mold in malt extract

cooking a batch today. Opened my malt extract after steeping my barley and there appears to be mold on top of my malt extract. I stopped here and I am wondering whether to abort batch or skim off the mold and proceed.

Skim it and go. I can't see how the mold would survive deep inside the extract due to the sugar concentration, and any mold you miss should die in boiling.

Mold? Really? Could it possibly have been hops that seperated from the malt? I've seen this before.

Good call. Never use prehopped extract myself, but homebrewer_99 is right -- mold in extract is pretty hard to imagine with the high sugar content. If the extract is prehopped, sniff it and see if it smells like mold or hops.

The boil will kill it.

Hey, thanks for the replies. I skimmed off the mold and proceeded with the batch. Batch is cooling now and I will be pitching the yeast shortly. I am in Louisiana and should have refrigerated.

ummm.... what kind of kit is it? If it is a prehopped kit you may have taken out a great deal of the intended flavor by skimming off the "mold."

I doubt any caned extract could have mold due to the lack of oxygen. It was probably packed by someone after the manufacturer (or not mold but hops?)

Yeah, we're all interested -- canned or bulk extract? Pre-hopped or pure?

Mold is not uncommon in a kit where the malt is filled by the homebrew store particularly if you didn't refrigerate. Skimming the mold off works fine. Next time, make the kit sooner or get it in the fridge. I bet you won't make that mistake again.

Welcome to HBT!

edit: Where in the heck are you guys getting the pre-hopped thing? He said he was steeping grains which usually goes right along with adding hops to the pot.

Yea, this is a fat tire clone from AHS. It was moldy malt extract. I skimmed off, added and brought to a boil before I added my first hops.

easy way to store malt and prevent mold growth; pour 96.5 abv on top of malt; alcohol boils off when preparing wort. Just add a little more alcohol each time you remove malt from bucket before sealing the lid.

Nurmey said:

edit: Where in the heck are you guys getting the pre-hopped thing? He said he was steeping grains which usually goes right along with adding hops to the pot.

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He said he opened his extract and saw the mold, he never specified hopped or unhopped extract which is why people are asking about it. I'm steeping grains prior to reaching a full boil to avoid tannin extraction. Since a rolling boil is needed for hop utilization, I don't add hops until after my extract is added (unless I'm adding extract late intentionally) and I've reached a full, rolling boil again. So if he was just steeping specialty grains, I'd imagine he hadn't quite added any hops yet or none at all if his extract was hopped.

Not til just now

Not til just now

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So, I'm gonna be the A-hole that keeps it going . Anybody made a beer with moldy extract and notice anything... funny. Maybe its a new technique that should be revered.

I've got a nice island on the top of my can of extract (as you would guess, bought in bulk and packaged by the brew store).

09, 12, 13, whatever, bumped. Good threads take time.

Never had this occur to me before and damn if I didnt search out moldy extract and find it. I am 15 mins into boil and I skimmed, grimaced and added the LME for my stout.

What I wish I found was an update on the final outcome so my next two months aren't for naught.

My last extract batch had some mold on the LME. I scooped it off and used the rest. It was fine. No off flavors. I didn't die.

ReverseApacheMaster said:

My last extract batch had some mold on the LME. I scooped it off and used the rest. It was fine. No off flavors. I didn't die.

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My batch tuned out great

Good deal. My stout is going like mad. I m hoping to line up the pipeline for our wedding in sept. ( read, this is why I'm brewing so much sweetheart