nmcabee

Recipes 

Does beer mold. The reason I ask is my Pale Ale is in the secondary for almost 2 weeks and I see small circles of something on the top. I don't know if it's foam or mold. Is this possible to form in an air tight secondary? Thanks for you input.

ajf

Recipes 

Yes, beer does. Poor a bottle of beer into a glass, drink it, but don't clean the bottle. Leave the bottle for a few weeks exposed to the air, and you will almost certainly have a lot of mould in the dirty bottle.

However, I've never seen mould in a secondary, where it's shielded from all the nasties. It's not uncommon to get foam, yeast etc comming to the top. In fact, it's normal.

Relax, in another month or two, you will be drinking great beer.

-a.

Vermicous

Recipes 

Mold will be white with green to black color in the center. When the carboy is shaken, the mold will not break up.

If it is mold, rack it to another container, leaving the mold rafts behind. This alone may prevent the mold from reforming. Your other option is to buy a chemical treatment, I think metabisulphate will work but I am not sure. Lastly, you can chuck it and replace your tubing. This is the most expensive option, but it can be very frustrating if you have reoccuring infections.

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I'm like a chocoholic, but for booze.

Blender

Recipes 

Look closely and if it is made up of very tiny bubbles then it is most likely CO2 attaching to some yeast. I had the same fear on a batch. It was not a problem.

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Gary

teu1003

Recipes 

Fermenting beer is without a doubt one of the ugliest, rattiest looking things i can think of. a gazillion one-celled organisms having sex, eating sugar, farting co2, and puking alcohol ... its bound to get ugly in there.

after the krausen fallen, the crap still floating is a mess, often resembling clumps of mold.

my brother, a beer gourmand if there ever was one, was over during thanksgiving and i showed him 3 carboys happily fermenting in the back of my basement. he said he seriously doubted if he would ever drink my beer again.

yeah, til the next time.