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Alright, let the paranoia begin! I racked my first all grain batch into a secondary for dry hopping about 36 hours ago. The recipe called for the temp to be raised from 62 to 65 degrees at this point. (It's Yooper's Ruination clone.) For the first 24 hours it looked normal but overnight it's formed a foam and a few white floaters on the surface. Am I nuts?

In these pictures the floaters look green like hop matter but keep in mind that they are actually very white. Click on the images for a larger view.





 
Alright, let the paranoia begin! I racked my first all grain batch into a secondary for dry hopping about 36 hours ago. The recipe called for the temp to be raised from 62 to 65 degrees at this point. (It's Yooper's Ruination clone.) For the first 24 hours it looked normal but overnight it's formed a foam and a few white floaters on the surface. Am I nuts?

In these pictures the floaters look green like hop matter but keep in mind that they are actually very white. Click on the images for a larger view.






Looks normal.. just some carbing and yeast floaters..
 
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Thats about an inch of krausen with a weird portion being completely white. Its wyeast 1214 pitched sunday morning.
 
Thanks, just never seen it with that type of color distinction like that before, usually just one solid color krausen
 
8 days after posting my picture, the krausen dropped. bottled after 14 days in secondary. Can't wait to see how it turns out...
 
Short answer.....yes, they are both infected. Lacto?

That's what I was thinking.. Rack to a secondary and cold crash.. Might be able to salvage it if the fermentation is over. Then after a couple days of cold crash give it a taste.

NEVER DUMP until you taste.. the lacto will not hurt you.. unless your lacto intolerant :ban: (see what I did there).

Seriously Lacto in beer is a close relative of the bacteria family that is in Yogurt. I also heard rumor NOTHING that grows in beer can kill you. Just make the beer taste bad. So, If you like sours, who knows you may find you like it..
 
Have a saison going right now and I've never seen this sort of character in any of my beers before. This is my 8th batch. Fermented with WLP565. The beer probably sucked back a couple of ounces of starsan/vodka (I started using vodka once I noticed the suckback was occurring), and is the only thing I could think of causing this. That, or 565 has some bugs in it as a saison yeast. Or, of course, it's not infected.

The bubbles are, at this point, definitely still CO2, but that filmy stuff is what I've not seen before. Kind of a waxy look.

If it is infected, would it be worth pitching a vial of Brett in there to try and take over the colony?

Cheers,

Gan

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Don't have anything dry hopping in it or something like Vanilla beans in it do you..?

As you note.. it could be an intentional bacteria colony if your going for a sour.

If not, then it could be the Sar-San, or an unwanted infection.

No sure about the remedy though.. If fermentation is done I would move to secondary and be careful and avoid any of the junk on top
 
Nothing dry hopping, it's fermenting nice and hot though (90F). Does anyone know if WLP565 has some funk intentionally in it?

I'm either going to rack it this weekend or let it sit for another week or two. We'll see how funky it gets I guess. It's a split batch between a belgian pale ale (WLP500) and this, and I only got about a gallon and a half of this guy as I needed 4 gallons of the BPA so it won't be a tragedy if it's a dumper. I'm not opposed to it souring a bit, just wouldn't want it to go completely south.
 
I was out of carboys and racked to an extra bucket to dry hop. After 7 days I opened up to this.

Any idea what it is?

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COULD be yeast, and remanants of the dry hopping.. adding crap into the secondary adds crap to the secondary :)

That said, the plaques on the top don't look good. But could be oils from the hops.. especially if you used fresh hops and not pellets.
 
Nothing dry hopping, it's fermenting nice and hot though (90F). Does anyone know if WLP565 has some funk intentionally in it?

I'm either going to rack it this weekend or let it sit for another week or two. We'll see how funky it gets I guess. It's a split batch between a belgian pale ale (WLP500) and this, and I only got about a gallon and a half of this guy as I needed 4 gallons of the BPA so it won't be a tragedy if it's a dumper. I'm not opposed to it souring a bit, just wouldn't want it to go completely south.

