tbrink

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what were once a few little brownish teeny yeast pellets have become larger white globs that look very much like mold. i'm trying not to freak out because i know for certain what is on the neck is also inside the beer below, but it's really difficult to ignore.

i am trying very hard to RDWHAHB, but those fuzzy puffs are driving me insane to the point where i have this a harebrained idea of using some iodophor-soaked paper towels to wipe off the inside of the neck.

should i bother?

GLoBaLReBeL

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I would wipe it off ASAP! Any thing fuzzy and white is NOT GOOD from my experience.

Revvy

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I would like to see a picture of it first. It's goign to be really difficult to clean it out without knocking some in...and if it's something nasty you could do more damage than good....if it's not touch the beer it's prolly going to be ok to sit there. Or it could be hopscum getting stuck on the yeastes from the krausen.

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tbrink

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in the spirit of closure, let me relate the aftermath. sorry for the lack of pictures, none of them turned out clear enough to show what i'm talking about. looks like it's time to get a better camera.

anyway, i rubberbanded a paper towel onto my racking cane, doused it in iodophor and wiped off the fuzzies. true to revvy's warning, one fell onto the top of the wort, and rather than increase chances of infection by tring to fish it out, i decided to watch it for the next week. to my horror, it began forming a raft, and that was when i made the decision to rack to a different carboy. this was 2 weeks into primary, btw.

upon racking, i made sure to stay far away from the fuzzy floater, and left about an inch of liquid in the carboy just to be sure. all was well in secondary, and i bottled 4 weeks later.

i have to say, this batch wound up being the most complimented one i've made, and i've received multiple requests to recreate it. it was AHS's sierra nevada clone made with an extra 2 pounds of light DME along with their 1% alcohol booster.

final observations:
--keep things clean!
--even if you have infection, don't give up on your baby.
--sure, sprinkling dry yeast directly onto the wort is fine for a bucket, but if you're primary fermenting in a carboy, hydrate the yeast before adding to prevent the rogue pellets clinging to the neck.


...now i wonder how much impact this experience had in the flavor profile? happily, there's only one way to find out!