RIS infection....What next?

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calebstringer

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Hi everybody. I have my first verified infection....about a month ago I brewed three 10 gallon batches back to back to back of an RIS that Im planning on aging with oak and bourbon this weekend...When I checked my blowoff tanks today I found this in two of the six carboys.

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what should I do next? Do I have to dump these two, or can I rack off of it and still age it?

I opened the carboy cap, and it smelled fine. Nothing funky...
Im fairly certain my infection came from some yeast I had washed off of a prior RIS...
any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Caleb
 
Well, if you were going to age it in a barrel I would certainly not do that. However, I wouldn't dump it either. I would take a sample and check for flavor and make sure it isn't turning to vinegar, if all is well, then I'd let it go and enjoy a funked RIS in a year.
 
Good to hear. Sometimes these little "surprises" turn out to be pretty great beers.

It doesn't always happen, of course, but it does enough that letting these things ride is usually advisable. I'm glad you didn't dump 10 gallons of a good RIS.
 
Good to hear. Sometimes these little "surprises" turn out to be pretty great beers.

It doesn't always happen, of course, but it does enough that letting these things ride is usually advisable. I'm glad you didn't dump 10 gallons of a good RIS.

It was actually 30 gallons total, in 6 carboys. 4 of the 6 ended up with the surprise on top....
 
It was actually 30 gallons total, in 6 carboys. 4 of the 6 ended up with the surprise on top....

Oh, I thought the OP said only 2 of the six. Maybe I'm going senile. All the better, then, that this turned out well.

One of our better members here, IMO, Smokinghole, has a RIS that he purposefully hits with brett. I found a thread about it when I was inspired by the same strain of brett to do the same, only he beat me to the punch by 2 years or so! If this is an interesting enough beer to recreate it in the future, it might be worth looking into that thread. Let me know if you're interested, and I can dig it up. It's around here somewhere...

Then again, maybe you don't have brett. I assumed that, based off the alcohol and hop levels typical of an RIS, and the apparently small flavor impact, but I could be wrong. The pellicle looks like lacto, but again, I could be wrong. Maybe it is lacto, and the hops and alcohol just kept it from doing much but mucking up the surface. Anyway, all's well that ends well. :mug:
 
Thanks for the kind words. I will supply the thread links for the Brett ris tonight when I am on a regular computer.

The follicle can be the result of something other than Brett or lacto. It really depends. If his gravity wasn't much different between the contaminated and non contaminated then I would lean towards a Candida or Kluyveromyces. It could be a number or different things or a wild type saccharomyces.
 
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/ris-old-ale-blend-272750/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/smokingholes-imperial-stout-363830/

First link is the first RIS I did with brett and a little timeline type of updates on the beer. The second link is the batch I am getting ready to bottle this month or next month. Doing an imperial stout wasn't an original idea its just not really done anymore. Courage RIS was once a brett stout, as was A Le Coq (might still be). I happen to believe that the characteristics these beers had that made them famous were removed for cleaner tasting beers with out "contaminate" yeasts. So the modern RIS offerings are a former shadow of what they were and could be. This is the reason I've moved towards no crystal malts and using brett.

As to funk in my batches, not much funk flavor. The roast and stout characteristics hide any possible funk the beer may display, at least in my case.
 
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