Boiling infected beer?
- Thread starter ericd
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Um...NO
Rack from under the mold, DON"T get any in the bottling bucket, and bottle as usual...if it sucks....wait a good long time and try it again.
Rack from under the mold, DON"T get any in the bottling bucket, and bottle as usual...if it sucks....wait a good long time and try it again.
Finn
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I have to say, boiling finished beer is probably not going to help you out. I'd get the mold off and taste the beer. If it tastes like crap now, there's no point in wasting any more time on it. Use it for tomato fertilizer. But if it tastes like it might be OK, you could do like Big Kahuna says and hope for the best! Or try disinfecting it with Campden Tablets (you'll need to re-pitch after it clears, but what the hell).
Finn
Well-Known Member
Hey, wait a minute. Is this the Belgian that you're asking about?
No, it's the Peach FUBAR of course. I've tried skimming off the mold as well as using campden tablets but it keeps growing back. Luckily it still tastes/smells fine, I just don't want a layer of mold growing on top of the beer in every one of my bottles, yuck.
Finn
Well-Known Member
Hmmm. Try drawing off a quart, boil it and see what it tastes like. Or, better yet, pasteurize it -- take it up to 160 degrees, hold it there for 10 minutes and cool. It may change the flavor, but it might be OK. If it sucks, you've lost two pints rather than the whole batch. If it works, you'll know what to do.
It's certainly not standard procedure, but hey, neither is the mold!
It's certainly not standard procedure, but hey, neither is the mold!
Or you coud carefully rack the beer out from under the....wait....I've said this before....I guess I still think it's the way to go.
jcarson83
Well-Known Member
Take a picture and post it.
EvilTOJ
Well-Known Member
I really don't mean to sound condescending,but are you SURE it's mold you're taking off the top, and not krausen? I think a picture would help.
If you boil the beer you'll evaporate off most of the alcohol in the solution. Alcohol evaporates at 172F.
If you've already fermented the batch, which it sounds you have, all priming and repitching will do is carbonate the batch, not make any alcohol.
Rack from underneath the "mold" and bottle that. It's really the only option that is "good".
If you've already fermented the batch, which it sounds you have, all priming and repitching will do is carbonate the batch, not make any alcohol.
Rack from underneath the "mold" and bottle that. It's really the only option that is "good".
Finn
Well-Known Member
Good point about losing the alcohol if you boil it. So, don't do that. However, I still think pasteurizing is worth a try. Mainly because you can do it with just a quart of the stuff, so worst-case scenario is you lose a couple pints! If you skim the mildew (fuzzy, right? Not kraeusen?) and bottle, the possibility of bottle bombs exists because the beer appears to have some sort of infection.
Finn
Well-Known Member
never tried it but I hear it doesn't flocculate. But that's not the real reason I wouldn't recommend it.
Biggest worry I'd have is, does bread yeast attenuate more or less than what you used? I don't know. If it does, you will have no way of knowing how much usable sugar is in your wort. The result would be either flat beer or exploding bottles, depending on whether it's less or more attenuative. Personally, I wouldn't risk it. I'd repitch the same stuff you used to ferment the brew even if it takes a few more days to get hold of some. Meanwhile, try pasteurizing a small amount and see if it drives off the alcohol/makes it taste like crap/whatever.
Biggest worry I'd have is, does bread yeast attenuate more or less than what you used? I don't know. If it does, you will have no way of knowing how much usable sugar is in your wort. The result would be either flat beer or exploding bottles, depending on whether it's less or more attenuative. Personally, I wouldn't risk it. I'd repitch the same stuff you used to ferment the brew even if it takes a few more days to get hold of some. Meanwhile, try pasteurizing a small amount and see if it drives off the alcohol/makes it taste like crap/whatever.
*sigh*
Don't re-pitch. If it is ready to bottle, it's already fermented. There would be nothing for the yeast to eat. If it's fermented out, the alcohol will prevent anything that is bad for you from taking hold in the beer.
Rack out from under the mold, being careful to avoid getting it in the bottling bucket. Prime and bottle as normal. Wait 3 weeks and check it. If it's bad, wait another month and check it. Rinse, repeat.
At the point your at now, boiling, re-pitching, heating, is only wasting time and yeast.
Don't re-pitch. If it is ready to bottle, it's already fermented. There would be nothing for the yeast to eat. If it's fermented out, the alcohol will prevent anything that is bad for you from taking hold in the beer.
Rack out from under the mold, being careful to avoid getting it in the bottling bucket. Prime and bottle as normal. Wait 3 weeks and check it. If it's bad, wait another month and check it. Rinse, repeat.
At the point your at now, boiling, re-pitching, heating, is only wasting time and yeast.
Very Seriously doubt it. (how many did you use?)
Just bottle it like normal. It's pretty much a Unanimous vote here.
So is that a NO to adding bleach?
Finn
Well-Known Member
If you do, keep it someplace safe so if the bottles actually are infected, and start exploding, nobody gets hurt.
You're probably going to be forced to dump this beer anyway. I don't see any reason not to try pasteurizing a sample of it and see what happens. What's the worst that could happen? I do seem to be alone in that, though.
Good luck! Hope it works out.
Ok....first, if it is mold, then just rack the beer with your siphon, and leave the mold behind...I have done it and the beer is fine...
Mold is not the same as an infection...mold only grows on the surface of the beer, the layer exposed to air....but an infection CHANGES the beer..makes it sour, for example...you can leave mold behind to no ill effects.
But it would really help all of us to see a pic of this so called mold, sometimes inexperienced brewers THINK what they have is mold, when it really is just the remnents of krauzen tinted green by the hops in the beer.
NEVER RE-PITCH YEAST WITHOUT FIRST TAKING A HYDRO READING....You dont try to fix something unless you first diagnose it...and they only reason you would pitch yeast was if fermentation didn't occur, or was stalled, and the only way you'd KNOW THIS, is with a HYDROMETER READING.
Read this... http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Think_evaluation_before_action/
Besides, If it is "moldy" why are you considering adding yeast?
I betcha your batch of beer, that everything is fine and you just have N00bitus...The most common infection of all, a brain worm that causes new brewers to panic and think things are wrong when they really aren't...Trust me, I know...
Mold is not the same as an infection...mold only grows on the surface of the beer, the layer exposed to air....but an infection CHANGES the beer..makes it sour, for example...you can leave mold behind to no ill effects.
But it would really help all of us to see a pic of this so called mold, sometimes inexperienced brewers THINK what they have is mold, when it really is just the remnents of krauzen tinted green by the hops in the beer.
NEVER RE-PITCH YEAST WITHOUT FIRST TAKING A HYDRO READING....You dont try to fix something unless you first diagnose it...and they only reason you would pitch yeast was if fermentation didn't occur, or was stalled, and the only way you'd KNOW THIS, is with a HYDROMETER READING.
Read this... http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Think_evaluation_before_action/
Besides, If it is "moldy" why are you considering adding yeast?
I betcha your batch of beer, that everything is fine and you just have N00bitus...The most common infection of all, a brain worm that causes new brewers to panic and think things are wrong when they really aren't...Trust me, I know...
Not really.
Campdem kills wild yeasts and bacteria, but cultured brewing yeast survives it.
