An Alien is in my beer

So I went ahead to brew this receipe about a month ago:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f70/hopped-blood-orange-hefeweizen-314673/

The Hopped Orange Hefe would be a great way to get my gf excited about my brewing hobbies, so I hoped this would turn out good.

I have been brewing for 3+ years, switched pretty quickly to kegging, and have done mostly extract batches. In general, I have very detail oriented, and can swear my sanitation is on-par (if anything too OCD about it). But it looks like I may have slipped up?

This was bottled about a week ago, and has been in my 65-70degree room carbing. I boiled my priming sugar mixture, and transfered to bottling bucket, filled 12 22ox bottles, and put the rest in a 5gal keg. I just lifted the release valve for a second on the keg, and pleeenty of CO2 is happening in there, so that is good, but man, these alien like globs of who-knows-what has really damppered my spirits.

Certainly this is bacteria? Not some random coagulation of yeast? Inintally, sediment settled to to bottom of these bottles pretty quick, but I couldn't help but notice this, whatever it is, is taking over?

Am I ruined?

Not sure how you got that fetus inside the bottle - nicely done though! Seriously, I don't know what that is, but life begins at conception. You gotta see this through.

Can you pour it into a glass and take another photo for a better look? For here it just looks like large head inside the bottle?

I am kinda tempted to hook the keg up and pour a sample from there. I thought I went about brewing this pretty efficiently, so I would hate to loose a bottle's worth if this is actually an alien offering of orange-yeasty-goodness, but perhaps I need to swallow my pride and take a look.

I have yet to peak in the keg either, not sure what kind of nightmare as growing inside there...


With a little convincing, I just might.

You have to pour it! I gots to know!!!

Do it!

I think you owe it to yourself to find out. But watch Alien or Species first - at least then you'll be making an informed decision. Keep us posted.

Why is your Hefe so clear? Did you use whirlfloc, or Irish moss? If so, maybe its just protein...

haha! That just made me look up Ben Stiller saying "do it... do it..." on youtube from Starsky and Hutch.

hmmmm... i love the enthusiasm.


I think in the interested of immediate gratification, i'll peak into the keg, see what kind 1980s B-List horror flick is growing in there and pour a sample...

No particular reason why its so clear actually. I did not use a secondary (a rarity for me), or any irish moss (another rarity)...

It is strange that all 12 bottles have the same orphus kind of object just hovering in the middle of bottle, near where it tappers off to the neck.. Kinda like the motherships in "Independence Day".... welcome to earth....


Tapping keg, stay tuned!

That's a mouse in the bottle! It's good for 24 of Elsinore.

He's been gone a while. I think the alien won.

...hooked the keg up, poured a sample, drank it, am still alive... Itchy, and seemingly developing spidey-skills, but alive....


I released the naturally developed CO2 from the half filled 5 gal keg. Tried not to splash around too much, but got a light in there and def saw some sort of bubbly sediment on the top. Pumped up >10psi of CO2 and poured two glasses worth. Rather clean, only one small "chunk" of stuff...

So maybe it is protein... Taste? well, it was mostly flat and 65degrees warm, so can't speak for that... now that it is hooked up, I'll let it chill in the 42degree kegerattor and pull another sample later.... Perhaps opening a bottle is the next step...

andy6026 said:

He's been gone a while. I think the alien won.

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Ya I am assuming the same, at least we all know what to watch out for now and what to do if we see the same.... R.I.P....

EDIT: Whoops I was to slow... Good to see you sir!

... naw, I am just easily distracted....

Very interesting that it's a wheat and so clear other than the alien visitor.

Perhaps, as others have suggested, it's protein, as there doesn't seem to be any making the brew very cloudy in that bottle.

Is it at all possible you introduced an unusually high amount of StarSan at some point? A *very* quick web search seems to show a link between acid and protein coagulation. Given the clarity of that bottle, I wonder if the protein from the wheat somehow coagulated and formed the 'alien'.

Cheers!

I did soak the 22oz bottles in starsan for multiple days, and was very liberal about leaving some of the foam in the bottle (as I couldn't shake it all out)... Perhaps that is what did it.

This pic is of a pull from the keg, I have yet to open the bottles. But it is still very strange. I saw the yeast settle in the bottles per usual, then it seemed to rise and coagulate.

I have left the two glasses which have pulls from the keg on the counter and am watching the yeast settle, as I would normally expect. So perhaps this is all it was...


Still, so strange.

The glass certainly looks fine.

...and nice disco ball in your kitchen, btw. At least Alf will stay at your house and have a dance party until all your stock is gone before he invades the rest of us.

yea, the disco ball is pimp. marinates my brews with soul and funk.

I am less concerned about dying though, and am slowly growing confidence this is somehow the yeast all balled up?

Maybe pectin from the fruit?

you dont feel anything stirring in your chest do you? I think it takes a few days for those things to pop out.

Aweaselkid said:

I am less concerned about dying though, and am slowly growing confidence this is somehow the yeast all balled up?

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That'd be my vote, especially if you don't see any yeast at the bottom of that bottle. Hard to tell from the photo, but the color of the 'alien' looks about right for yeast too.

The amount of StarSan you said you used doesn't seem like an unusually high amount, though, so I don't know if that could be the cause. I was thinking along the lines of, "Ooops! Now that you mention it, I had a whole gallon of StarSan in my bottling bucket and I think I forgot to empty it before racking the beer."

Either way, it is unusual, and I vote for coagulated yeasties, whatever the cause.

Cheers!

Have you poured out one of the bottles yet?

texcan2000 said:

That's a mouse in the bottle! It's good for 24 of Elsinore.

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You want free beer?

Go to the brewery.

Now get out of here before I put you in a bottle.

How do you get the beer to stay in the glass like that? Every time I hold mine that way it falls out and makes a mess.

Aweaselkid said:

I did soak the 22oz bottles in starsan for multiple days, and was very liberal about leaving some of the foam in the bottle (as I couldn't shake it all out)... Perhaps that is what did it.

This pic is of a pull from the keg, I have yet to open the bottles. But it is still very strange. I saw the yeast settle in the bottles per usual, then it seemed to rise and coagulate.

I have left the two glasses which have pulls from the keg on the counter and am watching the yeast settle, as I would normally expect. So perhaps this is all it was...


Still, so strange.

Click to expand...

I generally try to leave as little star-san foam in the bottles as possible. I accomplish this by slowly pouring the star-san from each bottle, avoiding the "glug" that ends up creating all of that in-bottle foam. I then let them dry on the bottle tree for 30 minutes or so before bottling. Same thing with my carboys, I've gotten pretty good at pouring the sanitizer out while minimizing residual foam.