mold :(

evening lads and ladies
so my first batch went beautifully - one more week in the bottles and it'll be ready. I tried a pint of it whilst bottling and fell in love with my own beer it went so smoothly, something was bound to go wrong in the second batch.
I'd brewed and primary fermented the second batch and then transfered it over to the glass carboy for a two week wait. I threw in some oak chips as well, but forgot to add my gelatin, so rapidly got some ready and dumped it in at the last minute.
I looked at it this morning (1 week in secondary) and there is a small patch (2cm across) of white mold. Is the batch ruined? Do I just throw it out and start again? Or is there anything I can do to save it?

cheers!

I know this is going to sound crazy, and I'm just repeating what I have read (I've never had mold myself) but according to my research...

it won't affect the flavor of the beer, is not harmful to you, and you can actually just skim it off and drink the beer.

Again.. I know it sounds crazy, and I don't know if I would actually DO this myself, but that's what I have read.

Quoting Palmer's online book:

Mold can usually be just skimmed off with no lasting effect on the beer's flavor. Withdraw a sample of the wort with a siphon or turkey baster and taste it. If it tastes foul then its not worth keeping. Otherwise the beer was probably not harmed. Infections in beer caused by molds are not dangerous. Be meticulous in your sanitation and you should not have any problems.

-walker

Never experianced mold in the secondary before. Maybe it was mold spores on the oak chips?
Try using your syphon hose and a vaccum, or if you are brave, your mouth, and suck the colony right off the top of the beer.

AHammer16 said:

Never experianced mold in the secondary before. Maybe it was mold spores on the oak chips?

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That's a good guess. Did you steam the chips before adding them to the secondary, drvodka?

AHammer16 said:

Try using your syphon hose and a vaccum, or if you are brave, your mouth, and suck the colony right off the top of the beer.

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Mmmmmmm....

It'll still taste better than Budweiser.

Walker said:

That's a good guess. Did you steam the chips before adding them to the secondary, drvodka?



Mmmmmmm....

It'll still taste better than Budweiser.

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hahaha, mate if I took a piss in the secondary it'd still taste better than bud.
thanks for the sucking off idea (maybe I should rephrase that?), I'll give that a go and see how it tastes (I'm going to stop now before I get in trouble).

cheers....

drvodka said:

thanks for the sucking off idea, I'll give that a go and see how it tastes.

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Cheesefood will probably have a comment to make about that one. You set it up too well...

-walker

Walker said:

Mmmmmmm....

It'll still taste better than Budweiser.

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And it will have more fiber too!

AHammer16 said:

Never experianced mold in the secondary before. Maybe it was mold spores on the oak chips?
Try using your syphon hose and a vaccum, or if you are brave, your mouth, and suck the colony right off the top of the beer.

Click to expand...

i agree that it was likely the oak chips and the answer to the steaming question is no, I stupidly didnt. They came in an airtight bag which I assumed meant they were sterile. I emailed the store I got them from and they said that even though they arent sterile, they are usually fine to use straight from the bag, which I did. next time I'll be steaming them for sure!

drvodka said:

hahaha, mate if I took a piss in the secondary it'd still taste better than bud.

cheers....

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If you are thinking of urinating into your secondary, be sure to boil it first!

BlightyBrewer said:

If you are thinking of urinating into your secondary, be sure to boil it first!

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this coming from Mr Piddle beer himself glad yours turned out ok in the end! the official opening of my first ever batch is next week saturday. stupidly I have invited some friends around, it'll probably taste like soap or something worse, like nats piddle.

Walker said:

Cheesefood will probably have a comment to make about that one. You set it up too well...

-walker

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I'll refrain, since the last thing I want to be known as is predictable.