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Hayden512 said:
What do you think? Added vanilla beans a week ago. About to keg and looks like this right now. The flash makes it stand out way more than it actually is. Can only see the oil slick look to it when the light hits it right but still had me nervous. Tastes great at the moment View attachment 381290
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Looks completely normal. Most of my beer has something like this on the top. I'm 45 batches in and only had one infection that affected 3 batches. This is fine. Enjoy it.
 
Just yeast rafts?

WP_20161218_17_28_09_Pro.jpg
 
No obvious smell. It's been in the fridge for two weeks. It's a lager yeast.

The wasn't much material on top when I crashed it, but there was a little yeast
 
Queequeg said:
Just yeast rafts?
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So there isn't an acidic smell or anything like that? Can you taste a small sample? From the picture it does look like a Pedio pellicle that I've seen before but tasting it would help figure out a little. Also I've never seen a lager yeast do this.
 
Just tasted it. Smelled like cider, tasted like cider vinegar. Conclusion infected.

I think this got infected because I stored my starter for a prolonged time after cold crashing without sealing it sufficiently.

Better to waste a starter than a whole batch of beer.
 
Queequeg said:
Just tasted it. Smelled like cider, tasted like cider vinegar. Conclusion infected.

I think this got infected because I stored my starter for a prolonged time after cold crashing without sealing it sufficiently.

Better to waste a starter than a whole batch of beer.
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Vinegar typically indicates acetobacter.
 
So I guess this is it. My first infection after 15 batches. Am I paranoid?

It seemed fine until a couple of days ago, about 4 days after dryhop.

I had a problem with my bucket fermenter with a spigot... when I was handling it, the spigot simply fell and I had to use my unsanitized hand and duct tape to temporarily cover the hole, and quickly transfer fermenter. This hapenned 2.5 week ago, and probably how it got infected.

So I am sceduled to bottle on tuesday of this week. It smells good and I will taste it, and if its good, I'll bottle. Oh and I started to cold crash 20minutes ago as soon as I noticed the possible infection.

View attachment 1483903494313.jpg

View attachment 1483903505938.jpg

View attachment 1483903514598.jpg
 
This appeared on top of my English Porter after 1 week in secondary ferm. Color is greenish-blue, not as white as the pic makes it appear. Anybody know what this is or if it's harmful? I racked from underneath it to keg and the hydro sample tastes fine and it doesn't smell bad either.

20170108_114431.jpg
 
Quite the interesting landscape.

Surely an infection of some type. What bacteria it
is would take a lab.

All the Best,
D. White
 
jojacques said:
So I guess this is it. My first infection after 15 batches. Am I paranoid?

It seemed fine until a couple of days ago, about 4 days after dryhop.

I had a problem with my bucket fermenter with a spigot... when I was handling it, the spigot simply fell and I had to use my unsanitized hand and duct tape to temporarily cover the hole, and quickly transfer fermenter. This hapenned 2.5 week ago, and probably how it got infected.

So I am sceduled to bottle on tuesday of this week. It smells good and I will taste it, and if its good, I'll bottle. Oh and I started to cold crash 20minutes ago as soon as I noticed the possible infection.
Click to expand...

Can anybody tell me if its infected or not? Thanks.
 
jojacques said:
Can anybody tell me if its infected or not? Thanks.
Click to expand...

If you've got this amount of krausen 2.5 weeks after your dry hop and "fixing" the leaky fermentor, something is going on. It looks a bit slimy, with those glassy bubbles underneath the greenish krausen. Very possible it's an infection.

Cold crashing is not going to fix this. It may slow it down, but bottling something that's still fermenting is asking for more trouble (bottle bombs). I would definitely taste this and take it from there. Keep us posted on your findings. Curious.

BTW, you must be quite a magician holding your hand over the spigot hole while fetching a carboy and what not with the other. Was all that equipment sanitized by any chance?
 
Thanks for your reply Lizard.
This is not krausen, but floating pellets after dry hop :) Gravity readings were stable, so I'm pretty sure fermentation was over when I dry hopped. Yesterday PM I shook the fermenter a bit and the top layer started to fall to the bottom of the fermenter. This morning, the top layer had not reappear.

But yes, I used a bit of magic to fix the leaky fermenting bucket. Kept my hand on the hole while fetching duct tape with my other hand. Then I applied the tape with my free hand, losing a bit of liquid. I then quickly grabbed a clean carboy I had laying around and transferred using my auto-siphon. I made sure to sanitize all the equipment, but was in a rush so maybe it wasn't sanitized properly.
 
jojacques said:
But yes, I used a bit of magic to fix the leaky fermenting bucket. Kept my hand on the hole while fetching duct tape with my other hand. Then I applied the tape with my free hand, losing a bit of liquid. I then quickly grabbed a clean carboy I had laying around and transferred using my auto-siphon. I made sure to sanitize all the equipment, but was in a rush so maybe it wasn't sanitized properly.
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It's a shame you don't have that on video.
 
