WTF is happening here? infection?

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natural320

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weird bubbles by natural320, on Flickr

well, I haven't seen this before in my 3 years of brewing.

check that, the wheat beer batch I harvested my yeast from to make this cider had some odd looking bubbles on top, but nothing of this magnitude. I had used Fermcap and dry-hopped, so I figured that was the source of the odd bubbles on the surface, but I'm thinking that I am probably wrong.

all this cider is: Costco apple juice and the harvested Wyeast 3068. something tells me this picture shouldn't be happening. should I skim this crap off? I was going to keg it and back sweeten with more AJ...should I not do that now? what could be the culprit? ~sigh~ thanks for any input you guys can offer

oh, it tastes tart, but my ciders using this juice always do before I back-sweeten. this is my first time using this yeast in this application though
 
now that I am thinking about it, if I keg this batch...what type on concerns would I have about cleaning it and using it for "normal" beer again? are my tubing lines, gaskets, etc all going to need replacing?

so would it be simpler to bottle it up and just have to PBW the glass afterwards? what about the fermenters themselves? any special care needed there, or would a PBW soak work out okay?

sorry for all the questions...first time infected brewer ;-)
 
kegging sours is fine. Most people have a dedicated tap and keg for it but I've read that you should be good if you just clean out the lines after the keg is kicked. At the least i'd give the keg a hot water/pbw soak when it's empty and change out the o-rings. Then run some hot water/pbw through the lines and tap followed by a star san rinse.
 
Do you have access to a corker and a bunch of wine bottles or large-format beer bottles? I'd go that route for safety if you can.

If not, I would personally avoid using anything plastic again that was used with this beer.
 
Yeah think that this happened on its own, and when we sanitize we are killing off these types of bugs which exist everywhere anyway. Keg it and your keg will be fine. Perhaps swap out the O-rings but really no big. Especially if your kegs are stored cold with beer anyway.
 
Do you have access to a corker and a bunch of wine bottles or large-format beer bottles? I'd go that route for safety if you can.

I was actually thinking about using a few screw top wine bottles that I have. haha I missed the recycling pick up this morning by a few minutes, so that might work out smashingly in my favor!

I'd take the "cider" right from the fermenter, to the bottle, then into the fridge to prevent any further fermentation/carbonation build-up
 
I was actually thinking about using a few screw top wine bottles that I have. haha I missed the recycling pick up this morning by a few minutes, so that might work out smashingly in my favor!

I'd take the "cider" right from the fermenter, to the bottle, then into the fridge to prevent any further fermentation/carbonation build-up

Definitely do NOT use wine bottles! Brett may continue to ferment, and wine bottles don't hold pressure. Beer bottles may be fine, or champagne bottles, or even soda bottles, but no wine bottles.
 
Definitely do NOT use wine bottles! Brett may continue to ferment, and wine bottles don't hold pressure. Beer bottles may be fine, or champagne bottles, or even soda bottles, but no wine bottles.

Sorry, that's what I meant. I always think of champagne and say wine. But yea, any large format beer bottles or champagne bottles (cork and wire cage).
 
you think it will continue fermenting at fridge temps?
better safe than sorry though. I don't need a mess on top of the infection!
 
managed to scrounge up enough plastic bottles, so I just used them. as curious as I would have been to let it ride, I didn't trust the buggers.
 
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