Intestine-like infection (w/pic)

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tschuess

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So I've been searching for anything that looks like the intestine-like substance at the bottom of my fermenter, but none of the infections I saw looked like this (see attachment).

I just transferred to this secondary, and almost all of the substance has dropped to the bottom. The smell when transferring was maybe a little weird but nothing too distinct. The beer itself looks like it has cleared incredibly otherwise.

One other important note is that the airlock blew off during the first few days of fermentation and was off for about 24 hours. I assume this is the cause, but I don't want to toss this batch if I don't have to. My plan is to bottle as much as I can without getting that stuff from the bottom. Anyone seen/dealt with this before? What else would be helpful to know?

Thanks in advance,
Tschuess

Here is some additional info:
- Style is a Belgian Dubbel from extract including candi syrup
- Starter was also used in a Belgian Tripel which is looking fine (but cloudy still).
- Temperature of the fermenter was room temperature starting a bit warm (low 70s and went to cooler at mid-upper 60s)
- Fermcap (too much added?) and Irish moss were used

beerinfection.JPG
 
So I've been searching for anything that looks like the intestine-like substance at the bottom of my fermenter, but none of the infections I saw looked like this


Ewwww.


nuke-it-from-orbit-jpg.1044


But you are right -- doesn't look like any infection I've ever seen.
 
It looks kind of like cold break. Highly organized cold break that is banding together and planning a mutiny. I've never seen anything like that. Are you saying this thing transferred over from your primary?
 
One other important note is that the airlock blew off during the first few days of fermentation and was off for about 24 hours. I assume this is the cause, but I don't want to toss this batch if I don't have to.

I suppose anything is possible, but I would be really surprised if a missing airlock would lead to something this dramatic, particularly during an active fermentation.

Fermcap (too much added?) and Irish moss were used
I am leaning toward Irish moss induced break material.
 
Here are two more higher res images - one of the entire BB and another close up.

http://i46.tinypic.com/2dke42c.jpg

http://i50.tinypic.com/1qqwww.jpg

To answer a few questions/comments, no it is not a grain bag and yes it transferred over into a secondary like this. So either I didn't notice it or it formed after I put it on the cold floor (the outside temp dropped big time over the last two days, but the beer isn't at 35 degrees F or anything). Cold break could be the answer, but this looks ridiculous. Lastly, I strain my hot break material before putting into a fermenter, so this amount of material would likely only be from a cold break. Again, the rest of the beer (though dark) looks cleaner than almost any other beer I've brewed.

Thanks for the quick replies!
 
To answer a few questions/comments, no it is not a grain bag and yes it transferred over into a secondary like this. So either I didn't notice it or it formed after I put it on the cold floor (the outside temp dropped big time over the last two days, but the beer isn't at 35 degrees F or anything). Cold break could be the answer, but this looks ridiculous. Lastly, I strain my hot break material before putting into a fermenter, so this amount of material would likely only be from a cold break. Again, the rest of the beer (though dark) looks cleaner than almost any other beer I've brewed.

I would watch it over the next few days. If it's break material, it should all settle to the bottom unless agitated. I haven't noticed a ton of break with extract, but your observation about the clarity of the rest of the beer, combined with your use of Irish moss, makes it plausible.

What was the yeast, by the way? A lot of those Belgian yeasts are not very flocculent and will get all stirred up if you just look at them wrong.
 
That is one f_cked up looking brew, bet it ends up tasting awesome! Whatcha gonna name it?
 
It's fine...Like someone else said, it's break material and trub.....Remember Fermentation is ugly and stinky, even when it's perfectly normal. And it's perfectly normal 99.9999% of the time...so it's usually not worth panicking if something looks ugly....

If it doesn't have a skin (and sometimes even if it does) then it's fine.
 
It's fine...Like someone else said, it's break material and trub.....Remember Fermentation is ugly and stinky, even when it's perfectly normal. And it's perfectly normal 99.9999% of the time...so it's usually not worth panicking if something looks ugly....

If it doesn't have a skin (and sometimes even if it does) then it's fine.

Yes, I've brewed only about 20 batches so far and have never seen this or seen it online. Like I said, I plan to bottle it (maybe keg it to save the effort if it's gross). My post was to see if anyone else had dealt with this before.

And yes, it is easily stirred up without much movement, and it's Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey Ale yeast. I'll let you all know how it turns out. Thanks, again.
 
It certainly could be coagulated proteins, but pretty wild looking nonetheless. I suspect you are fine.
 
Looks like break material but that is weird to have in your secondary. I usually see that in the kettle after letting it settle, before racking it to the fermentor.

You must of had a hazy beer that you racked or stirred it up to get that in your secondary.
 
cold break usually settles out fast, before you would ever transfer and with the beer being super clear otherwise,

it looks like your growing a vinegar mother. if it is, it will start floating or sitting in the middle of the carboy.


floating but still a baby.
cidervinegar1.jpg


not a baby.
the-mother.jpg
 
First, I want to apologize as I've misled everyone (and myself) by being unorganized. It turns out that what was shown was unfermented wort. I know it seems completely ridiculous that one could make that mistake. However, I currently have 3 beers in progress. I mixed up one of the beers that I racked to a secondary the other day (the dubbel) with the one shown in my pictures (Oktoberfest-style ale). They surprisingly looked the same except for that break material at the bottom of one.

So sorry again. I blame beer. :drunk:

However, this was the first batch I've made using Whirlfloc which now explains why you can see a bunch of hot break proteins that coagulated this way after cooling it quickly overnight (cold floor). The amount of material is surprising though, as I strain my wort before going into the fermenter.

I pitched the yeast two nights ago and have had crazy fermentation and krausen. If I had used an airlock instead of a blow-off tube, it might have become a Better Bottle bomb! So we'll see if the same happens with the next batch using Whirlfloc...

:eek:
 
Oh, well in that case, it's not break material at all, and there is, in fact, an intestine in your beer.

;)

You caught me. I give up! I'm a big proponent of (almost) all things offal and crossed the line with brewing. I thought it'd add a nice oaky afterbirth to the finish...
 
Meh, that's nothing new....once you've had someone brew porkfelwein, you've seen it all. ;)

l.jpg

Now I know I've never tried it, but that seems like a big waste of such a wonderful thing. I think Porchetta is a more worthy use. <drools>
 
It might be "ropiness": http://***********/stories/wizard/a...e-a-reducing-tannins-but-not-flavor-mr-wizard
 
tschuess said:
After today, Dubbel Bowelpass.

Have fun drinking that one alone ;)

Seriously, that's just yeast, trub, and break material. Nothing to fret over.
 
Brulosopher said:
Have fun drinking that one alone ;)

Seriously, that's just yeast, trub, and break material. Nothing to fret over.

Just finished reading the whole thread... scratch that...
 
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