrewbeers]

Hard to tell based on these pics Chris. Gotta shine a light in there or something, its too dark.

I dumped it... The day after I posted that. The film on top broke up after hydrometer sample and was back next morning. I wish I had thought of flash light. Ipad flash wasn't doing it. I'm just worried that most of my questionable beers have been done in that plastic carboy. I might bleach bomb it.

 

[gregf87]

Hey all. Here is a picture of what I have going on in a coffee vanilla stout. It's in its secondary (been there for almost 2 weeks). Any thoughts? Thanks for the help! Cheers

* Opened it up, still smells like beer (no sour smells). Hoping its okay ...

 

[adamranders]

Hard to tell, but from the coloration in the pic looks like mold. Did you put coffee (grounds or beans) directly in the carbon? If so you should put them in a sack with something to weight it down so it doesn't sit at the surface, in the future.

 

[gregf87]

I added a french pressed coffee to the secondary. Next time I'll have to try beans at the bottom. Still safe to bottle?

 

[unionrdr]

Seeing specs streaking down the sides, I'd say it's yeast. breaking up & settling.

 

[Adon]

Initial brew of this cider was in January, but it's been in the secondary for months. Just pulled it out to bottle and realized I failed to continue filling the airlock. I have some black haze in the airlock, mold maybe? More concerning are the black specs on the top of the cider. There are a bunch of dark specs on top of the sediment at the bottom, but those don't worry me as much. Thoughts? Worth a taste?

I have a gallon of wine in the exact same situation, but that one looks totally fine.

Seems bland compared to some of the pictures on here!

 

[pat1268]

Smells horrible! Session IPA that I dry hopped with cascade was just tryin somthing different


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[BGBC]

View attachment 222657

Smells horrible! Session IPA that I dry hopped with cascade was just tryin somthing different


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

What does it smell like? Taste it?

Doesn't look that bad. Just looks like krausen remnants really.