Wanna see a gnarly infection???

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Thor the Mighty

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here you go...

this retard caused it all..

inf.jpg


I use an air tight system that was sanitized thoroughly and was in its first month of fermentation when i smelled something weird coming out of the airlock one day. cracked the mofo open and what do i see????? a spot of white! I sanitized a scooper-of-infected-bull****e and skimmed the top, assuming that a beer of 10+% abv would take care of the rest, but no. i checked it a week ago and it was back, but a lot larger. took a picture tonight, and here we go!

inf2.jpg


Long story short, dont trust your airlock. its the only way this dang thing could have gotten infected. boo.
 
if the abv is that high, are you sure it is an infection?

Did you taste it?
 
this could be the start of something special, especially since it's high in alcohol... let it go for a while and see what results.
 
this could be the start of something special, especially since it's high in alcohol... let it go for a while and see what results.

Definitely! Its an english old ale, and before it caught this bug, it smelled and tasted like strait up bourbon apricot!

if the abv is that high, are you sure it is an infection?

Did you taste it?

thats no kraussen dude. it smells yeasty funky earthy and bready. its infected. thats called a pellicle.

if the abv is that high, are you sure it is an infection?

Did you taste it?

i didnt taste it yet. thats no kraussen dude...it smells bready, yeasty, funky and earthy. i'll try it out, but honestly, its infected.

I think it hilarious that you had a fake mustash on hand.....
Is that Idaphor in your airlock?

brandy. and yes, i have an 8 pack of mustaches.

I highly doubt your airlock caused this.

gotta blame something!

Did you give it a taste?

not yet, i've been too busy haha.

wth? is that a 30 gallon stainless pot? looks like the airlock went dry or is that me?

that is very sad. any loss of beer over .5 gallons is a sad, sad, day. ill mourne your loss with a minute silence. comencing now...

Thank you for your condolences.
Its a 7gal stainless conical. Airlock is full of brandy.
 
I highly doubt your airlock caused this.

this could be the start of something special, especially since it's high in alcohol... let it go for a while and see what results.

+1

It is highly unlikely that your airlock infected your beer. You probably slipped somewhere along the way with your sanitation practices. It happens.

Don't give up on it though, ride it out and see how the beer turns out.
 
thats no kraussen dude. it smells yeasty funky earthy and bready. its infected. thats called a pellicle.

Well... if the alcohol is that high, I doubt it is a bacterial infection. I haven't heard of bacteria that can survive in even 2-3% let alone 10%.

Since it smells yeasty, maybe it is a foreign strain of yeast? It could be a mold... I don't have a microscope yet, but if you have access to one, you could take a peek and see if it is shaped like a yeast, mold, or bacteria.
 

I am not an expert here, so if you even have a little bit of knowledge you could help me out in understanding this.

I read the wikipedia articles, but they say nothing about alcohol tolerance. I had thought that if you wanted flavor profile from these guys you needed to get it before the alcohol rose to any degree.

After the alcohol was in there the flavors had to come from Brett' or other yeast strains.

I am mislead in my understanding?
 
That does look gnarly. My condolences if the batch turns out unsalvageable.

I've never personally used a conical, but I have heard and read a lot that the threads on the valves at the bottom are a classic place for nasties to build up and grow. They are often not dealt with through the use of liquid sanitizers and can only be gotten two ways.

Either regular dissasemble so you can access, clean and sanitise the connections.
Or sanitize with boiling water. Even though the water may not reach all of the areas, the heat radiates through the metal and will raise the temp high enough to sanitize. Even if using heat, I understand the connections should still be taken apart from time to time to clean.
 
I am not an expert here, so if you even have a little bit of knowledge you could help me out in understanding this.

I read the wikipedia articles, but they say nothing about alcohol tolerance. I had thought that if you wanted flavor profile from these guys you needed to get it before the alcohol rose to any degree.

After the alcohol was in there the flavors had to come from Brett' or other yeast strains.

I am mislead in my understanding?

