ropey strands in my braggot

i believe it to be acetobakter (sp)? talked about in "how to brew". It was some thin stringlike strands. It was my second batch and I have since learned some sanitation errors that may have caused it. Is there a way I can get rid of it? It didn't seem to effect the taste at all and drinking it would be the sure fire way of making it go away, but I wouldn't mind getting rid of it first.

it has been fermenting for about 6 weeks now and has been racked 2 times.

I think acetero bacter cause vinegar tastes (actually, make vinegar). It sounds more like you have a rope infection.

From Jack Keller's website:
Oiliness or Ropiness: The wine develops an oily look with rope-like treads or strings appearing within it. It pours slowly and thickly with a consistency similar to egg whites, but neither its smell nor taste are effected. The culprit is a lactic acid bacterium and is only fatal to the wine if left untreated. Pour the wine into an open container with greater volume than required. Use an egg whip to beat the wine into a frothiness. Add two crushed Campden tablets per gallon of wine and stir these in with the egg whip. Cover with a sterile cloth and stir the wine every hour or so for about four hours. Return it to a sterile secondary and fit the airlock. After two days, run the wine through a wine filter and return it to another sterile secondary. Again, this problem, like most, can be prevented by pre-treating the must with Campden and sterilizing your equipment scrupulously.

Hopefully, you've used campden already in this must, but I'd follow the instructions ASAP.

thanks for the quick response! We haven't treated it with campden yet. Campden is unfamiliar territory as of yet. Any clue what it is/does? I am hesitant to put unknown chemicals in my beer.

Why have you racked 2 times in 6 weeks? This is the possible source for the strange infection.
It's fairly odd tha a Braggot would end up with someting like this on it's own as the honey, and subsiquent alcohol tend to act as a bit of an anticeptic for the wine.

mojorooks said:

thanks for the quick response! We haven't treated it with campden yet. Campden is unfamiliar territory as of yet. Any clue what it is/does? I am hesitant to put unknown chemicals in my beer.

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Campden prevents infection.............................as well as prevents oxidation. I use it at the beginning of fermentation if using fruit, and then at every other racking. It's potassium metabisulfite.

it's a newbie thing. I guess I thought racking was good for the beer. I should have known better.

thanks for the input

won't the campden kill the yeast? we will have to repitch, correct? And what is the way to go about using campden to begin with?