Did my beer get a nasty infection? Got a white pellicle on an APA

Made a basic american pale ale. Pitched with W1056 on 29 Jun with an og of 1.045. Today (10 jul) it's at 1.010 and tastes about as I'm expecting (first time with this recipe) but it has a thin white still dusting across the top with some large bubbles.

Looks like this:



I don't recall having seen one this distinct before.

Unless you fermented with jellyfish, that does look infected.

OMG thats nasty looking dump that and throw out that bucket.

Is this what Zombie Dust looks like?

How does it taste?

dfc said:

How does it taste?

Click to expand...

In his first post, he said that it tasted as he expected it to. At least, that was what I took from it.. he may have been referring to when he took his OG readings.

It's definitely got a pellicle going on. I'd probably go ahead and bottle it, and watch for gushers. Drink 'em quick, because they will go south in a few weeks.

This is a pale ale. I racked it onto fruit and infected it with Jolly Pumpkin dregs. Looks alot like yours.

Don't throw it out. Go ahead and bottle it when it's ready. I recently had an APA do the same thing and it didn't turn out too bad.
I checked one at 1 week then every week after that to make sure they didn't over carbonate and make bottle bombs. They carbonated quite nicely.

Skim the infection off. Compress it into one inch balls. Roll them in flour and deep fry 'em.

Pellicle Puppies!

MisterTipsy said:

Unless you fermented with jellyfish, that does look infected.

Click to expand...

Need to check the logs, but I'm pretty sure I left the jellyfish out this time.

MisterTipsy said:

Skim the infection off. Compress it into one inch balls. Roll them in flour and deep fry 'em.

Pellicle Puppies!

Click to expand...

That is awesome!

dfc said:

How does it taste?

Click to expand...

xMalachi said:

In his first post, he said that it tasted as he expected it to. At least, that was what I took from it.. he may have been referring to when he took his OG readings.

Click to expand...

Yep. Kind of like sweet sierra nevada pale ale. No hint of sour.

MisterTipsy said:

Skim the infection off. Compress it into one inch balls. Roll them in flour and deep fry 'em.

Pellicle Puppies!

Click to expand...

You're winning my thread, dude.

Bubba said:

OMG thats nasty looking dump that and throw out that bucket.

Click to expand...

Say what? I'mm'a give it some strong iodophor, a bleach soak, then steam bath. I ain't throwing out a perfectly good fermenter!

jordanmills said:

Yep. Kind of like sweet sierra nevada pale ale. No hint of sour.

Click to expand...

I'd just bottle and drink them. Like others have said, watch out for bottle bombs.

dfc said:

I'd just bottle and drink them. Like others have said, watch out for bottle bombs.

Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I'm going for. It will be in a corny keg, the pressure release should keep it from blowing up on me. Any way, got a big party on the twentieth, so it should be gone before it gets bad.

Will kmeta kill this stuff? I have campden, and i'll be force carbonating it.

Pellicle Puppies!

Click to expand...

I just threw up in my mouth a little

or if you're adventurous you could throw it in a glass carboy and age it for a bit. looks a lot like brett from my limited experience. did a beer with old ale blend and that's exactly what the pellicle looked like.

bwomp313 said:

or if you're adventurous you could throw it in a glass carboy and age it for a bit. looks a lot like brett from my limited experience. did a beer with old ale blend and that's exactly what the pellicle looked like.

Click to expand...

I have plans for this one. Does it propogate well? Like, can I take a culture off the top and use it to innoculate another batch later? I figure I'd let it breed then keep it in the fridge for up to a few months.

It would be a really local beer!

One Camden tablet let it sit two days. The infection is in your equipment. Clean soap and water brush out your siphon get new tube for siphon. Clean everything I mean clean.scrub, brush, then sanitize everything.Had this happen and it cost me 35gal.

Darkness said:

One Camden tablet let it sit two days. The infection is in your equipment. Clean soap and water brush out your siphon get new tube for siphon. Clean everything I mean clean.scrub, brush, then sanitize everything.Had this happen and it cost me 35gal.

Click to expand...

Ouch. Well I have several other batches going on, and none look like this. But this was the last one I brewed. Yeah all this gear is getting a thorough wash, nice long bleach soak, then a steam.

Ya get it out of the area fast I am sure that mine was in the siphon. Good brewing man and hop it all works out

jordanmills said:

I have plans for this one. Does it propogate well? Like, can I take a culture off the top and use it to innoculate another batch later? I figure I'd let it breed then keep it in the fridge for up to a few months.

It would be a really local beer!

Click to expand...

I wouldn't go inoculating anything with it until you know how it tastes.

But I second the idea of just leaving it for six months to a year and seeing what happens, assuming a) you don't absolutely need the beer and b) you don't absolutely need the fermenter.

Qhrumphf said:

I wouldn't go inoculating anything with it until you know how it tastes.

But I second the idea of just leaving it for six months to a year and seeing what happens, assuming a) you don't absolutely need the beer and b) you don't absolutely need the fermenter.

Click to expand...

Well I'd put it in a smaller one or two gallon batch if I did that. I kinda need the beer and the fermenter too.