oh no... not an infection...

never thought Id live to see the day

I've never seen one before so I cant be for certain *snorts* but I have a feeling this is infected:

http://img403.imageshack.us/my.php?image=infection2qt5.jpg
http://img444.imageshack.us/my.php?image=infection1sm3.jpg

I think i know what happened: I used leaf hops in a hop bag to dry hop it and completely forgot to sanatize the hop bag

is this salvageable or should I just dump it?

You never dump it unless it both smells and tastes baad....

Honestly if you dry hopped after it was alchohol I doubt it was infected by the hop bag. Is this in secondary?

Is it ready to rack or bottle? If it was time to me, I would rack under it leaving the top layer and about half inch of beer behind...

It looks like the start of a pellicule...which might not be a bad thing, some people love them....

its ready to bottle... i was about to take a gravity reading when i popped the top and almost had a heart attack

it smells a little funky... didnt dare taste it until the pro's had a chance to chime in with their 2 cents

im just afraid of bottling 50 bottle bombs if this thing gets out of control or something.

quick edit: doesnt taste horrible but there was a hint of something 'off' - but otherwise it tastes like regular, warm beer.

Well, I would bottle it....it's a risk, but you have a 50-50 chance of either having a great beer, or a dumper in a couple months...or something in at least drinkable....

I've racked under a bit of mold, and have had it turn out okay...

BUT afterwards you have to clean everything thogoughy and I would slash and burn everything that came in contact with it....I would use a 1 ounce of bleach added to 5 gallons of water to which after you dillute the bleach with the water you add one ounce of vinegar....run it through every hose, your bottling spigot, racking cane everything...then rinse thorougly and run your favorite sanitizer through everything...preferably starsan...

Another thing..you dry hopped?

It might be nothing but a skin formed from the hop oils....

I've never done it with whole leaf hops, but when I've dry hopped with pellets I've gotten a weired layer that traps co2 bubbles in and loos freaky....it might simply be something similar.....

I would not bottle but would transfer to a secondary and see what happens... I would fear bottle bombs in that situation.

Revvy said:

Another thing..you dry hopped?

It might be nothing but a skin formed from the hop oils....

I've never done it with whole leaf hops, but when I've dry hopped with pellets I've gotten a weired layer that traps co2 bubbles in and loos freaky....it might simply be something similar.....

Click to expand...

wow... now that you say that, that's exactly what it looked like. it looked like a clear layer of film that had trapped co2 bubbles... this actually gives me some hope!

i racked to my bottling bucket leaving behind the top layer of film and bottled it. if im wrong, so be it. i honestly cant bring myself to dump 5 gallons of beer down the drain without giving it at least a chance

Boerderij Kabouter said:

I would not bottle but would transfer to a secondary and see what happens... I would fear bottle bombs in that situation.

Click to expand...

you're right, that's what i should have done. im still new to this and have never seen that before - after reaching panic mode i simply continued the mission and bottled the beer.

next time ill just wait and play it cool

My money's on infection but I am definitely with Revvy. it might turn out to be a good infection.

You bottled, I wouldv'e too rather than secondary it and give the infection more chance to take hold. In the anaerobic envoronment of the bottle you might just end with an excellent beer.

One caveat, I would open one every couple weeks to check on pressure in the bottle to make sure that they are not over charged. Infection is one thing that does cause bottle bombs.

Be sure to update this post with what happens.......i'm really curious about how this one turns out.

Christian said:

Be sure to update this post with what happens.......i'm really curious about how this one turns out.

Click to expand...

definitely - ill update this post in a week or so and let you know what happens.

Wow, I have never seen anything like that when I opened a bucket. I keg and don't bottle except out of the keg so If it where me I would rack it to secondary and give it a few weeks and taste it. If it was not super funky i would keg it and see what happened. I'm not sure how long you can leave it in secondary and still bottle, maybe a long time again I dont know I just dont do it (I bet plenty of folks here do). That is odd looking.

I too would have kegged it but if I were not kegging would have bottled. Might put all your bottles into a plastic tote with lid in case they start exploding. Less mess.

Revvy said:

....but you have a 50-50 chance of either having a great beer, or a dumper in a couple months...or something in at least drinkable....

Click to expand...

Now Revvy, I am not a math major or anything, but.... nevermind. Let's just say he has a 33-33-33 chance.... hehehe

F*** the naysayers, listen to Revvy. He knows. Always ask yourself, WWRD?