Post your infection

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
smagee said:
Regarding cleaning the bottles, are you just soaking in water? If so, drop some PBW or Oxyclean in there and you'll be golden. A 24-hour soak in either gets just about anything off.

This.
 
I am assuming my last batch was infected (gushing bottles and bad taste). All of my nice swing top bottles have a film that won't budge after a day of soaking in water. Any suggestions about how to get my bottles clean is greatly appreciated. Also, would a switch from StarSan to iodophor be an issue? This is the first time I have had this problem.

I use TSP (trisodium phosphate) to clean all my equipment, buckets and carboys, and I soak them in this solution for at least 20 minutes, then rinse really well, and then i use iodphore to sanitize.

According to the manufacturer, iodophore needs only 3 minutes to kill everything it's gonna kill, but I leave things soaking in it as long as possible, just to be safe.

Iodophore does stain plastics pretty badly, but I find that the TSP actually removes that stain after a good soaking, which I like, because i know it's doing something, so it's kind of an indicator.

I finally figured out the source of my infection.

If you look at the picture, you'll notice the scum on the top is only on the left side, it baffled me a bit, so I looked really close and found that actually, it is creeping down the inside of the bucket from the top, and then spills out onto the surface of the wort.

I then realized that when I poured the liquid Festa wort from the box, i did so on the left side, right where that infection seems to start.

Looks like even though I actually sanitized the spout of the wort container, something not sanitized made a bit of contact with the cardboard box or an unsanitized part of the plastic bladder inside the Festa box.

I knew it had to be something like that!

Amazing how little it takes to cause an infection. Makes me want to wear an NBC safe suite outside now, haha.

At least now I know, and I'll be MUCH more careful next time.

Thanks all!

Chris ;)
 
Hi All,

I've just finished a Festa brew European Pilsner kit, and upon opening it up for bottling today, i noticed some little nasties floating on the top of the wort.

This has been sitting on the yeast cake since Nov 27th, I did not rack into a secondary actually "because" I am cautious about infecting my beer.

I am way overly cautious, I soak my bucket, carboy and equipment in TSP (trisodium phosphate) for usually an hour or so before and after use, and then sanitize with iodophore.

The fact that something sneaked in makes me really wonder how it got in there.

I make sure nothing that is not sanitized comes into contact with any of my utensils or equipment, and make sure my hands are clean enough almost to do surgery...lol.

I tasted the beer out of the graduated cylinder when I took a sample for the FG, and it tasted fine, nothing weird or off tasting, so I guess the question is "is it ok", or will something grow in the bottles now??

Take a look and tell me what you think, it's not much, but it's in there, so I just want to make sure it's gonna be ok.

Thanks!!

Chris ;)

pilsner-infection-2.jpg


pilsner-infection-1.jpg

I use TSP (trisodium phosphate) to clean all my equipment, buckets and carboys, and I soak them in this solution for at least 20 minutes, then rinse really well, and then i use iodphore to sanitize.

According to the manufacturer, iodophore needs only 3 minutes to kill everything it's gonna kill, but I leave things soaking in it as long as possible, just to be safe.

Iodophore does stain plastics pretty badly, but I find that the TSP actually removes that stain after a good soaking, which I like, because i know it's doing something, so it's kind of an indicator.

I finally figured out the source of my infection.

If you look at the picture, you'll notice the scum on the top is only on the left side, it baffled me a bit, so I looked really close and found that actually, it is creeping down the inside of the bucket from the top, and then spills out onto the surface of the wort.

I then realized that when I poured the liquid Festa wort from the box, i did so on the left side, right where that infection seems to start.

Looks like even though I actually sanitized the spout of the wort container, something not sanitized made a bit of contact with the cardboard box or an unsanitized part of the plastic bladder inside the Festa box.

I knew it had to be something like that!

Amazing how little it takes to cause an infection. Makes me want to wear an NBC safe suite outside now, haha.

At least now I know, and I'll be MUCH more careful next time.

Thanks all!

Chris ;)

Your pictures look completely normal to me. Either that or most of my beers are infected...infected with great taste! I've seen those floaties, yeast rafts, what have you on several of my beers. I think you are fine. :mug:
 
Not sure if this is an infection


image-1459287805.jpg

I have never had an infection so dont know what to do now, tip it out and start again? What can i do differently?
 
The PBW worked great. The mystery film / infection that was "glued" to my bottles came off in sheets after a day soak.
 
Dohboy said:
Not sure if this is an infection

<img src="https://www.homebrewtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=42131"/>

I have never had an infection so dont know what to do now, tip it out and start again? What can i do differently?

This looks perfectly normal to me. The yeasties are working well to make beer. The gunk on top is just the residual left from the peak of fermentation.
 
