Post your infection

EZCyclone said:

Just last night I found this thread and had some fun with it. This afternoon I cracked open my chocolate stout and found this. DAMN! Oh well!

Click to expand...

That's gnarly

gcdowd said:

Whoa, funky stuff ya got there. I'm no expert on infections so I have no idea what it is. Looks pretty cool though

Click to expand...

Yeah we thought so too, I'm a scientist so weirdly enough I thought it was kinda beautiful! Made me a bot sad to dumb the beer, BUT it was a doomed batch from the begining so oh well. I made 18 gallons of booze today so that offsets my 3 gallons of stout.

Channel66 said:

That's gnarly

Click to expand...

Ha ha indeed! But pretty also, just not in my beer! Anybody have any idea what it is?

Ok, I found this just messing around and had to add it!

EZCyclone said:

Just last night I found this thread and had some fun with it. This afternoon I cracked open my chocolate stout and found this. DAMN! Oh well!

Click to expand...

I thought for a second that I was looking through a microscope at that. I was going to say it looks like yeast. Lol.

Panicking about possible infection!

Any ideas?



Smells a little vinegary, tastes somewhat like beer and is strong lol

It's my first ever attempt at homebrew and its coopers lager mixture! It's been exactly 17 days into primary fermentation.

hardwick -- looks okay to me. there might be something going on in the middle where it looks almost slick. i'd feel okay bottling it.

Thanks for a quick reply progmac, took a gravity reading today and it read 1.011, is that not still abit high?

Was thinking of waiting till Sunday so it'll have been 3 weeks and then just bottling it all? mega worried about bottle bombing!!

hardwick91 said:

Thanks for a quick reply progmac, took a gravity reading today and it read 1.011, is that not still abit high?

Was thinking of waiting till Sunday so it'll have been 3 weeks and then just bottling it all? mega worried about bottle bombing!!

Click to expand...

I'd still make sure gravity readings two or three days apart are steady before bottling.

Yep I will do, it must be nearly ready as it was 1.011 on Monday, ill do another Friday and see.

Looking like its gonna be a weak lager, but hey aslong as it does the job

EZCyclone said:

Just last night I found this thread and had some fun with it. This afternoon I cracked open my chocolate stout and found this. DAMN! Oh well!

Click to expand...

Great photography ! Scientific grade A for certain.

But dang, I know you did not want to find it.

I have a picture here that is the first occurance in my brews. It is english brown ale that was in primary for 2 1/2 weeks and transferred to the carboy to aid bottling.

After 2 days, the bubble patches started and have expanded - may soon cover the whole surface. They are not raised up, but are very dense in the middle of the patches. I found similar pictures of this on the web after much searching. Unusual to me, has me wondering.

The second photo shows the primary bucket on the day of transfer. The krausen was about 1/2 of sponge-like cake.

jethro55 said:

Great photography ! Scientific grade A for certain.

But dang, I know you did not want to find it.

Click to expand...

Why thank you! I even took it with my cell phone, I almost went and got my DSLR to get a real hi res image of it, but wasn't ambitious enough. That said, I DID take a video! Lol, damn nerds...


So any leads on what the hell it is?

EZCyclone said:

So any leads on what the hell it is?

Click to expand...

After watching the video, it looks like some kind of mushroom. Each one appears to be a single plant of some kind.

Now selling Mushroom flavored beer! Get your Mushroom Beer here, only $99 per gallon. Limited quantities in stock so you better call now!

Seriously, what the hell? A Mushroom???

Its definitely a mushroom or some other fungus. I would scoop them out and see if they return.. Maybe remove them and then back fill the carboy with CO2 ?

I'm thinking this is white mold.. and your house or room maybe infected:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4486090_spot-white-mold.html

Here is a pic of some basement steps covered in white mold



If you have a lot of it in the air.. no matter of sanitation will protect you 100%.. since its in the air.

