infection?

I am sorry for asking another infection-question, but i've not had one yet, and don't know what it looks like.

Is this one? I am brewing my next batch outside, and went inside to keg this batch that i was going to pitch the next one on top of the cake of, opened the lids to find this.

I'm pretty sure i don't want to pitch on this, but don't have any yeast for this new cream-stout i don't think.

Looks like an infection to me. Don't throw it out...it may not have effected the taste. I would use different yeast though. If you don't have yeast, I'd put the beer in the fermentor when it's still hot (170ish) and let it cool overnight. It'll give bacteria less time to infect the wort since it's at higher temps and give you time to pick up more yeast tomorrow.

Honesty to mee it looks like the krausen hasn't fallen yet...in otherwords just another ugly fermentation.....

Without the particualrs, like how long it's been in the fermenter, then it is really irresponsible to pronounce it either infected or not....Give us some info on the beer.

But more importantly how does it taste/smell?

Well.. yeah, the krausen has fallen. It's been 3 weeks since i ptched this beer and on the side you can see the (normal) brownish krausen line to where it got up to, and now has fallen and is covered with whitish "mold"..
The smell isn't too bad, more like bubblegum or bandaid or something, but not horrid.

I was thinking of racking the beer to keg from underneath the top. And then give it some time to see what it does.
What would be the best way to clean this bucket then? Hot water, bleach... then, hot water oxyclean, and finally star-san..? Or should i pitch the bucket?

I have another primary, i am thinking of moving my honey-wheat up in line, rack to keg (after 2 weeks) and put the new beer in it. I found some wyeast 1056 i have in the fridge, ranched from a previous batch. Or i'd have WLP002 English ale (what this one was on). What does other people use for a cream stout??

I will decide on it tomorrow (monday).. what do you guys think?

Good luck with that. Definitely don't pitch it. Rack from under the top and save what you can. I wouldn't pitch the bucket either. Rinse and clean with hot water and some Oxyclean. You'll be perfectly fine just doing that. Enjoy the new honey wheat going on tap!

rsmith179 said:

Enjoy the new honey wheat going on tap!

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Why, do you think it will be ready already, after almost 3 weeks? I still have some other kegs in line before it.. usually i let 'em age another 3 weeks in the keg. Although they do say you drink wheat-beers your.. this one is not made with hefe-yeast.

i don't know that i would age that one for another 3 weeks, it could allow the infection to reform and adversely affect the flavor. i'd rack that sucker, get it carbed as soon as possible and drink it. i'm of the impatient camp and i am normally drinking a beer from keg roughly 3 weeks after pitching... of course age helps, but it's my feeling that if you get a good, healthy, quick fermentation and give the yeast some time to clean things up, the beer will be fine to drink after it's carbonated. of course this depends on many things like ABV, grain bill, yeast strain, but in general, this has worked very well for me.

Revvy said:

Honesty to mee it looks like the krausen hasn't fallen yet...in otherwords just another ugly fermentation.....

Without the particualrs, like how long it's been in the fermenter, then it is really irresponsible to pronounce it either infected or not....Give us some info on the beer.

But more importantly how does it taste/smell?

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I've never seen a krausen like that. I've had an infection, and this is exactly what it looked like. I kegged the beer and tried to wait it out...it ended up souring very badly to the point of being undrinkable. I'm not saying that's the issue,hence my suggestion to taste it first, but it's very possible.

OP...if it's mold, you can just skim it off or rack from underneath it. Mold shouldn't effect the taste of your beer.

mold spores can be harmful though. hmmm. id taste a pint and see if you get sick. if not go for it.

I have smelled and tasted quite a few bad beers during octoberfest.
There is 2 things that really just call's out infection.

One is when you smell it, You got a vineger smell. Sometimes its faint other times really super strong. Taste is ranging from a hint to SUPER strong.

The other is hard to explain till you run across it. And the best way to describe it is a bandaid smell. The beer has a "what is that" taste to it.. Still could be drinkable..

Just might want to drink it in a hurry, or invite some freinds over..

As for mold, I look at it this way... If you opened the fridge and found some food with mold on it, Would you scrap it off and eat it?

The only exception i can think of would be cheese.

Hope this helps

Good advice in here. I'd agree that you have an infection, most likely lactic, and you don't want to reuse that cake.

If you're going to keep the infected beer, I would recommend getting it kegged/bottled before you put anything else near the infected beer, or ferment in a different location.

winstonofbeer said:

The other is hard to explain till you run across it. And the best way to describe it is a bandaid smell. The beer has a "what is that" taste to it.. Still could be drinkable..

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While I agree that very rare wild yeasts can cause a bandaid smell or flavor, the most common cause of that smell/flavor is chlorine, not infection.

winstonofbeer said:

As for mold, I look at it this way... If you opened the fridge and found some food with mold on it, Would you scrap it off and eat it?

The only exception i can think of would be cheese.

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So, you don't make penicillian? Dang it.