Brown Ale blues

lokii · 04-13-2009, 09:59 PM

Hello all, ok so its been about 2yrs since I have brewed and only managed to produce about 3 batches before I had to quit. I recently was able to start brewing again and every thing seemed to be going fine. I was able to make it thru the primary fermentation with no problems. Transferred over to secondary carboy and let it sit for 10 days, today I went to transfer into my keg and when I pulled the carboy to my horror I noticed what appeared to be black mold floating on the top. Most of my equipment had been in storage for the last 2yrs and I cleaned and sanitized it. The only thing I can think of is some how during the transfer I let something get in. I brewed a batch 5.5 gal of brown ale and all of the taste notes I was looking for are there but it finishes on the sour side.

Hoping for salvation I have kegged the brew and flooded the tank with c02 and bled the tank to remove any oxygen. Do you think with aging the sourness will subside or is this batch a total loss.

c.n.budz · 04-13-2009, 10:00 PM

Any possibility of seeing some pics of this potential mold?

Hopmunky · 04-13-2009, 10:04 PM

Well luckily no pathogens can live in beer so at least let it sit for a little while and see what happens.

lokii · 04-13-2009, 10:19 PM

no pics srry but it was hard to tell this was the first time i had used pellet hops and had hoped that it was just sediment floating. but what ever it was mixed when i lifted the carboy

c.n.budz · 04-13-2009, 10:37 PM

Was it fuzzy looking? If not, it probably wasn't mold

lokii · 04-14-2009, 12:58 AM

And that is what has me thrown off even the guy at my local brew shop was puzzled. i couldn't identify the substance what i thought was white fuzz was just the foam forming around what ever it was. im going to check the keg in a day or 2 and see if it resurfaces if it does i will try to post a pic. but if not mold what else would cause the sourness.