Post your infection

I used the new wyeast trappist blend with brett in it. Just wondering if this is what the brett does?

Thanks

Hi Guys

made a 14 litre brew with 100% Munich 1 grain, Hallertau hops and a Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale yeast. OG 1052, FG 1012 after 2 weeks in the primary. I never secondary and go straight to bottle.

Fermentation took a couple of days to really get started, but when it did it was insane. The fermenter is about 60% full, so lots of head room, but the yeast really took off and I was getting blow off through the air lock - never had this with this this yeast before. Quite a bit of mess and it was really sticky - like the ectoplasm is Ghostbusters.

When I bottled, I had a quick taste and it was almost a soapy flavour.

I'm a bit worried that I have an infection - see the attached photo.

Any thoughts?

I'd say that's yeast and falling krausen

Taking a guess both of these are right after the krausen fell and fermentation ended..?

Because while messy, they look normalish to me..as I see the ring of krausen above both.

The upper looks like yeast rafts waiting to fall.

The second looks like its just finishing up, the bubbles look a bit big, but the yeast between the bubbles looks normal, so maybe something in that one the retain head..? That could cause something like that.

whitehause said:

yea...the s-05 looks like it may have picked somthing up. At this point, might as well let it ride. Since it's a wheat,maybe rack on to some fruit, and worst case, you get a sour out of the deal. I'm not a fan myself, but some people go nuts for them.

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So I let it ride, and it came out great! It took about three months to clarify again, and the final gravity is very close to 1.000, maybe 1.002. It's in the keg now and although there are some sour notes, it's definitely balanced out by the honey. I would compare it to a strong Belgian ale. Being a wheat beer, it's a bit cloudy, but that's to be expected. Overall, one of the best beers I've brewed to date!

CDGoin said:

Yep.. My first batch is barely drinkable, not sure if its infection or a poor job making it.. But I am drinking it.

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How long has it been in the bottle? If it's a dark beer or above 6% alcohol it might take months of conditioning before it's good and a year or more before it's great. Just some food for thought...

PhelanKA7 said:

How long has it been in the bottle? If it's a dark beer or above 6% alcohol it might take months of conditioning before it's good and a year or more before it's great. Just some food for thought...

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There are so many off flavors, chances its ever good are slim.

It was my first brew, and I could take a whole thread to go over on how badly I screwed up.

OH wait..

I'm ok with that though, as I have two others that are going very well.. as I do try to learn from my mistakes.

So checked my second batch today, smells like beer taste like beer. Has particles floating in brew though. No pic can't get one.

IronEagle said:

So checked my second batch today, smells like beer taste like beer. Has particles floating in brew though. No pic can't get one.

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If it smells and tastes fine, the particles are probably yeast rafts (floating chunks of yeast) and are perfectly normal.

She looks good! That is an interesting car boy. I do think a lot of people over-emphasize the infection aspect. To some extent its good, always keeping a cleanliness attitude while brewing/handling, but beer has proven very resilient in my experience (especially big ones).

I made some noob mistakes during my first brew day, and a few after. The IPA kit I was brewing still turned out amazing..

I just had a Cuvee Des Jacobins Rouge. Peehew! If any of you can accidentally make a beer as jaw-clenchigly sour as that, you'll be rich. I mean this tasted like it was filter through a pile of dirty socks and yet, by the end of the bottle, it had really grown on me (probably literally).

Do not throw any beer away. You never know when you will invent something authentically novel (or find the cure for cancer)!

sorry for **** photo, never had an infection so not sure

hefe in primary for 2 weeks, moved to secondary for 2 days. white solid **** formed on top, and crystallising on side of carboy.



was thinking about bottling anyway but don't want to risk bottle bombs because I can't cold carbonate


help me HBT!

Kind of looks like one, also could as easily be some scum left from cleaning, or that came from the primary, etc.

I personally would just cap it and let it sit.. at this point, you are you aren't.

If you are it will get nastier, if you aren't it will look like that till your ready to bottle.

