What is this? (infection?)

[pnj]

This is my brown ale that I made almost a month ago. Gravity stopped at 1.04 (from 1.06), I repitched some notty, it did nothing..

last time I checked it was down to 1.03. I dry hopped it with an ounce of Cascade about 9 days ago, just for the hell of it.

I'm bottling today....

 

[glitterbug]

Looks like an infection. I would taste it before you bottle it.

 

[mosquitocontrol]

I also would not bottle at 1.040.

 

[Edcculus]

Nice! Not an expert on every infection, but it could be either lactobacillus or mold. Looks a little too gunky for mold though. Rack from under it into your bottling bucket. Give it a good taste and smell before bottling. Unless it is just unbearably disgusting (which I doubt) go ahead and bottle.

 

[Cape Brewing]

Looks like a classic brett pellicle to me.

as has been suggested a million times on HBT... DO NOT... DO NOT TOSS IT!!!

Unless you REALLY need the fermenter space, I would just let it go for a couple of months and let the brett eat away at the sugars.

Two things to think about though... 1) decent chance your pail is screwed. Once brett gets into the tiny scratches of a plastic pail, it probably isn't coming out, no matter what you do to it short of melting it down. 2) Unless you bottle it and chill it, and keep it very chilled, the brett will eat all of the sugar it can.

brett eating every sugar in a bottle = bottle bombs.

My recommendation is to let it sit exactly the way it is for a while (another month or two) and taste it. You may not like a brett soured beer, especially a brown, but you won't know until its fermented out a lot more than it has. If you try it when it is down to 1020 or something and you like it, bottle it up, let 'em sit around for a short period of time to carb (2-3 weeks and then maybe testing one) and then when they are carbed, chill ALL of them.... quickly.

 

[pnj]

eh, too late. it's in bottles.

Guess I like to live dangerously. I'll start drinking soon, I guess.

I did go light on the bottling sugar, not sure if that will matter or not.

also, the gravity reading was at 1.020 (down from 1.060 OG) Hope it stops right there....

 

[Beernip]

How did it taste?? I agree with Cape that you may want to refrigerate those bottles once they have carbed and you may not want use that bucket again.

 

[pnj]

Tasted really good, actually. Bitter, and good.

Think bleach will kill the bucket bad guys? Maybe it's time to buy a winpak.

 

[vtbeerman]

Bang! Bang! Bang! *Insert favorite exploding glass injury story here* Bang! Bang! Bang!

 

[pnj]

Oh noes!

Guess I'll be drinking this batch early....

starting tonight.

 

[Beernip]

I have a big rubbermaid tote that I use to condition my bottles in as if any of them exploded around my wife's stuff I'd be dead. It may be a wise investment for you too. PS: Get the lid also. LOL

Edit: also not sure if bleach would clean the bucket. It may be a 50/50 chance of it happening again... It is your batch of beer.

 

[pnj]

Hmm. the bucket is rough on the inside, not smooth like when I first got it. So maybe I'll pitch it, or use it for storing grains in.

Should I maybe put these bottles in the fridge to ferment/prevent explosions?

 

[Potter1]

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Should I maybe put these bottles in the fridge to ferment/prevent explosions?[/QUOTE]

YES! after about a week to carb up. Did it have any funky (think wet goat or old animal barn) aroma? Really looks like Brett, which is not a bad thing.


And yeah, if you dont want it to happen again, pitch that bucket, especially if it is rough. I dont think Brett is harder to kill than Sacc, bit in scratched plastic it is one tough bugger

 

[Jaymo]

I'd also say get a new bucket (and probably another set of any other plastic that came in contact with it.) However, you might want to think about keeping the old stuff to do future sour/brett beers. (Hopefully they'll be on purpose next time!)

 

[nealf]

I would open a bottle after one week to see how it is progressing. If it is severely overcarbonated (i.e. gusher) then you should start fearing bottle bombs. No need to be alarmed at this point. You might want to sample this one a bit more often than any other beer.... if the carbonation gets too high just stash them all in the fridge.

 

[pnj]

damm. I shoved my auto siphon into that mess... I really don't want to buy a new one, it's almost brand new. Hoses/bucket I don't mind replacing.

It had NO odd smell at all. Even my girlfriend didn't think it smelled bad/odd.

What if I pour all the beer back into the bucket and let it keep fermenting/whatevering?

 

[ruffdeezy]

I have to repitch once and used notty, it looked very weird, not quite like yours though, but I thought it was an infection at first, I racked it, left for a few weeks, then kegged, and it tasted fine. Hopefully yours turns out.

 

[toman8r]

Looks like a brett pellicle. I'd open a bottle every day, starting tomorrow, to check the carbonation. At 1.02 plus some more sugar they could all very well explode within a week. Better to be safe and have to drink some uncarbonated beer than risk serious injury from bottle grenades.

 

[pnj]

No thoughts on pouring it all back into a bucket for another month or so?

 

[toman8r]

You might end up with a lot of oxidation off-flavors if you do that. You would have to do it really carefully to prevent splashing.

 

[nealf]

You might end up with a lot of oxidation off-flavors if you do that. You would have to do it really carefully to prevent splashing.

+1

I wouldn't do it.

 

[Cape Brewing]

Don't pour it back into the bucket. That's a bad idea. Open one every day or two and once they seem like they have a decent carbonation on them, you have to chill them quickly. Chilling them should slow down the brett quite a bit and hold off the bombs in the short run.

next time, don't add any sugar. 1020 means there is still quite a bit of sugar there and the brett will eat every last bit of it. Adding more sugar just compounded the problem.

I wouldn't toss the bucket either. If you have tasted this batch and like sour beer... MAKE MORE! And use that bucket!

 

[Bensiff]

You can always burp the bottle without taking the cap off...as long as you don't over do it the bottle will reseal.

 

[batfishdog37]

I had something like that last year, smaller but pretty much the same look. I let it sit longer in primary and much longer in bottles and its fine. I sanitized the hell out of it with starsan and isopropel alcohol and dont use that bucket anymore except for holding stuff. I say just give it time but i think that's kind of the consensus here.

 

[kryolla]

I had an infection due to notty recall but I couldn't force myself to taste it so out it went. I soaked the bucket in iodine solution and used it since with no infection.

 

[pnj]

Well, I opened a bottle today and it was a gusher. I shoved 3 six packs into the fridge. I'll prolly dump the case of 22 ouncers as I don't have room in the fridge. no big loss I guess. lesson learned.
first infection out of 40 plus batches isn't too bad...

 

[electric_beer]

No thoughts on pouring it all back into a bucket for another month or so?

Yeah, this can make it oxidize and not taste very good.

Seriously. You should put those babies in the fridge. Brett can take a beer down to .999 so they really aren't kidding about bottle bombs. However your beer might still taste fantastic.

 

[Crazytwoknobs]

you might want to think about keeping the old stuff to do future sour/brett beers. (Hopefully they'll be on purpose next time!)

If it tastes like brett, or is just good, keep the bucket and just use it for when a batch doesn't go so well, or use it for sours.

If you're near Chicago, I'd love some bottle dregs if it turns out to be brett.

 

[DavidSteel]

Almost looks like lactose lol

 

[Cape Brewing]

Well, I opened a bottle today and it was a gusher. ...

How was the taste though? Decent?

 

[pnj]

How was the taste though? Decent?

Tases like it would have been good.

I dumped the rest of the 22 ounce bottles today. I had to change my clothes because they were super gushers....