6638979111_6202ea3972.jpg


This could be my first infection- or its just a sign of massive head retention! This is an irish w oatmeal brewed yesterday. Fermentation was a little hot- probably didnt get below 70 degrees until early this morning.
 
Looks like a normal, vigorous primary fermentation. Try using a blow off tube running to a small bucket with a weak bleach solution instead of the standard airlock next time to solve this issue.
 
No worries, that's just a blow out. You need a blow off tube or smaller batch size next time you use that bucket to ferment.
 
This photo is a little less about a beer infection and more about a weird looking trub after I racked to secondary. Yeast was Wyeast American Ale II with the dregs of a dogfish raison d'être. I've only been brewing a year and this is my 13th batch. Normally the trub looks like smooth mud but this looked more like cocoa pebbles. Beer tasted fine so not really worried, more curious. Anyone experience this and maybe know why??

image-3506891786.jpg
 
Yessir- looks fantastic in the secondary now. Im pumped! First blowout!

Hmm- I hope my fermentation temp wasnt too high, :fro:

No worries, that's just a blow out. You need a blow off tube or smaller batch size next time you use that bucket to ferment.
 
Well this is after a 10 day primary and then 7 days in the 2ndary ithey broke up as soon as i moved the carboy to get a better pic, I am not sure if the big one broke up or sank but its gone now. I was going to wait it out another week and see what happens but what do you think?

DSCI0028.JPG


DSCI0029.JPG
 
Spacepuppy said:
Well this is after a 10 day primary and then 7 days in the 2ndary ithey broke up as soon as i moved the carboy to get a better pic, I am not sure if the big one broke up or sank but its gone now. I was going to wait it out another week and see what happens but what do you think?
The pics are way too blurry and the flash coming off of the carboy is the only thing that stands out.
 
ya thats why i was moving the carboy to a better spot to take a pic and wipe the outside a little but then most of it broke up or fell to the bottom...not sure which....but I will give it another week and update it
 
aaronsawyer said:
This photo is a little less about a beer infection and more about a weird looking trub after I racked to secondary. Yeast was Wyeast American Ale II with the dregs of a dogfish raison d'être. I've only been brewing a year and this is my 13th batch. Normally the trub looks like smooth mud but this looked more like cocoa pebbles. Beer tasted fine so not really worried, more curious. Anyone experience this and maybe know why??

Mine looked funky too. I was wondering the same thing.
 
Well my first batch is 3 days in the fermenter and I read the first 20 pages or so of this thread.

I think I'll be following revvy's advice about leaving it 4 weeks in the primary and not looking until then =)

It also makes me want to never get a glass carboy! I can't worry about what I can't see.
 
Irish red after one month, Im almost certain this is one

bottle it up and when carbed and tasting good,refrigerate,ive had this a few times,some ive had a ring around the bottle neck,no gushers & i actually have the batches cellaring, i think the thing is its on the surface so you last bottles you may want to drink first,at least it works for me,and i havnet had bombs but a saison is turning to be pretty tasteless that has sat for months though too.Just keep an eye on them then refrigerate them when they are carbed and taste good.
 
bottle it up and when carbed and tasting good,refrigerate,ive had this a few times,some ive had a ring around the bottle neck,no gushers & i actually have the batches cellaring, i think the thing is its on the surface so you last bottles you may want to drink first,at least it works for me,and i havnet had bombs but a saison is turning to be pretty tasteless that has sat for months though too.Just keep an eye on them then refrigerate them when they are carbed and taste good.

i don't have that many bottles to age a beer that might not come out well. its getting dumped shortly
 
I don't have anything you can see, but I have a chocolate stout that tastes really odd. One friend says it tastes "medicinal", another friend says it has a "metallic" taste. To me it's a combination of metallic/solvent... I don't know what in the world it is, but it's not a tasty batch. It's only got 2+ weeks bottle conditioning, so I'll leave it to age out for a few weeks before i turn it into toilet cleaner...
 
Irish red after one month, Im almost certain this is one

I've had similar infections before. The translucent, milky whitish film seems to break and separate once you stick anything into it. I've had mixed results bottling it up after racking from below. In every instance, I've attempted to drink it as fast as possible. Not sure what it could be, but it pops up every so often ever since I was banished to the basement for brewing. I wonder if it's something in the air that makes it into the wort during cooling. Really angers me when I see it though.
 
This is a Flanders Red some friends and I brewed up. I think that's a pellicle starting to form but maybe someone can help me out. We pitched Rosalaire, lacto and dregs from cantillion and all kinds of other stuff. Plus the guy I got the wine barrel from was aging a Dubble on cherries and said it was starting to taste infected... Whatever it is we have 63 gallons of it.

image-1147167691.jpg
 
This is a Flanders Red some friends and I brewed up. I think that's a pellicle starting to form but maybe someone can help me out. We pitched Rosalaire, lacto and dregs from cantillion and all kinds of other stuff. Plus the guy I got the wine barrel from was aging a Dubble on cherries and said it was starting to taste infected... Whatever it is we have 63 gallons of it.

