Secondary Floaters

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NoisufnoC

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I bought Northern Brewer's Kinderweisse Limited Edition kit. Primary went okay, my OG was a little low. I racked it into my secondary and this morning I was going to rack it into a keg when I noticed this.

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I realize this is a sour beer, no boil, and it gets its sourness from bacteria, right? Are these good floaters or bad floaters?

The guys in the General Section suggested I post in here.

Thoughts?
 
What was your OG? How does it smell and taste?

I've never seen anything like that in one of my beers, and I brew a lot of no-boil Berliners. I'm sure it's safe to drink, might just be something weird microbe that was living on the grain (I bring my Berliners up to just under a boil to sanitize the wort).
 
You posted this iirc before in another thread. It looks like, I hate to say a dead frog floating in there.

But if the great Michael Tonsmeire (oldsock) can't ID it...I don't think anyone will, and I don't think it is a good thing.
 
It looks like mold. I had this happen in a starter once when culturing up some bottle dregs that never took off. I would think since yours went through primary fermentation it should be alcoholic enough to ward off any mold. Does it still smell like unfermented wort?
 
I don't know much about beer bugs but that looks like mold. Very similar to what someone might pour out of a "empty" bottle that never really dried with some beer left at the bottom after two weeks of sitting in a warm garage.
 
Hmm, I cleaned that carboy thoroughly and sanitized it with starsan like usual. Not sure why it would have been infected like this.
 
maybe pull a gravity reading on it, see how well it fermented, then maybe give it a taste as well, there could be a couple options.
 
I'm anxiously awaiting to hear the taste test results. I've been following this thread.
 
FG is 1022

Doesnt taste bad, the description on NB compared it to a lemonade like sourness. I do get some lemonade like taste. I supposed I'll rack it and see what it tastes like carbonated
 
This looks exactly like the kind of mold that grows in bottles that have not be cleaned after they were used. A friend of me brought me a few cases of bombers from where he works and all the bottles that contained bottle fermented beers had this at the bottom. The other ones had normal gunk.

It smells revolting and is the sign of something getting its funk on in your wort. Did you siphon out of the kettle ? Your tubing/equipment might be harbouring whatever produced the floaties.
 
Interesting thought on the tubing/equipment. I siphoned from my bottling bucket that I used as a primary (I've used it in the past as a primary), to my glass secondary.

It might be time to buy new beer lines, just for grins.
 
well, i'm embarrassed.

i can hear the "i told you so"'s now

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i didn't make time to rack it into the keg, checked it 10 mins ago and found that. :sigh:
 
There was a member of on the "Yeast Free brewing using recombinant DNA?" thread this morning who claims to be a microbiologist, cristopher1260. They only had a couple of posts, both on that thread. So I don't know, but maybe if you pointed him to the pictures he might be able to take a shot at telling you whats in there :confused:

I've been following this topic for awhile, are you going to rack it and keg it? And did you ever post the OG?

bummer, hope it works out
 
I know you can use Campden tabs to kill yeast and stop fermentation. I am not sure if this would kill mold too, but I think I read it kills all infections. If it still tastes fine you could still salvage it, by racking it an letting it sit for a few days with Campden tabs. Then you could add fresh yeast to finish this off.
 
I just kegged it. Worst case I dump it.

It didn't smell funky while racking, maybe it'll be okay
 
Capden doesn't really kill off yeast, not sure that would work. If you're getting mold my guess is you didn't have good primary fermentation in the first case. I still haven't seen an OG/FG from the original poster, but my guess is not much was fermented allowing mold to grow.
 
According to the NB directions it was a really low OG beer anyway. My OG measured 1027 which was low-ish
 
Did you taste any samples? It definitely looks like mold to me, but I've only done 3 AG brews and none of them were lambics. When you're brewing lambic I guess anything can happen. I hope everything works out for you.
 
I tasted a sample a few days ago, and it was okay. Definitely got the sourness that the kit described. We'll see. I'm not too bent out of shape about it, the kit only cost about 18 bucks.
 
Okay, its been on the gas for a few days, so I decided to pull a sample and give it a taste chilled and carb-ed.

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Its VERY light, color wise the picture is a little deceiving. It is very pale in color, almost white in certain light. I do get a lemonade like flavor, and my wife picked up some fruityness in the aroma. I'm glad I didn't dump it, but I can't say that it is a beer I would make again in the future. The AG kit only cost about 18 bucks so I'm not to worried about it. I did manage to find the PDF from NB with some notes on the kit.


From Northern Brewer:

Berliner Weisse: this top-fermented, lightly
soured ale was once synonymous with
“wheat beer” in Europe, but now is a living
dinosaur of a style. Its grainy Pils- and wheat
malt-character is underscored with an gentle,
earthy lemonade-like sourness that used to
be a common thread in beers of this region.

Characteristics of interest to the brewer:
a very low OG and abv %, extremely low
bitterness (achieved through mash hopping
in the all-grain version), and a dominant but
pleasant sourness from secondary fermenta-
tion with Lactobacillus; extended aging will
bring earthy overtones from Brettanomyces.
Characteristics of interest to the drinker:
arguably the best summertime beer ever
invented - light, effervescent, tart, and very
refreshing.

BREWING NOTES: This beer can be drunk
on its own, or cut with woodruff-flavored
simple syrup or a dark fruit juice (blackberry
and pomegranate were staff faves). Addi-
tionally, secondary and bottle conditioning
can be extended for months or even years
to get the most out of the Lactobacillus and
Brettanomyces in the yeast blend.

OG: 1.031
 
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