This looks like bad news

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cafeviking

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a tiny matte looking swirl just formed on the top of my beer in secondary overnight. I'm pretty positive that it's an infection although it's very tiny just yet. It doesn't appear to be anything from the hop bag. It looks like something might be trying to grow. It's in a glass carboy so I can't bottle it from the bottom. Help, guys. Help me help me : )

I could take a picture to post if you want, although there's condensation on the top of the carboy that might be a big prohibitive. It's been in secondary since the 29th I believe so I'm fine with bottling it now.

aye aye aye aye
 
Chill. Probably not an infection- pics would help, though.
relax, don't worry, and have a home brew (or any beer if this is your first batch!)
 
I had what I thought was an infection too a few months ago. What I did: used my shop vac, turned it on and cupped my hand that was holding the racking tube to the end of the vac hose. As I did this, I just dipped the racking tube into glass carboy and sucked up all the slimy crud that was floating on top. Sucked it up like when you were a kid and you dripped spit onto your little brother, then at the last second you sucked it back. It was kinda like that...BUT...DONT FORGET TO CLEAN OUT YOUR SHOP VAC...Dont ask me how I know, but it will stink to holy hell in less than a week.

6
 
It has little squigglies that make it look like bacteria. I think the abv between 6-7% (my OG reading was inaccurate because my wort wasn't stirred) and this happened 14 days from the beginning. I was kind of a freak about washing stuff with antibacterial soap. Even my hands. Boiled the entire airlock every time I messed with it at all.

Anyway, I took a video. It was impossible to take a photo because a still shot of this just looks like a lot of reflections and stuff.

How do you embed a movie in this forum? http://www.youtube.com/v/oE3szoD5W54
 
I just can't imagine what on earth it could be? It appeared overnight. I would be oh-so-sad if it were an infection.
 
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Boiling water and 99% anti-bacterial hand soap.

What's the BB code to embed a video? Pictures are worthless because there's condensation on the top of my carboy. I can't photograph through it. I'm pretty sure this is some sort of infection because it's growing. Is it possible to get rid of it by sucking off the top? It might be a pellicle as I had one on my last beer, but I was stupid with that one and opened it up to check the gravity all of the time (it was my first). I don't see my sanitation being a problem though, I'm very thorough.
 
suction that little sucker out. step on it then burn it then back over it with the car. and next time don't spit into your beer. :)
 
Most "anti-bacterial" soaps really don't have much killing power at all. Instead the soaps make it difficult for the bacteria to adhere to surfaces.

I did a makeshift experiment in micro lab a lifetime ago where I compared the effect of antibacterial soap, regular soap, and distilled water in order to see how each one affected an infected chip with and without agitation.


Distilled water with agitation inhibited growth better than antibacterial soap without agitation. True story.


Get a sanitizer. Most antibacterial soaps are just hype.
 
Distilled water with agitation inhibited growth better than antibacterial soap without agitation. True story.

That's wild. Lesson leared/learning.

Well, today the sucker looks like it's going to be a pellicle. Is there any treatment for this or am I bottling for ****s and hoping for the worst? How do I bottle it anyway, it's in a glass carboy.

Sad day.
 
Sorry about the possible infection. I recently had stout that got Acetobacter and after bottling underneath it you could barely taste any difference.

To answer your question on how to bottle it, try a racking cane (NORTHERN BREWER: Siphoning Equipment), which is a hard rigid L shape piece of plastic attached to a plastic hose that you put into the carboy and suck the beer out with (not your mouth, try looking up 'siphoning beer') into your bottles or secondary.

Best of luck.
 
One other thing. First time I had an infection, I siphoned all of my beer into a 5 gallon pot, put the lid on and boiled for about 5 minutes.

After it finished I added 2 pounds of dry malt extract and repitched some more yeast (as the boiling kills the yeast). It then set for another week.

I then bottled it and it tasted ok. I think it lost some of its alcohol when I boiled it, and it probably screwed with its flavor, but it was drinkable.

Has anyone else ever done this? If so, other than the negatives I pointed out, and the potential to waste a fine/perfect beer, are there any other considerations or why this may have been a definite no? I was thinking pasteurize.

Hope this helps.
 
Most "anti-bacterial" soaps really don't have much killing power at all. Instead the soaps make it difficult for the bacteria to adhere to surfaces.
I did a makeshift experiment in micro lab a lifetime ago where I compared the effect of antibacterial soap, regular soap, and distilled water in order to see how each one affected an infected chip with and without agitation.
Distilled water with agitation inhibited growth better than antibacterial soap without agitation. True story.
Get a sanitizer. Most antibacterial soaps are just hype.

I bought a 1 gallon jug of DIAL antibacterial soap at sams. After 6 months, it had mold growing on it, and bacteria growing in it!
 
That's wild. Lesson leared/learning.

Well, today the sucker looks like it's going to be a pellicle. Is there any treatment for this or am I bottling for ****s and hoping for the worst? How do I bottle it anyway, it's in a glass carboy.

Sad day.

Transfer to a bottling bucket (assuming you have one), and try to avoid sucking up that top inch or so. As others have said, unless you taste funk, it's probably not bad. I've seen pictures of English yeasts that look oh so nasty, and do all sorts of things you'd never expect to see in healthy brew. A guy posted an image of Whitbread not so long ago that looked like floating islands of cheese with mold growing on them, but it was just fine. In other words, for as sick as his culture looked, there was no mold or bacteria, or Bret, just good old funky Whitbread. The thing to remember: you're not a microbiologist (most of us here aren't), and you really can't diagnose a microbial culture unless the symptoms are screaming obvious.

One thing I've learned over the years with gardening, and now brewing, is something called the neglect technique. Basically, you do everything you're supposed to do, and then neglect it. In other words, don't pop the top on the primary every other day. Prepare your wort, pitch, and leave that lid on for three weeks to a month. Transfer to secondary if required, neglect, then bottle at your leisure. In other words, make sure you have all the basics like a good recipe, good equipment, and good sanitation down, and let the yeast do what it does.

Perhaps one of the greatest epiphanies I've experienced with gardening was the realization that I (or you, or whoever) is not growing the plant, the plant grows itself -- I'm only providing an ideal environment that favors growth. From there, it's the plant's job, and no amount of testing or tweaking will make things any better. In other words, for as obsessive as we want to be, we're not growing yeast, yeast grows itself. We just try to give it that extra advantage with proper preparation.

In other words, don't fix it if it ain't broke, and/or keep it simple.

One thing that caught my attention: if you're using boiling water only as your sterilizer, that probably isn't enough, especially for plastics. In short, a quick soak in boiling water will not kill everything. Be sure that you're sterilizing the instruments you use for the frequent OG samplings as well. If you don't want to spend the money on Star San, bargain brand bleech is (literally) less than a dollar a bottle. Mix it one part to ten parts water, give it a good few minutes contact time with all your instruments, etc etc, and it will kill everything. Just make sure you rinse it all off well, or you'll have one funky brew.
 
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