Looks like rust:D
 
Turns out- not infected!!!!!!!1:tank:

Its a bit malty for my taste. Thats my experience with windsor yeast tho. cheers!

6638979111_6202ea3972.jpg


This could be my first infection- or its just a sign of massive head retention! This is an irish w oatmeal brewed yesterday. Fermentation was a little hot- probably didnt get below 70 degrees until early this morning.
 
I could use some help determining if this is an infection/contamination, and if so, what I can do with the beer.

Its an AHS Dunkel which I brewed about 3.5 weeks ago. I primaried in an Ale Pail at cold temps (as per the lager instructions) and checked it after 3 weeks. It still had a fairly significant krausen so I left it a few more days. The gravity seemed to be stable and was within 95% of the target FG. The directions said to lager, so I transferred to secondary and now, three days later, I have this:




The yeast in the primary exhibited very low flocculation at room temperatures, but when I put it back in the cold temps, it mostly settled and cleared up, however I now have these white spots on the surface. I've secondaried 5 brews and haven't seen this happen before, but its my first go at a lager and my first usage of the WLP800 Pilsner Lager yeast.

So, Infected? And if so, what now?

Thanks!
 
PaulC.. take a really close look and make sure those aren't clusters of very tiny bubbles.. Might be carbon dioxide coming out of suspension...
 
Thanks Stauffbier. You know what, I think they are tiny bubbles and not a growth of any kind. So thats a relief.


Of course, after I checked, I accidentally left the flourescent lights on in my garage overnight. Hope it isn't skunked.....
 
I've left my flourescent lights on in my garage as well and haven't experienced any skunking.
 
I could use some help determining if this is an infection/contamination, and if so, what I can do with the beer.

Its an AHS Dunkel which I brewed about 3.5 weeks ago. I primaried in an Ale Pail at cold temps (as per the lager instructions) and checked it after 3 weeks. It still had a fairly significant krausen so I left it a few more days. The gravity seemed to be stable and was within 95% of the target FG. The directions said to lager, so I transferred to secondary and now, three days later, I have this:




The yeast in the primary exhibited very low flocculation at room temperatures, but when I put it back in the cold temps, it mostly settled and cleared up, however I now have these white spots on the surface. I've secondaried 5 brews and haven't seen this happen before, but its my first go at a lager and my first usage of the WLP800 Pilsner Lager yeast.

So, Infected? And if so, what now?

Thanks!

I've had some barley wine in secondary for a little over 4 months now. For the first few weeks or so, I noticed something similar on the surface. It turned out to be just little clusters of carbon dioxide bubbles. At least that is what I am chalking it up to. I sat and watched the carboy for quite awhile trying to figure out what it was (I guess I'm easy to entertain) and actually saw a couple small bubbles float to the top. They have since vanished and all is right in brew world.
 
I read this thread last Thursday and Friday and started thinking about my Belgian Dubbel that has been in secondary for about a month, following about 4 weeks in primary.

It looked good coming out of primary and was actually supposed to go into a 55 gal barrel with some other people's recipes to age for a few months before we split it back up. I popped it open this weekend and saw this:

aoha1.jpg


Consensus is that it is a Lacto infection. I haven't tasted it yet, but plan to soon.

Some advice I got: Add some bret and see what happens in a few months. I don't know that I want to try to go this route.

From reading on here and other places I'm more inclined to bottle it (if it tastes ok) and see how much I can drink/share before it gets too sour.

I used WLP510 if it matters. It was part of a cake from someone else, but his beer is fine (and my primary didn't seem to have any problems)

Thoughts/opinions? Thanks.
 
bump. I was hoping to do something with this tonight...

Gotta try it first, then decide if you like it. It's only going to get more sour from where it sits now. I'd keg/bottle it if you like the taste and drink it.
 
CasselBrewery said:
While researching what is the infection I got in my Red Racer clone secondary, I stumbled on this loonnnggg thread! It sure looks cool but I don't think it is THAT cool. I smells ok but haven't tasted it it. It was dry hoped 2 weeks ago after successful primary (tasted f*ing great!), now I just want to know what it is. I will dump it cause I rather get this mentality in check cause our brewery is opening up commercially in June 2012 and if it happens at that time, down the drain it will go. I will grab a microscope tomorrow and see what it looks like.

Fermenter #1 http://www.casselbrewery.ca/graphics/IMG_2320.JPG
Fermenter #2 http://www.casselbrewery.ca/graphics/IMG_2321.JPG

Thanks for any idea of what it might be!

Looks like some kind of Brett to me. I had the same in my Orval clone after pitching Brett B and bulk aging.
 
Back
Top