The only thing to do is taste test at this point when you bottle. As for bottle bombs.. if you have to steady readings between 3 days, then your fermenting is 95% done and not an issue.

At this stage its all about aging and maturing the beer, as at this point in time it is beer.. flat and young, but beer.

Ok. I have just taken a taste and it doesn't taste off, but the hefe character didn't come through as much as when I was transferring from primary. will let it sit until the weekend, bottle it and hope for the best

thanks

The hefe character may not come through yet as it hasnt conditioned. BUt if you don't taste a off sour flavor then your probably OK.. I would mark the last 6 bottles though so you know they could be the infected.

I am sure as it ages, and carbs up.. it will taste fine. If it doesn't drink it anyway.

You made it and it won't make you sick.. never a reason to waste Beer.

So, I've been perusing this thread and I haven't come to a conclusion on what this may be. Needless to say it looks hideous. I dry hopped with a clean, sanitized (StarSan) nylon hop bag on Sunday. Took a peek today and found these floaties on top. They look almost gelatinous. Very yucky. Beer looked and smelled good at dry hopping. Tasted fine. It was in primary 2 weeks and secondary 1 before hopping.

And yes, that's the hop bag floating too. Usually I use pellets to dry hop and I tried something different and used whole hops. I used the sanitized dental floss trick, but didn't know to use some weight to keep it below sea level. Ugh. Think I may have been my own enemy not using that trick.

I have 5 brews under my belt but none have produced this odd ball gunk. Any idea? Possibly oils from the hops (haha, let me stay positive). I really messed up, huh?

If you know what this is, your wisdom would be appreciated. Kinda embarrassed I may have screwed up so bad, so may as well make it a learning experience.

Could be.. I haven't dry hopped, much less with whole hops..

That said, it doesn't look like an infection at least not a bacillius one..

As mentioned here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/post-your-infection-71400/index96.html#post4843531

Infected or not those are your options..

Is my beer infected with lactic bacteria? Found these floating around a few days ago. They look like flakes of peeled off skin floating on top of the beer.

pleaserespond said:

Is my beer infected with lactic bacteria? Found these floating around a few days ago. They look like flakes of peeled off skin floating on top of the beer.

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How old is the beer?

it's about 2 weeks old or so, not quite 3 weeks yet. it's fermenting in a primary (1 gallon glass carboy).

pleaserespond said:

it's about 2 weeks old or so, not quite 3 weeks yet. it's fermenting in a primary (1 gallon glass carboy).

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yeast and bubbles..

your good

What's the rule of the thumb in terms of time for lactic bacteria infection to develop?

From what I have seen, if you have a decent Krausen, you won't really see it until well after fermentation, not just a day or two.

I have almost exactly what you have except they are joined together in bigger groups in my RIS..

MY rule of thumb, is the texture, color and shape.

It tends to cover the top as a thin sheet if its not disturbed. It loks a lot like pond scum.. Its not bubbly, or little small bits, etc..

It seems on this thread 95 times out of 100 its either the leftovers of fermentation, or contamination from other sources (bits of rag, items that were put into the secondary (coffee, cocoa, haops, vanilla, etc.. ) that give off "junk" that seem to scare everyone.

From what I gather Lactic infections are exception more so than the rule. I am also finding out that more beers end up with sour notes, and off flavors due to water quality or fermentation temp swings than infections.

Now I have seen some pictures of beer infected with a lot of odd junk that wasn't Lactobacillus.. and not sure what those were infected with. That said, the common denominator in those, is that they had been in secondary a long time.. and usually the posts seem to be in the summer.

Just somethings to consider.

This starter looks ok from a distance but up close there are tiny fibers in solution floating around..Trippn me the hell out

After flipping through 90+ pages of this thread I have seen some funk that made me wish I had not looked. LOL....... But it is interesting to say the least. I watched a episode of brew tv a while back dedicated to open fermentation. Mike Dawson brewed a batch of beer and fermented in his brew kettle semi open with the lid cracked.One would think if you were going to pick up some funk a open fermentation would do it. His beer turned out great according to him. If you can make great beer without it being sealed...... sanitation has to be an issue for a lot of these infections. I was going to try that technique but I may hold off after reading this thread.

