AndyC

Recipes 

Hi guys, I've been brewing an IPA and went to bottle it today. However, when I opened it up, I saw a white/green growth on the top. Assuming it is mold-- this batch probably has to be tossed, eh? Here's what it looked like, after I skimmed it off-- it held together essentially as one piece.

andre the giant

Recipes 

NOT GOOD! NOT GOOD AT ALL. I've never seen that color or consistancy of stuff in my fermenter and hope to never see it in real life.

I've heard some people say to skim the mold off, let the batch finish fermenting, bottle it and hope for the best. I don't think I could drink a beer that had that kind of contamination though.

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Ewalk02

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I'd definately be a little skeptical of that...it looks like latex paint! I'd taste the beer and if its good then maybe give it another week, if nothing else grows you could try to bottle it just beware of bottle bombs if it is infected.

rsmith179

Recipes 

Never actually had mold at the top of my batch, but I've heard it can happen from time to time. I have also heard that mold really won't kill your beer as long as it is skimmed from the top. I'm sure others will chime in on this, but I personally wouldn't just pitch the whole batch.

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Munsoned

Recipes 

Wow. I saw the picture and thought it was a wadded up towel you used to clean something with. Then I read your post and realized it WAS the thing cleaned itself. Hopefully someone else will chime in, but that doesn't look good to me. If it were me, I'd still try bottling it and seeing how it turns out. But I'd also be willing to part ways with those bottles permanantly--I wouldn't reuse them again--I'm just sort of paranoid like that.

Did you taste it yet?

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“While the rest of the species is descended from apes, redheads are descended from cats.” - Mark Twain

Munsoned

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+1 on the bottle bombs thought above. I'd put any bottles in a rubbermaid bin or something to contain the carnage just in case (see my note above about paranoia).

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“While the rest of the species is descended from apes, redheads are descended from cats.” - Mark Twain

RedIrocZ-28

Recipes 

Whoa cool, you removed a pellicle intact!

What does the beer smell like and what does it taste like? I'd put the lid back on it and let it sit for a few more months.

Nukesquad

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I agree. Don't go and throw away the entire batch just yet. Give it some more time, and if nothing else grows then you may have dodged a bullet directed at your beer. But the more time you give it, you can check if there is any further infection, therefore avoiding bottle bombs as well. Good Luck.

AZ_IPA

Recipes 

How long was it in the primary? Is this your first brew?

white could = krausen
green could = hop particles

especially if it wasn't done fermenting yet.

EDIT: is that stuff in the middle of your picture that looks like a wadded up cloth, a wadded up cloth? Or is that what you skimmed?

AndyC

Recipes 

THat's what I skimmed. It was in the primary for about a month. I moved it into the secondary for another month or so, and I just broke it open today. It didn't have any of this stuff in it the primary-- so something must have gotten in in between.

This was my third brew-- and I've made wine quite a few times before. I was heartbroken, needless to say.