Lacto does die out at weak alchohol levels, but these levels are still higher than 1 or 2 percent. Pedio is substantially more robust. It is the primary souring agent in Cuvee de Tomme, which is an 11sh% beer.
 
Found some numbers in Jeff Sparrow's "Wild Brews"
name: Alc Tolerance
acetobacter-18%
Brettanomyces-18%
Enterobacter-2%
Lactobacillus-8%
Pediococcus-8%
Saccharomyces-25%

thats strait from the book...
 
yeah, there's no way Brett, Lacto or pedio would normally die out on a "regular beer" and that pellicle looks SOLID.

DO NOT... DO NOT... DO NOT throw that beer out.

How long has it had the pellicle on it?

If it has only been a couple of weeks, let it go. Let it go for a while (couple of months) and then taste it. you might have a really nice beer on your hands without knowing it.

... and if it tastes bad... let it go some more.

the only time you want to toss it (as drinking beer) is if it has insane vinegar taste.. If you get that, you're overloaded with Acetobacter and there's no real turning back from that. I've heard folks say that'll fade but I'm not buying it and they say it'll fade after YEARS.

... and then even if it has a super high vinegar taste, STILL don't toss it. Use it to make BBQ sauce!
 
oh dont worry i've never tossed a beer *i dont consider a home brewed hefe that just sucked so much ass i HAD to throw it..*. This guy has been going on the pellicle for about a half month to a full month. i dont know exactly WHEN it caught the cold but its in that time block.

I plan on transferring it to a carboy once the pellicle has fallen. what does that look like to you?! I'm confused because i've never had anything like that happen before.
 
Found some numbers in Jeff Sparrow's "Wild Brews"
name: Alc Tolerance
acetobacter-18%
Brettanomyces-18%
Enterobacter-2%
Lactobacillus-8%
Pediococcus-8%
Saccharomyces-25%

thats strait from the book...

I thought Brettanomyces and Saccharomyces were yeast strains. Of the other 4 only acetobacter looks like it can withstand the levels we are talking about. It doesn't look like an acetobacter to me as that is the same stuff I use to make vinegar and it doesn't look anything like that.

I still think from the look and description it has to be a yeast or possibly a mold. The mold you will want to get rid of as quick as you can, but if it is an unknown wild yeast strain it may give you a pleasant surprise.... or maybe not. Only time and taste will tell.
 
no plans on tossing it!

I have no idea how brett could have gotten in there...i havn't ever put brett in that fermenter before, and it was completely sanitized. the only thing that COULD have possibly done it was putting wood chips in but they were soaking in Bourbon for a while.
 
Brett is everywhere. You could have picked it up any step along the way. IT's frustrating to have a beer sour when you didn't plan on it but that's a nice thing about beer. Mistakes like that can turn out to be really NICE mistakes.
 
haha exactly. I told my friend *who was really really pissed about the beer getting an infection* that if beer catches a cold like this, worst case scenario is that we have to wait longer for it to be drinkable.
 
Do you have a ball or butterfly valve on the bottom? Ball valves can be hard to clean and can hold a pocket of liquid. Make sure you cycle them a ton when cleaning/sanitizing.
 
I think you should make the airlock look like a Hooker

Then you could blame the infection on her. :D
 
Do you have a ball or butterfly valve on the bottom? Ball valves can be hard to clean and can hold a pocket of liquid. Make sure you cycle them a ton when cleaning/sanitizing.

I definitely soak the ball valves thoroughly before use, and run the entire fermenter's worth of sanitizer through the valves. it was the hookerish airlock!
 
oooooh.........update: looks like some blue mold is growin' on the top. damn. should i scoop that off or is it a waste of time at this point?
 
I would say if its a conical.....take the beer from underneath and you should be fine. and if its not, I have racked from beneath an infection before and was not totally displeased with the outcome. I know it sucks, but you would be surprised how forgiving some of these can be.
 
wow what was in the fermenter before u got it looks like the cap that devolops when fermenting a corn mash
 
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