Acetobacter?

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BlainD

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First I'd like to say if this thread is in the wrong section I apologize and thank any moderator that does me the favor of moving it.

Went to cold crash a Belgian specialty beer tonight (wlp500) and found this floating on top. I've seen it on a two saisons I have made and assumed it was just the yeast because the beer tasted fine. So does this beer but I'm starting to see a disturbing trend. This one tastes fine as well. Cold crashing now and will bottle next week.

Acetobacter? Should I dump all my plastic stuff? I do a bleach bomb fairly regular (since the last time I saw this). Bleach and pray perhaps?

Thanks in advance for all advice/input.

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I would say it is unlikely Acetobacter if you are not tasting or smelling vinegar. There are many things that could grow as a pellicle in that fashion, yeast included. It could be something that will make your beer cloudy but you will never taste. The same thing happened to me on a few saisons as well. Bleach always seems drastic, but do what you gotta do.
 
I don't think acetobacter can form a pellicle on beer. Pellicles are often referenced as being a protective barrier against acetobacter, formed in repsonse to oxygen. I'd be concerned if I had 3 sacc only beers form pellicles. All 3 in the same fermenter? Looks like a green bucket from your pics?

Looks cool whatvere it is. If it tastes good, drink it!
 
I don't think acetobacter can form a pellicle on beer. Pellicles are often referenced as being a protective barrier against acetobacter, formed in repsonse to oxygen. I'd be concerned if I had 3 sacc only beers form pellicles. All 3 in the same fermenter? Looks like a green bucket from your pics?

Looks cool whatvere it is. If it tastes good, drink it!

After the first time I saw it I marked the original bucket and used it for another saison. Figured it's almost appropriate to the style to have some random funk going on. After the second time I saw it I threw the bucket out. This is a different bucket.

This bucket didn't have a good seal (no airlock bubbling). I let it ride because it was a session recipe and would only ferment a week or so and then into the secondary. Got the flu and it went three weeks..... So yeah it most likely got exposed to oxegen. Could that have caused the yeast to form a layer of pellicles?
 
If by yeast you mean brett, then yes. I don't think sacc ever forms a pellicle.
 
Is it the same yeast; that is, have you re-used it? If so, it is probably in the yeast. I don't remember WLP500 doing that to me.

If the beer tastes fine, keep the beer. Probably some form of Lacto or Pedio; both will take a long time to show up.

Acetobacter will give you vinegar flavor very quickly. If you don't taste vinegar, then that is not it.

How do you bleach your plastics? Too high a concentration is bad. You only need about a tablespoon of bleach per gallon. Also, bleach is not instant, if you really want to clean it, leave it filled with bleach for a week. It takes time for the bleach to permeate into all the scratches.
 
Does it taste like vinegar? If so, you may have the beginning stages of acetobacter. If it is, take it out, put it in some leftover light ale, let it sit and pour your malt vinegar over your fish and chips :D
 
its deffinitely not acetobacter. it looks to be either brett or lacto. the white bubbles look like brett but the white little streaks looks kinda like lacto. its an infection of some sort. personally, i would just ride it out and see how it ends up tasting.
 
Does not taste like vinegar. Tastes fine. I pitched a new vile into a starter so it wasn't contaminated from improper washing. I thought I might have had brett the two times before but it has never effected the finished product (at least obviously). Could this be something random and some what benign?
 
How do you bleach your plastics?

Tablespoon to a gallon. Procedure: Fill the five gallon bucket with water, place all to be bombed in the bucket,Add five tablespoons of bleach, place lid on the bucket and see bleach water come from the hole for the bung on top (and cover the top), Let sit 1 week.
 
Tablespoon to a gallon. Procedure: Fill the five gallon bucket with water, place all to be bombed in the bucket,Add five tablespoons of bleach, place lid on the bucket and see bleach water come from the hole for the bung on top (and cover the top), Let sit 1 week.

That will clear your bucket and anything soaked in it.

Siphon tubing?

If it doesn't affect the beers, don't worry too much. Just try your best to sanitize everything between brews and hopefully it will eventually disappear.
 
Are those images from under a microscope, could you see that just by looking in the fermenter
 
I have a mead that's turning to vinegar and there is no pellicle, film, or skin of any kind on the surface of the mead. To look at it, you would not think that it was infected.

That would be the point, acetobacter doesnt form a pellicle. Since his infection clearly has a pellicle it cannot be acetobacter.
 
*An update for the sake of anyone looking at this thread in the future*

Bottled and conditioned the beer tastes fine. It is a little cloudy. Bleach Bombing all plastic now. Will update again after my next batch in the bucket.
 
*update for anyone reading this thread in the future. *

Have made two ore batches with bleach bombed equipment with no problems. Bleach bomb for the win!!!!
 
After the second time I saw it I threw the bucket out. This is a different bucket.

so much for the "throw out your plastic bucket" advice so often repeated. an infection can come from anywhere and focusing only on the bucket can often lead to another infection. thoroughly cleaning and sanitizing all of your gear is the answer to an infection.
 
That would be the point, acetobacter doesnt form a pellicle. Since his infection clearly has a pellicle it cannot be acetobacter.

Acetobacter most certainly forms a pellicle. It is an obligate aerobe, so it prefers to grow at the air-liquid interface.

Although with out any vinegar taste or smell, I would agree it is not Acetobacter.

OP, glad you got your contamination figured out, silly bacteria are just everywhere!
 
eastoak said:
so much for the "throw out your plastic bucket" advice so often repeated. an infection can come from anywhere and focusing only on the bucket can often lead to another infection. thoroughly cleaning and sanitizing all of your gear is the answer to an infection.

That's if any of these were actually infections and if they were the same... I threw out the bucket as a precaution because I get them for free. Do a lot of Belgians at higher than average temperatures. Starting to think weird stuff on top is standard.
 
That's if any of these were actually infections and if they were the same... I threw out the bucket as a precaution because I get them for free. Do a lot of Belgians at higher than average temperatures. Starting to think weird stuff on top is standard.

uh, yes.

throwing the bucket out is not really a precaution if the source of infection is somewhere else. how does anyone know where the beer picked up and infection? they don't unless they have tested all of the gear that the beer came in contact with. it would make more sense to throw out all of your gear and start over with new gear if there are organisms out there immune to soap and water or star san. i'm not arguing that people shouldn't throw out their buckets if they want to, i'm arguing that an infection can be cleaned off. the OP had an infected beer, eventually threw away the bucket, then got another infection, to me that says something other than "throw the new bucket away too".
 
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