I have what looks like an oil slick going on on top of my brew. Then again there was some grapefruit zest (from about half a grapefruit) that went into the boil @10. I skimmed most of it out flameout but undoubtedly missed some. Think that's maybe just the oils from that peel? I'll try and rack under it and leave the top ~1" in the FV when I bottle.

(This is after 20 days in the primary)

That does look odd.. what are the big yellow masses ?

If those are the grapefruit.. I think your OK.. as you said it looks oily which is probably more contamination than infection.

Idrum6969 said:

After flipping through 90+ pages of this thread I have seen some funk that made me wish I had not looked. LOL....... But it is interesting to say the least. I watched a episode of brew tv a while back dedicated to open fermentation. Mike Dawson brewed a batch of beer and fermented in his brew kettle semi open with the lid cracked.One would think if you were going to pick up some funk a open fermentation would do it. His beer turned out great according to him. If you can make great beer without it being sealed...... sanitation has to be an issue for a lot of these infections. I was going to try that technique but I may hold off after reading this thread.

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As I have, you probably realized looking through this thread.. that most of the "infections" fall into 5 categories.

1) Yeast rafts / CO2 and left over Krausen

2) Contamination in primary (From oils or other "junk" that got into the boil or fermenter

3) Contamination in secondary (from hops, beans, wood chips, etc..)

4) Lactic Bacteria infection

5) Unknown infection/crap

I would say

1) 65%
2) 10%
3) 20%
4) less than 5%
5) less than 5%

CDGoin said:

As I have you probably realized looking through this thread.. most of the "infections" fall into 5 categories.

1) Yeast rafts / CO2 and left over Krausen

2) Contamination in primary (From oils or other "junk" that got into the boil or fermenter

3) Contamination in secondary (from hops, beans, wood chips, etc..)

4) Lactic Bacteria infection

5) Unknown infection/crap

I would say

1) 65%
2) 10%
3) 20%
4) less than 5%
5) less than 5%

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I couldn't agree more....... I will also say I wish to not experience any of "THE FUNK" I have seen thus far in my beers unless I intended for it to be that way. I have checked my equipment for any flaws and will make damn sure my sanitation is in check no matter the stage I am at with beer.

CDGoin said:

That does look odd.. what are the big yellow masses ?

If those are the grapefruit.. I think your OK.. as you said it looks oily which is probably more contamination than infection.

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Those are whole leaf hops. The only piece of grapefruit i see is right about in the middle of the pic.

Yea.. if you have the skin of the grapefruit in there.. I would think the oils would be coming from that.. doesn't take a lot of oils, or other things to make the top of everything look funky.

Your probably more than fine.

BTW FYI Grapefruit can mess with a lot of peoples medication, so if you have a friend that has a lot of heart issues (heart medications more than most seem affected) let them know there is grapefruit in it, because its remarkable how little of the enzyme that is in grapefruit can affect some peoples medications.

Thanks for the heads up.

My 4th brew and I haven't experienced this layer in my fermenter before. It is a hefewiezen in the fermenter for 3 weeks curious if it is an infection or if everything just didn't settle to the bottom

Doesn't look like an infection to me

MotorcycleMatt said:

Doesn't look like an infection to me

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Agree. Just some fermentation bubbles and yeast rafts.

libeerty said:

Agree. Just some fermentation bubbles and yeast rafts.

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Thanks for the input

i got a very similar layer on a weizen bock. i wonder if it is something to do with the wheat.

progmac said:

i wonder if it is something to do with the wheat.

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I also got a white layer on my hefeweizen

Just last night I found this thread and had some fun with it. This afternoon I cracked open my chocolate stout and found this. DAMN! Oh well!

Whoa, funky stuff ya got there. I'm no expert on infections so I have no idea what it is. Looks pretty cool though