Post your infection

Hi everyone,
After Dry hoping in secondary for 5 days my fermentor has developed bubbles and the material you can see in the photo. Anyone know what this is?
I sanitized/soaked my Hop sack in StarSan for 5-10 minutes.

BrewerMikey said:

Hi everyone,
After Dry hoping in secondary for 5 days my fermentor has developed bubbles and the material you can see in the photo. Anyone know what this is?
I sanitized/soaked my Hop sack in StarSan for 5-10 minutes.

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I don't know what it is but it looks like it's an infection from the bag.

I always use an actual hop bag like a paint strainer bag and I haven't had anything like that ever. It's around $5 or so. Who knows where those bags have been that you have. Starsan probably didn't get to all of the nicks and crannys.

Definitely looks like an infection from the bubbly skin thing around your hop sock. If it smells/tastes good/okay, rack from below, package it up and place in something that will contain any bottle failures and drink quick. Being it is probably a Pale/IPA that shouldnt hurt it any.

Seeing as this is secondary, there are a few places that you could have gotten the infection from. The secondary not being fully sanatized, your racking equipment, that hair that fell off your head as your were leaning over the fermentor, that little bug that could that decided to do the backstroke in your beer.

I used to just soak my hop sacks in Starsan, but could sometimes wind up with an infection that looks like that one. So this time I boiled the muslin hop sacks for 5 minutes, then drained them & soaked in Starsan a couple minutes before filling with bourbon soaked oak chips for my whiskely stout. So far, so good in my BB.

Agreed with the two above. Also - and this may just be the angle of the picture - but it looks like a ton of space in that secondary.

I got the same impression. My Better Bottle was said to be 6 gallons by the member I traded with. But since 5 gallons fills it to the top ring right where the taper starts, I'm more inclined to think 5.5 gallons? So less head space that is usually a good thing.

Apologize for double posting administrators can remove post on general form, but what do you guys think of my IPA 9% abv in the secondary phase. OG 1.080 FG 1.01View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1435371880.165515.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1435371898.359233.jpg
Is it infected I did taste it no sour??
Thanks in advance.

This Mead has been going for about 4 months, this morning I woke to this on top. Mold? Should I be worried? Why now? It's been at a pretty constant temp of 75 ish. It's in a one gallon carboy with airlock

Post # 2567 is normal, no worries, m8. That last one looks like some infection got going, but splashed up or moved with krausen?

weirdboy said:

I had this partigyle stout that I left sitting in the back of a closet in a Mr Beer fermenter for around a month and a half. This is what I saw when I opened it today to bottle:

It tastes pretty good. I went ahead and bottled it and figure I'll throw a stout party in a few weeks. It's only a total of 11 bombers.

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Is the Mr. Beer equipment that you used designed to go for a month and a half? The LBK isn't really air tight at all so after primary fermentation they don't want you to leave the beer in it for very long. In fact Mr. Beer's instructions for the LBK typically say 2 weeks then bottle. I haven't used their larger equipment kit. I didn't see a bubbler listed, is one included with that?

I'm glad it tastes ok, give it a shot. Did you rack into the Mr. Beer as a secondary and is it air tight? If not, In the future I think that if you are doing that long of a secondary that you might want to consider racking into a sanitized secondary with bung and bubbler.

-Nyle

Nyle said:

Is the Mr. Beer equipment that you used designed to go for a month and a half? The LBK isn't really air tight at all so after primary fermentation they don't want you to leave the beer in it for very long. In fact Mr. Beer's instructions for the LBK typically say 2 weeks then bottle. I haven't used their larger equipment kit. I didn't see a bubbler listed, is one included with that?



I'm glad it tastes ok, give it a shot. Did you rack into the Mr. Beer as a secondary and is it air tight? If not, In the future I think that if you are doing that long of a secondary that you might want to consider racking into a sanitized secondary with bung and bubbler.



-Nyle

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I wonder if that beer has been tested yet, or if he/she decided to age it...

Can I save this somehow? Siphon to another container and add a little sugar and some yeast? This has happened to me a lot with secondaries and I think I have too much air in this one also. I was concerned a few days ago when I saw condensation on the inside of the carboy. I'm done with secondaries.

mbruneaux said:

Can I save this somehow? Siphon to another container and add a little sugar and some yeast? This has happened to me a lot with secondaries and I think I have too much air in this one also. I was concerned a few days ago when I saw condensation on the inside of the carboy. I'm done with secondaries.

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I dont see what you are trying to save it from. Condensation on the inside of the carboy is natural and will happen. Water evaporates all the time in fermenters. Heck it even evaporates in your freezer, thats what causes freezer burn. Everything looks okay to me. Does it smell bad? Is there something in particular that is making you antsy?

Also, there is much debate on the need for secondary. I say skip it unless you are oaking/fruiting/extended aging/souring it. But then again what do I know?

DrunkleJon said:

I dont see what you are trying to save it from. Condensation on the inside of the carboy is natural and will happen. Water evaporates all the time in fermenters. Heck it even evaporates in your freezer, thats what causes freezer burn. Everything looks okay to me. Does it smell bad? Is there something in particular that is making you antsy?

Also, there is much debate on the need for secondary. I say skip it unless you are oaking/fruiting/extended aging/souring it. But then again what do I know?

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It's hard to see the white crusty bubbles, after I see this the taste is bitter and bandaid tastes.

4 days in on this Kolsch and it doesn't look right to me. Thoughts?

View attachment 1435804492529.jpg

Just looks like krausen & yeast floaters to me. No worries.

