Cream Stout: Mold or Yeast Colonies?

First time beer brewer, I've brewed 6 batches of Cider successfully and gave a hand at beer. Everything was sanitized properly, fermentation went for 10 days. After I racked to the secondary I did not have any campden tablets to kill the yeast, and forgot to make it back to the brew store to get some.

After 10 days I looked at the carboy and white bubbles (filled with air probably), appeared at the top of the beer, along with strings that interconnected the bubbles together in a star shape.

I went to the brew store, bought campden tablets they suggested this was not mold and to throw in campden after reracking into new glass.

I did this and mixed it up well and 5 days later the bubbles are back with a vengeance.

Is this mold or a set of yeast colonies? The beer itself smells fine, I have not yet tasted it. The ambient temperature is now around 65 in the space, and was likely around 70 before. It is being kept in a dark closet.

04/02/12
04/05/12
04/13/12 - Several days after reracking into new glass.

Thanks for the help! I don't want to throw out my first batch.

A lot of responses I have seen online and a lot of information that I had exchanged with my local home-brew store leads me to believe that it is quite rare for mold to inoculate a batch. I heard that the most common confusion comes from proteins binding together residue from hops and grains. Furthermore, most varieties of mold that grow on beer do just that. They don't tend to penetrate below the surface of the beer.

I have no personal experience with a moldy batch of brew to date (knock on wood). Hopefully someone with experience in this can help you out further.

*Side note*
I heard that if it ends up being mold it is safe to rack out the solution under the surface and to leave the mold behind. Some beer styles actually use mold to impart astringent and odd quirks to a brew. This is not my personal experience, but a he said she said kind of thing. Look for more opinions

That looks like a lactobacillus infection to me because of the patterned nature. I'm no expert, but it's my two cents.

I had the same thought as CCericola. Looks like some of the Lacto pics I have seen. No actual experience with it (thank goodness).

Pez.

My spidy sense is telling me that looks like some brettanomyces. Actually what's on top is called a pellicle. It's a film that a lot of your more wild critters like lacto, pedio and Brett will form on top of your beer to regulate oxygen.

So while others have suggested racking underneath the pellicle won't do you any good as whatever sort of infection you have is already in the beer. So your options are either to dump it, or let it ride and hope that you end up with a decent sour/wild beer.

Thank you for the responses guys. I will give it a taste test under the bubbly stuff and go from there. I found the "Infections" thread and man that scared me but also showed me that others have run into the same issues and things can turn out ok. I'm not deterred from making beer! I will have to be double careful in my sanitation procedures although I think while making the wort is where the infection may have come into play just all that open air.

realjones said:

Thank you for the responses guys. I will give it a taste test under the bubbly stuff and go from there. I found the "Infections" thread and man that scared me but also showed me that others have run into the same issues and things can turn out ok. I'm not deterred from making beer! I will have to be double careful in my sanitation procedures although I think while making the wort is where the infection may have come into play just all that open air.

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If it happens on your next batch, it's most likely your plastic is infected. Pretty much any porous material that's been in contact is at risk for infecting your beer each time now. (at least, this is what I've gathered from reading)

CCericola said:

If it happens on your next batch, it's most likely your plastic is infected. Pretty much any porous material that's been in contact is at risk for infecting your beer each time now. (at least, this is what I've gathered from reading)

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+1.... Time to dedicate and keep separate the racking equipment you have now for sours and get new stuff for regular brews

realjones said:

Thank you for the responses guys. I will give it a taste test under the bubbly stuff and go from there. I found the "Infections" thread and man that scared me but also showed me that others have run into the same issues and things can turn out ok. I'm not deterred from making beer! I will have to be double careful in my sanitation procedures although I think while making the wort is where the infection may have come into play just all that open air.

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If you have a rolling boil going you won't get an infection. You want the kettle open so you can boil off any dms. The infection likely came from your carboy or racking equipment. Id buy new since plastic can be porous and harbor nasties.