Will this kill me?

[UncleBeardyBeer]

TLDR: Yet another "Will this thing in the pic kill me?" thread. Story: Hey hey. Been away from brewing a few years (baby). Back at it now. Brewed a batch a few weeks ago. There was a bit left over after filling my fermenter to a happy point so I plopped the rest in a sterilized mason jar. Put some cheese cloth over the top and dumped it under a bush for a few hours (before the rain started) to try for a wild fermentation. Why not? I thought. The "airlock" was a piece of Saran Wrap with a teeny hole poked in. I kegged the goods from main fermenter and am drinking it happily. This little mason jar has been quietly hanging out in a spare room for about a month. Looked fine throughout the time. But today I pulled it down and saw this little patch of gross hanging out in the back. I've looked all over at infection pics, didn't see one quite like this. Clearly this jar was not fermented under best practices, just want to see if I can bottle it and drink without dying. Sometimes you just gotta experiment. Not enough in there to pull a hydro sample and still bottle it. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1499553133.186655.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1499553152.616192.jpgAny educated guesses about how poor an idea it would be to drink this? Will this kill me? Thanks!

 

[AkTom]

You are dead already. If you drink it you might come back to life. Cheers

 

[njohnsoncs]

Mold?

 

[passedpawn]

Not going to kill you.

Whatever that is growing there, it's not likely going to make your beer better. So toss it.

 

[rhys333]

What does it smell like?

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Is that an unfermented starter?
If so then you have to be careful of botulism.

 

[passedpawn]

Is that an unfermented starter?
If so then you have to be careful of botulism.

Botulinum spores won't create the toxin when there is O2 present. So, unless those jars are sealed TIGHT, no worries there. Now, if you put wort in a mason jar and tighten the lid down, you're asking for problems unless you sterilize them after lidding.

 

[wes79]

Bugs in the septic system like beer too.

 

[IPAndy]

If you're aiming to do a wild fermentation, I recommend Bootleg Biology - https://bootlegbiology.com/ - for both the kits to do it, and how best to do it.