From what I found on some sites.. most say the same thing.. either scoop out the white mold and rack to bottles now.. or a keg and remove as much of the oxygen as you can from it and it will be fine. Unlike Black mold, white mold is annoying but mostly harmless, unless you breath a lot of it in and have a weakened immune system.

Test and if it taste good your fine.

jethro55 said:

I have a picture here that is the first occurance in my brews. It is english brown ale that was in primary for 2 1/2 weeks and transferred to the carboy to aid bottling.

After 2 days, the bubble patches started and have expanded - may soon cover the whole surface. They are not raised up, but are very dense in the middle of the patches. I found similar pictures of this on the web after much searching. Unusual to me, has me wondering.

The second photo shows the primary bucket on the day of transfer. The krausen was about 1/2 of sponge-like cake.

Click to expand...

I'm thinking your still fermenting is whats going on here. The Krausen should have fallen all the way through to the trub.

I think i got my first infection on my second batch. Here is a picture of it. What do you think? Lactobacillus or just mold?

My only infection ever was Lacto and had huge bubbles.. that doesn't look like lacto to me but i could be wrong.


These look different from yours to me:
[ame]http://www.google.com/search?q=Lactobacillus&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=OG0dUdzGHqfg2QWJqYGIAg&biw=950&bih=926&sei=PG0dUbfxDKrI2AXZsoCwCg#um=1&hl=en&tbo=d&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=lactobacillus+beer+infection&oq=Lactobacillus+beer+&gs_l=img.3.0.0i24l4.17186.17186.2.18612.1.1.0.0.0.0.109.109.0j1.1.0...0.0...1c.1.3.img.RJ8fsQi_Wos&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42452523,d.b2I&fp=eb46203a0c83cf6b&biw=950&bih=926[/ame]

Lil bit o bugs.

Nice and clear though!

CDGoin said:

I'm thinking your still fermenting is whats going on here. The Krausen should have fallen all the way through to the trub.

Click to expand...

Well, here is what it looks like after 3 more days. Any ideas?

jethro -- yours looks ok to me. keep us posted.

jethro55 said:

Well, here is what it looks like after 3 more days. Any ideas?

Click to expand...

Looks like your still fermenting.. What were your gravity readings?

That said some bigger than normal bubbles there.. but that could be from something in the beer itself and completely fine. because overall it just looks like bubbles.

I don't see any of the plaques and scum you normally see in an bacteria infection.

I think your fine.

neudson said:

I think i got my first infection on my second batch. Here is a picture of it. What do you think? Lactobacillus or just mold?

Click to expand...

Could be scum from something in the beer itself.. While the plaque looks like Lacto, there are no bubbles or strings running through it.

Style of beer ?

Did you get a Krausen or not..?

Is this in the primary or secondary..?

Put anything in the secondary for it to sit on..?

Channel66 said:

Lil bit o bugs.

Nice and clear though!

Click to expand...

I think that's just leftovers and oils from dry hopping. Could be wrong..

Taste it and if its good its good..

No matter what "infection" or "Junk" you get in your beer. Nothing that can hurt you grows in beer. Just things to make you go EWWWWW when you look at it or make the beer taste off or sour.

So if it tastes good, bottle it and forget what you saw floating in it.

CDGoin said:

Looks like your still fermenting.. What were your gravity readings?

That said some bigger than normal bubbles there.. but that could be from something in the beer itself and completely fine. because overall it just looks like bubbles.

I don't see any of the plaques and scum you normally see in an bacteria infection.

I think your fine.

Click to expand...

It seems to be expanding to cover more of the surface. And when the bubbles get giant, they do burst. It started at OG 1.047 and was at 1.010 when I transferred. These are on target with the BB recipe pamphlet.

It might be nothing. There is a lot of head-space in the carboy and there might not have been enough CO2 in suspension when transferred. It might be full of air.