^ Those 2 bottles are infected for sure. As long as no liquid from them went into your batch, you'll likely be fine.
 
Ok so I don't mean to beat a dead horse but here is a porter (I think) with a nice film on top.
The story behind this one is I racked it into secondary almost 2 years ago. I was about to bottle but wasnt feeling well so I decided to put it off. As luck would have it my pneumonia was actually cancer so my beer took a back burner while I dealt with that for the last two years. I popped the airlock off (which went dry) and to my surprise the beer smells really good and has quite the alcohol aroma. It smells like all of my other fantastic ferments.

Normally I would just bottle it and take a gamble but 2 years seems like a long time in a secondary to be ignored. My apartment was pretty well maintained temperature wise but there may have been a bit where it touched 80f. What do you ladies and gentlemen think?
 
Hey all. Is this an infection? I brewed a grapefruit Bavarian weizen. It stayed in the fermenter for almost 3 weeks. When I opened the lid, it had that stuff floating on the top. Could just be from the sides of the fermenter, but I donno because I am pretty new to all of this.

It tasted and smelled amazing. I tested it when I took a hydrometer reading. I bottled them anyways. If it is an infection, do I need to toss it? Is there health risks involved with infections?

Thanks all. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1486228759.496431.jpg
 
Looks good to me. I have had my beers look like that and all was well. Just floaters Im betting. Also since you said you tasted it already Im guessing you are ok.
 
OzzyCoop said:
Ok so I don't mean to beat a dead horse but here is a porter (I think) with a nice film on top.
The story behind this one is I racked it into secondary almost 2 years ago. I was about to bottle but wasnt feeling well so I decided to put it off. As luck would have it my pneumonia was actually cancer so my beer took a back burner while I dealt with that for the last two years. I popped the airlock off (which went dry) and to my surprise the beer smells really good and has quite the alcohol aroma. It smells like all of my other fantastic ferments.

Normally I would just bottle it and take a gamble but 2 years seems like a long time in a secondary to be ignored. My apartment was pretty well maintained temperature wise but there may have been a bit where it touched 80f. What do you ladies and gentlemen think?
Click to expand...

Did you taste it? My concern would be oxidation from the exposure to the air
 
BrettCo124 said:
Hey all. Is this an infection? I brewed a grapefruit Bavarian weizen. It stayed in the fermenter for almost 3 weeks. When I opened the lid, it had that stuff floating on the top. Could just be from the sides of the fermenter, but I donno because I am pretty new to all of this.

It tasted and smelled amazing. I tested it when I took a hydrometer reading. I bottled them anyways. If it is an infection, do I need to toss it? Is there health risks involved with infections?

Thanks all. View attachment 387555
Click to expand...


You will not die from it!
 
BrettCo124 said:
It tasted and smelled amazing. I tested it when I took a hydrometer reading. I bottled them anyways. If it is an infection, do I need to toss it? Is there health risks involved with infections?
View attachment 387555
Click to expand...

It looks normal to me. But to answer your question, if you bottle an infection, you could get bombs as the infection continues to eat the sugar. That could be a health (safety) risk.
 
I tried finding something similar here but nothing was quite the same. This is a bourbon barrel Porter after two weeks in secondary (almost two months in all). I introduced the whiskey and soaked cubes after having them soak for 48hrs then, slowly, this white film began to grow.

Now there are bubbles growing. :\ Is this something I can combat with filtration? Is it actually an infection or just some kind of weird reaction to the cubes?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

View attachment 1488051216836.jpg
 
It is infected. Here is a pic of an infection that looks similar. (it was intentional. I brew sours)

Filteration will do nothing to stop it. At this point all you can do is let it ride for a while and then taste it. It may taste good and then you can bottle it up. But only after a few months to make sure that the infection has stopped dropping the gravity.

IMG_0441.JPG
 
Since my post on the last page I have also developed those sphere like growths on my beer. Don't mind the condensation on my carboy. With these 70F temperatures in February here in PA, the thermostats in my apartment are going haywire. I just wanted to post a refrence picture for the previous posts. My beer still smells wonderful though. I haven't tasted it.
 
Thanks for the insight, beergolf. Even though it was a bit depressing. 😅 I've heard that the infection can takes months to run its course...will warming it up gain me any benefits or should I let it sit and wait?
 
I am new to brewing and searched most of the pics in here. This is a IPA (second batch) it reached FG in about a week 1.016. I transferred to secondary due to a hop addition I need to make. Within an hour these foam like spots appeared and increased first and second day. Has since stopped growing. Pic taken today three days after transfer. I am a freak about sanitizing everything but the lid was off the fermentor longer than usual. I think this is CO2 since the air lock showed slight activity after transfer or starsan foam but not sure and would value your opinion.

BREW PIC.JPG
 
Hi there first time posting so obviously very new to brewing. Am concerned based on past posts that my brew is infected. Any ideas? Its two weeks into secondary and is giving off an acetone smell. Tasted some and it seemed okay although had flakes of white in it.
view


DSC_0629.jpg
 

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