This was going to be a weizen-pils but it got infected with something. If it wasn't a lager I would just bottle it up and drink it real quick. 3 weeks in primary, it still just tastes like green lager but no sourness as of yet

I have been thinking about brewing sours for a minute now. So, since I cant drink this for months anyway I want to try to inoculate it with something commercial.

Any suggestions?

Maybe just let this one ride?

Update.. It looks really neat now. I may let it ride, unless anyone has other advice. Thinking about throwing in some lacto.

unionrdr said:

Just looks like krausen & yeast floaters to me. No worries.

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you're doing the lord's work

roastquake said:

Update.. It looks really neat now. I may let it ride, unless anyone has other advice. Thinking about throwing in some lacto.

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No need to add lacto there, looks like you already have enough

Yeah, or which ever wild thang he has in there...

roastquake said:

Update.. It looks really neat now. I may let it ride, unless anyone has other advice. Thinking about throwing in some lacto.

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Dude...you better hope Homeland Security doesn't see that. You'll get a visit from Uncle Sam's Marine Corp looking for WMDs.

Ive asked this in a new thread but it might quicker to get answers here...

I've made a batch of caramel apple cider. Mixed caramelised sugar with apple juice, fermented until dry and back sweetened with burnt honey. It tasted lovely so I bottled and left it to carb. After 4 days it was lightly carbed with a very slight cloudiness to it. Tried the stove top pasteurisation method for the first time and followed it to the letter. Although everything seemed fine, I noticed a 'gunk' forming at the top of some of the bottles. It was dark brown in colour and looked like someone had spat a ball of phlegm in them. I assumed it was the yeast dying and clumping together but wanted to be sure. Does it sound like the beer is infected? Is the batch ruined or can I just scrape it off when I open the bottles and drink them anyway?

Can anyone offer any explanations?

Thanks

Ive asked this in a new thread but it might quicker to get answers here...

I've made a batch of caramel apple cider. Mixed caramelised sugar with apple juice, fermented until dry and back sweetened with burnt honey. It tasted lovely so I bottled and left it to carb. After 4 days it was lightly carbed with a very slight cloudiness to it. Tried the stove top pasteurisation method for the first time and followed it to the letter. Although everything seemed fine, I noticed a 'gunk' forming at the top of some of the bottles. It was dark brown in colour and looked like someone had spat a ball of phlegm in them. I assumed it was the yeast dying and clumping together but wanted to be sure. Does it sound like the beer is infected? Is the batch ruined or can I just scrape it off when I open the bottles and drink them anyway?

Can anyone offer any explanations?

Thanks

All the 'gunk' mentioned in my last post has now broken into smaller pieces and settled at the bottom of the glass! Is this safe to drink? If not, how can I filter it without loosing carbonation? Sorry if this is an obvious question to others!

I would say either yeast or burnt honey. Was it typical store-bought honey or more raw? Anyhow, I'm sure it's safe to drink, especially since it was pasteurized.

It was normal shop bought honey! Thanks for the advice though, I'll crack one open in a few days and see what it tastes like! Can you actually get sick from 'off-home brew' or will it just taste nasty?

Cant get sick from homebrew(unless you find a way to mix toxins in with it like store it in used chemical barrels or use lead, etc in your equipment. It can only taste bad. Nothing pathogenic can survive in beer.

Thanks drunkle

What DrunkleJon said. Unless you just drink too much. Then you will get sick

Dry hopped for 3 days, I gather that infection from hops at this stage is unlikely. Fermentation had finished before dry hopping. notice thin film near/on hops bag with small circular growths. Infection? I was going to bottle this today. I think growth has happened in last 24 hours.

Thanks in advance for your help.

How did you sanitize your hop bag?

I didn't. It was new, pulled out of a plastic shrink wrapped bag.

I had done this previously without a problem. Was this a mistake? I thought that an infection from/at the dry hopping stage was quite unlikely.

Does this look like an infection ? Is it worth bottling?

I cant 100% tell if its infected. But the white stuff on the hop bag looks suspicious. I normally use over sized tea bags from the country im in. They come out of a bag fresh and clean but I still put them in starsan. Most people boil their hop bags from what I read

This is my second brew, looks like an infection. There's a very thin white layer that breaks up into islands. The lighter white specks are just CO2 trapped under the film, and the brown lumps are yeast/hops.

It's been three weeks in primary, and I've opened the FV a couple of times. There was no sign of infection after two weeks, when I dry hopped.

Maybe it's a light lacto infection? Is it even possible when my recipe doesn't contain lactose?

It tasted fine, so I bottled it anyway.

rijnswand said:

Maybe it's a light lacto infection? Is it even possible when my recipe doesn't contain lactose?

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It is my understanding that the term 'Lacto' is not in reference to lactose but rather referring to the lactic acid produced by the type of bacterial infection. It looks suspect to me.

Rufas said:

I didn't. It was new, pulled out of a plastic shrink wrapped bag.

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the robots who put the bags into the plastic have filthy hands. In short, always sanitize everything that comes in contact with the beer, to be safe.

zippy84 said:

It is my understanding that the term 'Lacto' is not in reference to lactose but rather referring to the lactic acid produced by the type of bacterial infection. It looks suspect to me.

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Lactobacillus is a bacteria that is in the air and can be found on the grain itself if not boiled.

tmendick said:

Lactobacillus is a bacteria that is in the air and can be found on the grain itself if not boiled...

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... It is a member of the lactic acid bacteria group. Its members convert lactose AND other sugars to lactic acid. (to continue your explanation)