Think I have my first contamination.

Well, 10 batches in and I think I lost one. This is a wheat beer using coopers dry at 16 days. At 14 it looked like the krausen just may not have settled. The bubbles in the pic appeared more recently. Doesn't smell great but idk. Trash?

Dude... I'm sorry your fist is contaminated but that's an easy fix: just wash it.

In other news you're beer looks like its going pretty well. Beer can smell almost down right rancid due to the release of sulfur.

If it makes you feel any better I saw very similarly colored clumps in my most recent saison. Scared me half to death, but I'm almost positive it's just floccated yeast clumps from the krausen.

Worst case senario: it's infected. But let it ride! People on here have had great results with accidentally infected beer. Just give it plenty of time!

Good news: while that beer is riding along, start another one you'll feel better about!

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Of all the crazy things I've seen during fermentation, that one looks fairly pedestrian. Don't worry until it's carbonated and it causes a gag reflex. Until then, find a good book and read it.

Wow! Optimism. I've moved all ten batches after two weeks and haven't seen this before. I upgraded to a freezer and controller recently and lowered temps to 65 but pulled another batch two days ago that was good at two weeks. Nottingham vs coopers maybe (hopefully).

Lookin good. You could float on them yeast rafts. Nothing wrong here.

In other news you're beer looks like its going pretty well. Beer can smell almost down right rancid due to the release of sulfur.

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I got one smelling like "rotten eggs and catalytic converter gas right now". I was thinking of dumping it. My wife, who laughed at me, said give it time, that's what the advice on HBT said.. You ain't got nothing to lose, but if you dump it?? you might.

Thank you so much.. I'm still learning as I go.. I can't keep up, that stuff disappears when it "starts tasting good".

Edit for wife's comment.. she says.. "it looks like there should be frogs on the lilies in that pond". During my "questionable" brew ferment, it looked like tadpoles swimming around, it was ACTIVE..

I recently brewed a beer that smelled like burning tires and baby diapers coming out of the fermenter. When it reached the tap I realized it is some of the best beer I have ever made.

18 days in and it seems to be clearing up some but still has some krausen on top. In the past I had been aerating by tossing the batch back and forth between the brew pot and fermentor five times as suggested by the Palmer book I have. Only did it once this time thinking the extra foam this created was the cause of foam/beer getting in the airlock. No beer in the airlock this time but its taking far longer than I would expect to ferment. I moved the last 10 batches to kegs after 2 weeks without issue. Does this logic hold up? The other batch I brewed the same day was settled at 14 days but used Nottingham dry while this batch is using coopers dry. Does coopers typically take longer? Thx

Unfortunately yeast viability plays a huge roll in fermentation times. Properly stored Nottingham is amazing stuff and has fermented out all of my beers in two weeks (probably less, but I let it sit for at least three weeks regardless). I've heard mixed reviews about Coopers: it's a slow starter, it takes a while to complete fermentation, etc. This sounds to me like a viability issue with the yeast cell count. However different yeasts have different needs, and it's still possible that coopers just takes her sweet time.

Check a few days apart with a hydrometer to make sure it's done.

Thanks for the info. That makes a lot of sense. Does anyone have a take on this aeration issues? Do you brewers do it? Pretty sure it was increasing the chances of gunk in my airlock but does it impact fermentation times?

In short, I cannot say for sure if not aerating your beer impacts fermentation times. However, I do know that oxygen is important for yeast during the reproduction phase. Since the quantity of yeast effects the speed at which the yeast can convert all all of the wort sugars into alcohol I can only surmise that not aerating your beer can only negatively impact fermentation times. I usually aerate except when using nottinghams and only because they have made the information well known that nottinghams does not require it.

Thx, DS. That makes a lot of sense. Gonna try to rack over today (24 days in primary). If it hasn't finished fermenting I'm assuming the yeast had issues in addition to this aeration issue.

Man that picture looks Green and Gold to me must be close to football season here in the states... you a Packer Fan? The ghost of Green Bay Packers Past has taken over your fermentation. I think that one floaty looks like Vince Lombardi. I really like this Pic. If you drink some and want to put on a foam cheese wedge on your head... well I told you so. Remember, "Brew Like a Champion Today!"

Racked today, 25 days in primary. There was still some remaining floating chunks but not much. Smelled of alcohol, more than I would expect. Guessing the coopers didn't finish. Maybe should have left it. See how it tastes in a week or so. Thanks for the insights. Leaned a lot.

Magic8Ball said:

Man that picture looks Green and Gold to me must be close to football season here in the states... you a Packer Fan? The ghost of Green Bay Packers Past has taken over your fermentation. I think that one floaty looks like Vince Lombardi. I really like this Pic. If you drink some and want to put on a foam cheese wedge on your head... well I told you so. Remember, "Brew Like a Champion Today!"

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Unfortunately not everyone is a fan of the best team in the world.

I had the same thing in my first brew, looked gross, smelled like farts, put the lid back on and let it finish, drank it, still delicious. This is partially why I like the brew bucket, its opaque, so I just have to resist taking the lid off and I don't get in a tizzy because something could look like an infection.

ArkotRamathorn said:

Unfortunately not everyone is a fan of the best team in the world.

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Must be the Packman Yeast !

There's no need to guess, just take a hydro reading. That will tell you whether its finished or not. Some krausens never completely fall even when attenuationis reached. There is no way to tell by look, smell or airlock activity if fermentation is done with any reliabity. But a hydro reading takes about 30 seconds and tells exactly what's up.

Got one that was sour and wasn't suposed to be a sour style. Its been in a keg for over a month I think I might try it and see