Fungus Porn (Photo) - will this give my motherboard a stomach-ache?

So this is 9 months into my first shot at a barleywine. It has been in a secondary corny keg for about 7 months. The fungus is gelatinous, but firm and was a 1/4 inch film completely covering the top layer of the keg (not under pressure)- which turns out to have a leak at the base of the OUT nozzle. Photo is after I transferred the barleywine into a tertiary corny and washed out the old keg.

Will it hurt me? Is it ruined?

I sampled a batch and it tastes somewhat drinkable: not nearly sweet enough, slightly alcoholic finish. I have taken samples every three months or so and the taste is certainly improving as it ages.

To top it all off, I lost my brewing notes which contained the original gravity reading and the list of "creative" grain additions, so the whole thing is sort of a mystery... yeah, I've exhibited better brewing discipline since then.

If its salvagable can I dryhop something to sweeten it?

It won't hurt you. I can't say what it might be though...

That could actually be bacteria. Possibly a fungus. Only way to know would be to look at it under a microscope. Either way, it won't kill you.

Kinda looks like a chunk of a mother from vinegar making.

Sorry, double post.

Dryhopping won't sweeten it. If you really want it sweeter, you have to add a non-fermentable sugar, like lactose.

More pictures, please. WTF? That looks pretty funky.

I am a wimp with a self preservation lobe in my brain. You could not pay me to drink it. Of course I have no trouble eating blue cheese or many other moldy fungus laden things so I am not being totally logical.

Kind of looks like the stuff floating in my Hot & Sour soup.

Enjoy!

Is that a pellicle? I've never brewed with bacteria before, so I've never seen one.

there's no pathogens that can survive in beer.

Rackerman said:

I sampled a batch and it tastes somewhat drinkable: not nearly sweet enough, slightly alcoholic finish. I have taken samples every three months or so and the taste is certainly improving as it ages.

Click to expand...

So it's improving; just rack it away from whatever is bugging you and let it keep going. Maybe you'll want to oak it, hop it, sugar it later on but let it go as long as you can. If you are absolutely grossed out with what's going on could you hit it with metabisulfite (sp) to kill and stabilize your beer? That last one - never done it(with beer) - works for wine tho.

-OCD

I was told I should have kept it for a cheese culture... actually, I'm kind of grossed out, but WTF, I already put the hard work in. I transferred to a very sanitized (still not sterilized) tertiary corny keg and put it at 25 PSI at basement temp - 68F.

I'm pretty weary of spreading this monster to my newly brewed APA, so I'm making sure I spay down iodine every time I go near the bloody thing.

I tend to forget about it and remember every time I'm brewing something new, so perhaps next time I brew I'll add some lactose.

Did I make another mistake by carbonating?

Can I add lactose after carbonation?

This is now one long-term science experiment, so I'm open to any creative suggestions... aimed at producing a better product, of course. Suggestions such as "you may want to add absinthe to the fungus in order to produce hallucinogenic results" are more than welcome.

You can add lactose after carbonation. Just get it into a liquid form before adding it.

If this is not sweet then you've gotten the bugs to eat it down all the way. I would not worry so much about transfering it to your other beer. If you are afraid then break down the keg that was used, and be sure to scrub it very well. Triple check the poppet valves as they can hold debris. Use a bright light/sun to examine the inside of that keg. Make sure there is no krausen bits left after you clean it.