Is that mold in my beer?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

smorris

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2004
Messages
162
Reaction score
2
Location
West coast of FL
I just opened the pail to test SG and found this:
beer.JPG


I'm thinking this can't be good. It has been in the primary for a week, the OG was 1.044 and it is now 1.013. Smells ok and the taste is a bit bitter but no nasty taste or smell. Is this ruined?
 
The taste is bitter? The TASTE!?!? I wouldn't let that near my lips! Granted, I've never brewed before, but if I saw that in my fermenter... :eek: Although, maybe it can be filtered or something...I've read that moldy beer can't hurt you.
 
dude - i've seen some pretty fuggley things in my fermenters - i'm thinking you might be in the top 3 with this one.
looks like a porter or stout - stouts are bitter - did you taste anything "strange" like sour or tangy??? how about bandaid or hot? those would all indicate infections. did you sanitize real well before you racked the wort into the fermenter?
That is not mold, however. It could be unusual yeast activity.
i'm very hesitant to dump beer before i give it a chance. unless i smell something i wouldn't put near my mouth i'd have to say i'd take a chance, give it a little more time to finish fermenting (i'd guess it is going to stop around 1.008 or so) and then bottle it - i mean, what have you got to lose but a few cents for caps and a little more time? be very careful when opening the bottles after giving them a chance to carbonate, and then take a big whiff before taking a small sip - again, if you smell hot, medicinal, bandaid, or any of the other nasty smells you really don't want to smell, then fertilize the flower garden, if you DON'T smell anything disgusting, well, you just never know - oh, and i've been brewing over 5 years, so while i've never seen anything exactly like that, i've seen some strange things!
 
The taste isn't medicinal or tangy or sour so I'm going to let it run the course and see what I see. I showed this pic to a friend who is quite experienced and he commented that it looked like the krausen had just fallen and that was all yeast debris that would fall out in a few days.
 
Back
Top