Am I mistaking young beer for infected beer?

So I recently started kegging my beers. I thought I had two infected batches. Both I kegged after two weeks, and started drinking 3-5 days laters. They both tasted quite odd, were very cloudy and I assumed lacto.

Now I am thinking that this beer may have just been young and I was trying to drink it while it was still turbid from absorbing CO2, and the yeast hadn't fully dropped yet.


Is there any foolproof method to test for lacto?

permo said:

So I recently started kegging my beers. I thought I had two infected batches. Both I kegged after two weeks, and started drinking 3-5 days laters. They both tasted quite odd, were very cloudy and I assumed lacto.

Now I am thinking that this beer may have just been young and I was trying to drink it while it was still turbid from absorbing CO2, and the yeast hadn't fully dropped yet.


Is there any foolproof method to test for lacto?

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I don't know if there is a test for lacto, but if you are only fermenting for 2 weeks, kegging it, and then drinking it 3 to 5 days after that, then you absolutely have VERY young and green beer so I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about the flavor of it just yet.

Personally, my beers don't touch my lips until about 6 weeks after I brew them. You're at less than 3 weeks at this point.

New brewers drinking green beer more often than not on here start threads thinking their beer is infected...so you tell me what I think.

Everything I've posted about bottle conditioning (which I'm sure you've read) also applies to kegging. Giving it time at room temp to mellow and condition.

The foolproof method to know it's NOT infected is to not start drinking your beers til they've been 3-6 weeks in the keg...if they taste great, you know your beer isn't infected, nor is it green.

6 weeks minimum here as well. 4 weeks Primary, 2 weeks on gas.

IrregularPulse said:

6 weeks minimum here as well. 4 weeks Primary, 2 weeks on gas.

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I've only been brewing since January, I quickly moved to this routine. I've been much happier with most of my beers.

I'm new, but I usually drink my beers young because my favorite style of beer (ordinary bitter) tastes best that way. 10 days primary, three days on gas. Some beers taste "pongey" (so the pub owner described it) when they are new, a weird almost sulpheric smell (not exactly, but odd). Some people actually like it and ask for those.

I don't mean to get above my station here as a new guy, but 4 weeks primary for a "small" beer? Isn't that a bit excessive? Stouts or porters yes, but how would a 4% 1.045 to 1.010 pale ale benefit from that?

My first batch I started drinking a 4 weeks, drank quite a few the first week. Went on vacation for 2 weeks and tried one at 6-7 weeks and It was like a completely different beer, so much better. Im kicking my self for drinking the green one now.

A friend of mine won best of show in a competition with over 250 beers with a pale ale that was ten days old. The hops were forward and bright and balanced well with the underlying malt. After about 5 or 6 weeks the beer fell out of balance and was not as good as it was younger. So while waiting 6 or more weeks might work for some, it may not work for others. Some beer style such as Hefeweizen taste best within a few weeks then the ester profile starts to change…some times for the better and sometimes not.

If your beer is still cloudy it may be a yeast issue. Did you get full attenuation? Was this an all grain batch or extract?

King of Cascade said:

A friend of mine won best of show in a competition with over 250 beers with a pale ale that was ten days old. The hops were forward and bright and balanced well with the underlying malt. After about 5 or 6 weeks the beer fell out of balance and was not as good as it was younger. So while waiting 6 or more weeks might work for some, it may not work for others. Some beer style such as Hefeweizen taste best within a few weeks then the ester profile starts to change…some times for the better and sometimes not.

If your beer is still cloudy it may be a yeast issue. Did you get full attenuation? Was this an all grain batch or extract?

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All grain batch, 1.050 OG, 1.010 FG pacman yeast. Pacman usually drops like a rock, so I am a bit concerned, it looks cloudy/milky almost. Taste is good, a little thinner than I expected, but nothing super odd about it.