The mad scientist in me wants to let it go and study it for a couple of more weeks. But the beer drinker in me is stronger (and it still smells great) - and so it heads to the bottles later today.

I am tempted to dose the surface with StarSan Idophor.

I'll follow-up after with notes from the bottles in a week or so. I have seen a number of posts on various boards (around page 85 here) that show this characteristic in secondary. Thank you for the help and comments.

Post Script at bottling: The gravity measurement at bottling was down to 1.005, so it did ferment some more during the 5 days in secondary. (22 days from pitch to bottle) The taste at this point is "Hen's Toothy".

CDGoin said:

I think that's just leftovers and oils from dry hopping. Could be wrong..

Taste it and if its good its good..

No matter what "infection" or "Junk" you get in your beer. Nothing that can hurt you grows in beer. Just things to make you go EWWWWW when you look at it or make the beer taste off or sour.

So if it tastes good, bottle it and forget what you saw floating in it.

Click to expand...

That's a 7 month old sour saison. What you see on top is a young pediococcus pellicle forming, on bottom is what's left of the lacto infection and the brett after the other bugs have had their way.

CDGoin said:

Could be scum from something in the beer itself.. While the plaque looks like Lacto, there are no bubbles or strings running through it.

Style of beer ?

Did you get a Krausen or not..?

Is this in the primary or secondary..?

Put anything in the secondary for it to sit on..?

Click to expand...

It's supposed to be a Belgian Ale (Specialty). I've got a Krausen at first 5 days or so, and had SG reading after this. I didn't rack it to a secondary fermentor, it's sitting at same bucket for 2 weeks now. And no, nothing added to the fermentor (at least not intentionally)

Channel66 said:

That's a 7 month old sour saison. What you see on top is a young pediococcus pellicle forming, on bottom is what's left of the lacto infection and the brett after the other bugs have had their way.

Click to expand...

Ahh.. throwing a wrench in huh..

A deliberate lacto infection.. Not anything I would normally recognize, as I don't like sours

neudson said:

It's supposed to be a Belgian Ale (Specialty). I've got a Krausen at first 5 days or so, and had SG reading after this. I didn't rack it to a secondary fermentor, it's sitting at same bucket for 2 weeks now. And no, nothing added to the fermentor (at least not intentionally)

Click to expand...

I can't say for certain.. but I do think its probably lacto or mold.. hard to tell.. I would test it and see what it tastes like, If it tastes good bottle from under it or rack to secondary. I have heard of good results if you have a light sourness, to rack with a bit of honey and/or dry hopping.

jethro55 said:

It seems to be expanding to cover more of the surface. And when the bubbles get giant, they do burst. It started at OG 1.047 and was at 1.010 when I transferred. These are on target with the BB recipe pamphlet.

It might be nothing. There is a lot of head-space in the carboy and there might not have been enough CO2 in suspension when transferred. It might be full of air.

The mad scientist in me wants to let it go and study it for a couple of more weeks. But the beer drinker in me is stronger (and it still smells great) - and so it heads to the bottles later today.

I am tempted to dose the surface with StarSan Idophor.

I'll follow-up after with notes from the bottles in a week or so. I have seen a number of posts on various boards (around page 85 here) that show this characteristic in secondary. Thank you for the help and comments.

Post Script at bottling: The gravity measurement at bottling was down to 1.005, so it did ferment some more during the 5 days in secondary. (22 days from pitch to bottle) The taste at this point is "Hen's Toothy".

Click to expand...

I wouldnt worry at this point.. it doesnt look horrible.. the taste test will tell.

CDGoin said:

I can't say for certain.. but I do think its probably lacto or mold.. hard to tell.. I would test it and see what it tastes like, If it tastes good bottle from under it or rack to secondary. I have heard of good results if you have a light sourness, to rack with a bit of honey and/or dry hopping.

Click to expand...

