infected yeast starter? pic inside

http://picasaweb.google.com/108080099560455334576/Misc#5517503395485761890

I made this starter for my pops last week for his 10.73 belgian tripel extract brew. It was a smack pack and everything went fine except I boiled too long and lost more liquid then expected. So my OG was prob a little bit high, since I had 200g of hopped light dme and ended with 1.5 liter starter.

It fermented for 2 days, then into the fridge for 2 days to decant. When I came to make the brew, this is what I had. I decided against using the starter and just brewed a diff batch. So my questions are:

is this starter bad, If so from infection?

was it because I used a 2 liter bottle, even though I cleaned thoroughly with oxyclean and starsan?

I read about this forum quite a bit, but could use some guidance on this one, thanks!

Did you initially have krausen or yeast in the bottom before you crash cooled it after 2 days, or did you take a hydro reading?

That ALSMOST looks like some of the more ugly krausens the yeast can produce (like the brain krausen) It looks like some of the krausens on some Belgian yeasts I've gotten, but not until I've raised the temp on the fermenter.

I'm kinda wondering if you hadn't originally had starter fermentation, or had interrupted starter fermentation, and when you took it out of the cold crash and warmed it back up, that it didn't just start to blossom a krausen...

Does it smell ok?


I'm not 100% sure this is infected.

Looks like floating yeast colonies to me. Considering you dumped in a whole smack pack, I'd say there is little to no chance you have an infection. Firstly, the yeast will reproduce like mad and create an environment that is harmful to other microorganisms (bacteria, wild yeast, etc.) Secondly, the microorganisms that infect beer grow/reproduce slowly and 4 days should not be enough time for visible signs of infection.

I my opinion, you're good to go.

nice, I wasn't around when it went to the fridge, so it could just be the krausen was still up when it was crashed. I wasn't sure if I should decant with that much yeast on top if it's not an infection or just pitch the whole thing. So I ended up just putting it back in the fridge.

So now this thing will be in the fridge for 2 weeks at least before brew day. Do I just bring back to room temp for a few hours and pitch? I've read before I might have to make another starter to wake the guys up...ugh!

oh and it smelled fine, no horrible off odors and forgot to bring hydrometer, so no reading unfortunetly D;. And yes it did have some yeast settled at the bottom before crashing, it has some within a couple hours, so I had to mix regularly.

It does look nasty but it doesn't look infected. Just warm it up to room temp for 3 or 4 hours before you pitch it and you'll be fine.

The most likely candidate you would get in the fridge (IMO) would be lactobacillus, but even when you get some krausen from it, you will definitely be able to smell something off, like rotten milk or rotten creamed corn. I doubt lacto would be that active at room temperature or cooler to produce krausen...

You can and will get other bacteria growing in the fridge but when I've had that happen it was (1) unfermented wort and (2) did not have krausen.

That just looks like a top cropping yeast to me. The picture isn't very detailed, but I'd be surprised if you have much of anything besides yeast in there.