90F..? That is quite hot.. I don't think I have ever had anything get that hot.

Good luck.
 
90F..? That is quite hot.. I don't think I have ever had anything get that hot.

Good luck.

Not uncommon to ferment saisons that hot.

565 is just yeast from my understanding I've used it plenty of times and never had any funk unless I introduced a vial of bugs myself.
 
Not uncommon to ferment saisons that hot.

565 is just yeast from my understanding I've used it plenty of times and never had any funk unless I introduced a vial of bugs myself.

Thanks for the tip, I figured as much since I couldn't find any other info about it on white lab's website. Pulled it out of the heater to let sit for a few days, going to keep an eye on it. I think I'm most likely going to let it ride for a while and see what happens.
 
First pic is the infected saison 3 days later... It's getting more solid and milkier. It may look otherwise, but all of that film is stuck strictly to the surface. There are no bubbles anywhere either. Tastes a little funky, but probably not any funkier than a saison should. Only thing that seemed off was mouthfeel--felt pretty thick, and it's at 1.008.

Second pic is of a BPA from the same batch of wort, just used different yeast. It hadn't really showed any signs of this infection until a couple of days ago when I started to cold crash it. Looks to be about the same thing, just not as widespread yet.

I'm thinking that the infection is coming from somewhere in the ferm chamber. Got a really nasty fridge from a friend and scrubbed it out pretty well but maybe there are some bugs still living in there somewhere. Saison had a lot of suckback throughout the ferment; put a cap on the BPA carboy but I imagine some air was still sucked back in. That, or maybe it's coming from my Venturi tube aerator; most of my stuff is pretty new and I'm very good about sanitizing. Star-San in the airlocks was maybe a bit old but I'm suspect about whether that would be the problem or not.

Anyone have any thoughts? I keep feeling like it's lacto but am having trouble pinning it down. It does NOT taste like vinegar.

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Yea its something not good.. but if the Beer is drinkable and at 1.008 I have to think your done. I would just bottle it now. and lose some of the top beer.
 
I found this when i came home from easter. It has been in the fermenter for 3 weeks now. The beer is a rye saison. og - 1.62, sg - 1.00! What kind of bacteria is it? The taste is a little a bit sour, and i like sours. :) any tips?

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If you like sours.. rack it. Since I have NO experience with Saisons.. I cant tell if its supposed to be that way or not. But if you like it.. then bottle it :)
 
Looks fine to me. I can see a slight oil film over the top from the hops (which are naturally antiseptic), and what appears to be some co2 bubbles or yeast rafts on top. Don't open it too often to look at it though, as you'll have a better chance of introducing baddies into the beer.

I remember my first beer, you'll never forget the first time you get drunk off your own creation.
 
I remember my first beer, you'll never forget the first time you get drunk off your own creation.

Especially when its your first batch and it was NOT quite what one would call "good".

Always surprises me no matter how bad the beer, at beer 4 or so.. it tastes drinkable.

I agree BTW looks like junk from your hops.
 
Thoughts on this? Its the more beer red kolsch. Fermented at 61, numbers are dead on. Smells great. I had the Brown spots before cold crashing which I assume are yeast rafts. 3 week total ferment. Took out yesterday, going to bottle tonight, then the white stuff joined the party. Doesn't look slimy or anything, but also doesn't look normal, thoughts? What should I do?
 
Rack it and drink it.. Looks like CO2 and rafts to me.

If it tastes good then its not an infection :)
 
Not cocoa powder as none is added in.a kolsch. I bottled and it looks fine. Tasted pre priming sugar and it tasted good. Fingers crossed
 
noticed this stringy crap in my carboy right before I cleaned it, after I had racked and bottled the beer. didn't notice any off flavors really. I've seen people mention stringy web like stuff being bad but no real description.


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Initially I thought hair...then I just thought, cripes that's discusting....Pumkin innards? Alien life - I'd be careful not to put your face over the carboy opening...
 
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