I took a sample today. The SG dropped a point from 1.008 to 1.007. Though it doesn't smell fruity as it was at first sample, it didn't tasted sour either. It didn't tasted amazing, but it didn't tasted bad either.

Any ideas for completely avoid this stuff to get into my bottles? I took the sample from beneath, but still got something of it.

this has carried on from my last post. Not sure if that was infected, bottled it anyway. Bleached the **** out of my equipment and transferred my Saison. This is it after 6 days, OG: 1060, FG: 1002. I'm figuring it is C02 trapped under some layer on the surface, but that layer shouldn't be there in the first place??

neudson said:

I took a sample today. The SG dropped a point from 1.008 to 1.007. Though it doesn't smell fruity as it was at first sample, it didn't tasted sour either. It didn't tasted amazing, but it didn't tasted bad either.

Any ideas for completely avoid this stuff to get into my bottles? I took the sample from beneath, but still got something of it.

Click to expand...

Siphon..? I'm not a good one to ask everything I own has a spigot on it so I don't have to siphon. So in my situation I would just hook up a hose and rack to a bottle bucket and stop when I got a 1/4" from the scum.

Problem with a siphon hose, is you will probably get some trub and such from the bottom when you siphon. At least I do that's why I use a spigot.

daggers_nz said:

this has carried on from my last post. Not sure if that was infected, bottled it anyway. Bleached the **** out of my equipment and transferred my Saison. This is it after 6 days, OG: 1060, FG: 1002. I'm figuring it is C02 trapped under some layer on the surface, but that layer shouldn't be there in the first place??

Click to expand...

Again hard to say.. it kind of looks like lacto but again could be something that was one the bottles ( soap film, etc..).

Really hard to say, its defiantly something that shouldn't be there. I would also say since its obviously still fermenting a bit under it, that its probably a lacto.

As if it were just a soap scum, or something like that. I don't think bubbles would form. It would just be a sheen to the surface.

I would bottle as soon as possible if it tastes good. Even a sour beer can be saved later for mixing with other beers. I mixed my crappy stout with a local stout that was a bit sweet.. and the mixed results were actually quite good.

It is beer.. and thus its drinkable. Even if its a bit sour, mix it with something. Maybe while in mixing bucket, taste it.. and add maybe some vanilla extract, or Splenda or Lactose Sugar (Both are unfermentable), something that can be the flavor opposite of what you are tasting and don't like, to counter the off-flavors and sourness.

Then its bottle and see if it carbs.. if you get carbonation. Your done, if not you may have to force carb, drink flat, or put back into bottle bucket and add some yeast or something.

Yeah I will be bottling tonight. I think it must be soap scum or something. The bubbles are starting to grow legs so I'm not going to leave it much longer to find out

If the bubbles are growing "legs" then its probably lacto.. the threads are a giveaway.

I'm trying to figure out where it is coming from because I've never had problems with infections thus far (over 30 extract and 15 grain brews). I will ditch the plastic tubing but I'm not keen to buy another glass carboy. Surely the glass can be cleaned better than plastic ever can?

This is my third batch, a chocolate stout, on day 3 of fermentation. Kraussen was there for day 2 and day 3 morning. However, when I came home from work the kraussen settled down and I just see these weird bubbles popping on the surface of whats left of the kraussen. I haven't experienced this before because my first two batches had kraussen from hell pouring out of the blowoff (probably due to high ferm temps at around 72) so thats what i was kinda used to. But this batch was the first that I used with optimal temps in a fridge with a controller so I am kinda wondering if this is normal.

daggers_nz said:

I'm trying to figure out where it is coming from because I've never had problems with infections thus far (over 30 extract and 15 grain brews). I will ditch the plastic tubing but I'm not keen to buy another glass carboy. Surely the glass can be cleaned better than plastic ever can?

Click to expand...

Rule of thumb, vinyl, rubber, and plastic, ditch it or designate it for sour only. Glass clean it real good and its fine.