bacterial contamination

hello everyone. i have been making homebrew for the last 4 years, once a year. i always make ales and i always use premade packages. this time around i thought i would get creative and try to recreate a german kolsch that i had gotten for my first batch years ago in a premade package in a town i used to live in. i got home and cooked up the wort and once i got it into the carboy i realized i forgot the yeast! i drive to the store but they were out of kolsch yeast so they suggested i use a san francisco lager yeast instead. i got home and in the heat of the moment (no pun intended) i forgot to chill the wort and just pitched the yeast. after 3 days and no activity i called the homebrew store and they told me that lager yeast will be no good if pitched above 75 degrees. they tell me it will be fine and the next day i bought a package of coopers dry yeast and pitch it (this is 4 days after cooking wort). there was activity and the airlock was bubbling. now it has stopped bubbling but there is a ton of little white dots near the top of the carboy that look like bacteria. i know that contamination is a big no no. am i completely out of luck and should i dump the batch?

thanks, broiltown

Don't dump the batch.

Do you have a picture of it? 9999/10000 times those little white dots are from normal fermentation.

To early to know. Do you have hydrometer readings. You cant tell if its done or not without readings. Chances are that is just left over krausen.

this may sound stupid, but is it safe to remove the airlock to snap a quick photo?

Are you using a glass carboy? If so, don't remove the airlock because you'll be introducing oxygen and an increased risk of contamination. Just take a picture of the carboy itself.

i will try to get some pics up tomorrow. the dots are just around the neck and they get smaller and smaller as you get to the top near the airlock. it looks alot like bacteria.

Arneba28 said:

To early to know. Do you have hydrometer readings. You cant tell if its done or not without readings. Chances are that is just left over krausen.

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What does it being done have to do with an infection?

Also, I've seen plenty of krausen that has looked like an infection. It'll probably be ok, but a picture would be great.

okay, attached is a link to the pics.

http://s528.photobucket.com/albums/dd326/broiltown1/HOMEBREW/

i included one closeup of the top of the carboy. its hard to tell from the pic but at the very top ring the white dots get very small and there are tons of them. also i included a pic of the entire carboy to show that the white dots are not consistent with the leftover krausen and they are only on the very top of the neck.

It's probably some of the dry yeast you pitched.

Looks normal. Don't forget that you have intentionally given your wort a "yeast infection". As such, it tends to look a lot like it has an infection. Because it does...

RDWHAHB

i dont think so. it is evenly spread around the entire ring of the neck. i remember when i pitched it that it pretty much all fell onto the liquid. maybe a small amount caught on the glass, but i am pretty sure that it wouldnt have left a complete ring like this all the way around the neck

Thanks for the peace of mind. I will not dump it. And I will let you know how it turns out

In 2008, the one who started this thread said he'd give an update of how the suspicious brew turned out. Since it's 2012 now, does this mean it killed him? lol... I found this thread trying to find out if a slightly unpleasant odor on a batch of apple wine was an indication of a dangerous bacteria. The taste is not bad, but before I racked it, there was a little bit of white stuff floating on top. I'm new to home brewing, and would prefer to not kill myself or make myself sick... lol...

benfaust said:

In 2008, the one who started this thread said he'd give an update of how the suspicious brew turned out. Since it's 2012 now, does this mean it killed him? lol... I found this thread trying to find out if a slightly unpleasant odor on a batch of apple wine was an indication of a dangerous bacteria. The taste is not bad, but before I racked it, there was a little bit of white stuff floating on top. I'm new to home brewing, and would prefer to not kill myself or make myself sick... lol...

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It's pretty hard to kill yourself homebrewing. Try heading over to the lambic & wild yeast brewing subforum and check out the pellicle thread. Either you'll stop worrying about contamination, or you'll never drink beer again.

benfaust said:

In 2008, the one who started this thread said he'd give an update of how the suspicious brew turned out. Since it's 2012 now, does this mean it killed him? lol... I found this thread trying to find out if a slightly unpleasant odor on a batch of apple wine was an indication of a dangerous bacteria. The taste is not bad, but before I racked it, there was a little bit of white stuff floating on top. I'm new to home brewing, and would prefer to not kill myself or make myself sick... lol...

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NOTHING PATHOGENIC CAN GROW IN WHAT WE MAKE!!!

You can't get sick from PERIOD, old, new, or ancient...It doesn't matter. Nothing that can live in fermented beverages can harm you period....No food poisoning or anything.

The whole history of beer, wine, mead and cider/Fermentation is general is that nothing pathogenic can exist in them They were consumed in places where the water could kill you, or make you sick.

Even slightly fermented beverages were consumed, even by children. Hard ciders were drunk like we drink bottled water.

Why do you think the Catholic Church chose wine as the basis of their sacrament? Because wine was more important to the culture of the desert where Christianity came from than water. Water safe, drinkable water was rare. So wine was the safer, common beverage of the day.

We've covered everything even with some citations in this thread. Dangers of Homebrewing

And some more info here as well.

It covers all the bugaboos that new brewers wanna fear, mycotoxins, e-coli, zombies....

Thanks for the replies and the reassurance. I feel much more comfortable now (and after drinking some of the "questionable" wine last night, I'm still alive and well... haha). I made three gallons of the stuff, so it's great to know that there's no need to throw it out!

First, your yeast will be fine if you pitched at 75 degrees so that's silly. Yes, lager yeast will not ferment the way you want them to @75 but that will not kill them off. Second, I really don't think bacteria form and show signs within three days. Are there any others signs that a krausen formed and has now fallen?