moldy brew?

after a week in the secondary i looked at a brew and it had a whiteish grey film on top i agitated it and it broke up but seemed to sta together


is this brew dead??

andrew

Is if fuzzy? If it is, it's mold. If it sin't, it's probably krausen. Just some yeast chunks that picked up enough co2 to float.

it doesint appear to be fuzzy but its a very thin film i agitated it and it styaed on top didnt want to sink

plus i noticed there is a small crack in the little cup on my air lock the part that moves up and down with the bubbles

andrew

Just give it some time. It'll probably settle out.

I hate those 3 piece airlocks. I use the bubbler type. No moving parts.

I would say it's nothing more than some bubbles from the fermentation. If it isn't green and doesn't have fur, it should be ok.

Shine a flashlight on it is it really tiny bubbles. They will get bigger and break and then dissapear. This was told to me in the forums a while back I almost scrapped a brew because of it turns out they were right just small bubbles that grew popped and turned to tasty brew.

Even if it is mold (which it probably isn't) you can just skim it off the top. The wort is too thick for it to get past the surface. It's just yeast and/or bubbles, though.

ok well it doesint appear to be bubbles because like i said it was a solid film so i agitated it and it broke up and stayed in small pieces


could irish moss cause this condition?? this is the first brew i used IM on

thanks andrew

I had two batches in a row with a thin white film on top. when I'd swirl the fermenter it would break into clumps (like cottage cheese) and sink. It would come back after a day or two.

Neither beer had an off taste/flavor/odor. I chalked this up to top cropping yeasts.

baja_bug said:

could irish moss cause this condition?? this is the first brew i used IM on

Click to expand...

Highly unlikely. The Irish moss should bind with proteins and settle out in your kettle. Even if you transferred it to the fermenter it would sink.

You're dealing with a top fermenting yeast, so it's either bubbles, yeast or some combination. Think of it as a very thin krausen.

I remember seeing someone's pict of a batch ruined by mold. The surface of the beer had fuzzy balls of mold on it, connected by what seemed to be little superhighways of mold. It was quite disturbing. It was also very obvious.

I've had batches where not all the krausen drops out, and there's a thin layer of crud hanging out on or near the surface. It didn't effect the beer though.

Don't worry, everything is A-OK.

I've got some stuff "growing" on the neck of my carboy. I'm hoping it's where some of the wort caught some of the dried yeast and it's just yeasty beasties!