Did I get infected?

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ThorGodOfThunder

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I normally put campden in everything, but I read from many places that its a waste with mead because nothing nasty can grow in honey, so I didn't put campden in this batch.

I pitched the yeast about a week ago, and I can see white slimy stuff on the bubbles on the surface of the must. Should I be concerned?

Sorry the pics are bad, its tough to get a good shot.

photo-1.jpg


photo3.jpg
 
I've got something similar going on. Brewed 10 gallons of plain traditional mead, racked 2.5 gallons each on to pineapples, strawberries, and mamey sapote a few weeks ago. I just noticed today a white film over the top of the pineapple and strawberry. But, interestingly, not on the sapote. ABV is about 13%.

The other 2.5 gallons of plain mead is already gone and was quite tasty. I'm brewing more for blending these melomels down a bit (the fruit flavors are a bit intense).

I sampled the strawberry today and it did not have any off tastes or smell.

So, I think just let it ride -- other opinions?

SDC12394.jpg
 
Yeah, mine isnt near that bad, but it is a little worse than the original pics. I intend to rack it as soon as the initial fermentation ends so I can add fruit to it. I'll just try to keep the siphon under the slimy junk just in case.
 
Yeah, I think the pic makes it look a little worse that it is (flash really lights up the white). Its long done with active fermentation, I just set it aside for future blending.

Sample today tasted fine, but I may rack it out from under the funk just to make myself feel better anyway.
 
I've got something similar going on. Brewed 10 gallons of plain traditional mead, racked 2.5 gallons each on to pineapples, strawberries, and mamey sapote a few weeks ago. I just noticed today a white film over the top of the pineapple and strawberry. But, interestingly, not on the sapote. ABV is about 13%.

The other 2.5 gallons of plain mead is already gone and was quite tasty. I'm brewing more for blending these melomels down a bit (the fruit flavors are a bit intense).

I sampled the strawberry today and it did not have any off tastes or smell.

So, I think just let it ride -- other opinions?

Holy wow! how much headspace do you have in there?
 
Quite a lot as you can see. I used most of it for creating a blended batch (plain + strawberry) and only had a relatively small amount left. Given the apparent infection, I plan to rack out from under into into 1 liter bottles later today.

Rather thank rack to bottles, I decided to try another approach which might be useful to others. The issue I think was that I had used most of the contents and left a small amount for use in the near future. I assumed that because it had finished fermenting, and thus had a relatively high alcohol content (about 15%) that it would be all good. However, what I think happened is that when racking off most of the must air, and maybe some airborne beasties, was introduced into the carboy. This set-up an environment where beasties could grow on the surface.

So, rather than racking, I purged the carboy with CO2. A few days later and the white film is almost completely gone. Taste is still OK.
 
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