Another "Is My Beer Infected - Should I Dump It" Thread

I think I already know the answer, but before I make my final decision I wanted to post it here. If nothing else, maybe it will make a good example of what infection is or is not, etc.

This was my first all grain attempt. Wanted to try an all grain in my Mr. Beer kit before I moved up to the 5 gal. stage. It's been fermenting for 19 days so far. The gravity is at 1.015 right now, according to Hopville it should have an FG of 1.012.

http://hopville.com/recipe/613283/american-pale-ale-recipes/1-all-grain-pale-ale

So anyway, it tastes like vinegar, very strongly, and it has this floaty stuff on top that showed up in the last day or so:



So for the record, is this an infection, and do I bother taking the time to bottle it?

If I DO bottle it, how long do you think I should let it sit in the bottles before even considering opening one?

Thanks in advance.

Dump! Then go get a good fermenter. Those Mr Beer kegs have a ton of little hiding spots for bacteria to live and grow. What Kind of sanitization are you employing?

djsethall said:

...What Kind of sanitization are you employing?

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Just the Mr. Beer sanitizer that comes with the kits.

Get some star san! Now! Trust me, it's worth it.

Throw the whole thing away (including that Mr Beer fermenter) and get this:

$69 plus free shipping

Should be at your door by the weekend.

Well, I went and did it. I went out and bought a starter kit made up by my local home brew supplier very similar to the one linked to above. I probably should have done it sooner, but I did learn a lot with the MR Beer.

My first 5gal batch will be a Coopers Australian Draft Extract.

Thanks for the input. To the drains with the last batch.

good stuff.. also, you learned the golden rule here. Don't dump until you taste it. Even smell alone isn't a good enough indicator as many yeasts will put off some very nasty smells while they are working (rotten eggs is a fairly common one as sulfur can be a bi-product). If it tastes like vinegar, that's a sign that it's not coming back. But if you like vinegar you can save it and have yourself some very good malted vinegar in awhile. I've never done it, but have been intrigued by it. Sorta a "life gives you lemons, make lemonade" type of thing.

Way to go, brother! Congrats! Have fun brewing that kit.

After a few of the coopers kits, you might want to look into doing some extract brew, then steeping, then partial mash. Once you have all that down, try an all grain. Might take some time to get to that point, but welcome to the addiction.

djsethall said:

look into doing some extract brew, then steeping, then partial mash

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Is there some separate type of 'steeping' process other than what is done with extract kits? I've only brewed four (3 from AHS, one brewers best) and they all involved steeping grains.

Seems to me that if you were already attempting an all grain batch you're plenty ready to be doing 5 gal batches. The principle is the same only you end up with more beer in the end

As for steeping grains, I always considered that part of extract brewing. They're not complicated to use, they just add another hour or so to your brew time.