rtracer
Well-Known Member
OMG, this thread makes a baby brewer like myself feel like you do when you have a sore throat and go on WebMD and walk away thinking your dying of some super long named disease!
Post your infection
- Thread starter jcarson83
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Weird... that's exactly the opposite of what this thread is supposed to be about. This is supposed to help the new brewer have assurance that they don't have some super long named disease - by being able to compare their brew to the pictures of the infections versus the ones that are labeled completely normal, or by simply posting photos of their brew and being told whether or not it's infected.
rtracer
Well-Known Member
No, it will be totally helpful in the unfortunate event something goes awry. Just makes me want to run home and check.
kombat
Well-Known Member
Yabbut how did it taste?
kombat
Well-Known Member
The first 2 pics look fine, but the last one (your 6th batch) looks like a little bit of an ice-pack formation starting. That could be the beginnings of an infection, keep an eye on it.
beergolf said:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=7211864&postcount=2896
I've got one in a carboy that looks very much like that. Bottle it anyway (in big bottles) and hope for the best?
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Wait for gravity to stabilize. May take several months. Once two gravity readings a month apart are the same, you're good to bottle.
You might want to taste it, too. If it's nasty, best to dump and move on. Fecal, wet dog, gym socks, diaper... These don't clean up, but if it's otherwise clear of off flavors, no reason to not let it finish and bottle!
j_foamstache
Member
Infection or not? The bubbles have veins.
Looks healthy to me. Did you taste/smell it?
After a recent infection scare and looking at literally every page on this thread, I can say that you should have nothing to worry about. It's when you get the fuzz growing in there or things that look like white icebergs that you have something to worry about.
^dunno, to me, that looks like the very beginning of a pellicle forming. The only time ive had bubbles that big was from wild beers ive done. The fact that he took the lid entirely off and took the time to snap a pic isnt helping any
wrong. this thread is about providing material that is both arousing and work-safe
I agree, especially if the bubbles have veins. Now they've got enough oxygen to really establish themselves though, so give it a week and I'm sure you'll be for sure that it's an infection.
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That really does look like a pellicle forming. You might want to get it in a secondary fermenter and give it a couple months to make sure that the gravity isn't continuing to drop, otherwise you could wind up in bottle bomb territory.
j_foamstache
Member
How old is this beer and how does it taste/smell?
9 days old today
j_foamstache
Member
I still would not be that worried. I had a very similar thing happen to me two batches ago. The brewers I talked to said a temperature change could cause the yeast to "restart" itself. In the end, mine tasted fine so I bottled it. I'll let you know how it is in about a week and a half.
j_foamstache
Member
As long as you didn't have it exposed for very long to let anything in and you sanitized your sampling equipment you should be good. As a rule of thumb, though, I try and sample no more than once a week, especially if it's not bubbling rapidly enough to quickly push oxygen out of your fermenter after you open it.
thornton33
Active Member
Question for all: Just racked to secondary today with a 1oz dry hop addition. We put the pellets in a sanitized muslin bag, but accidentally set the sack of hops on an unsanitized surface before placing in secondary. Given the fact that primary fermentation is complete, our beer has a healthy amount of alcohol content (6.5%'ish), plenty of alpha acids (IPA), and we sanitized the sack. What does your collective wisdom say about the risk of infection under these circumstances?
Radboud
Well-Known Member
I just had another one of those OOOHHHh SH*T moments when I opened my fermenter to bottle my Altbier:
On closer inspection though it didn't seem to be a pellicle, just loads of yeast rafts but with an oily film here and there (a batch or two ago I had a bonafide ice-like pellicle so I know what it looks like). It might be oils from the hop as this recipe is on the heavy side for an Altbier (1.4oz on 4gal, Spalt select). I used Gozdawa Old German Altbier which is a Polish made dry yeast.
The smell that came of the beer was not that pleasant; a very harsh and hot fruity/apple-like smell but this could just be CO2 and normal yeast produced stuff. It finished kinda high, 1.015 (2 weeks @ 62.5f, 1 week @ 68f). It tasted fine, no sourness at all, just very bitter from the hops.
I decided to go ahead and bottle anyway. I noticed that the oily stuff ended up in my bottling bucket and in the bottles. What do you think, Altbier vinegar in a few weeks?
On closer inspection though it didn't seem to be a pellicle, just loads of yeast rafts but with an oily film here and there (a batch or two ago I had a bonafide ice-like pellicle so I know what it looks like). It might be oils from the hop as this recipe is on the heavy side for an Altbier (1.4oz on 4gal, Spalt select). I used Gozdawa Old German Altbier which is a Polish made dry yeast.
The smell that came of the beer was not that pleasant; a very harsh and hot fruity/apple-like smell but this could just be CO2 and normal yeast produced stuff. It finished kinda high, 1.015 (2 weeks @ 62.5f, 1 week @ 68f). It tasted fine, no sourness at all, just very bitter from the hops.
I decided to go ahead and bottle anyway. I noticed that the oily stuff ended up in my bottling bucket and in the bottles. What do you think, Altbier vinegar in a few weeks?
I did a terrible thing yesterday. I had a pumpkin ale I made 2 or 3 years ago that got an infection so I let it ride (bucket fermenter). I looked at it 6 months or more down the line and it smelled fine, but had a skin. I decided I would be lazy and relidded it, refilled the airlock and promptly forgot about it again. Every so many months I would remember it and find that the airlock was dry again and top it up just because. Yesterday when cleaning out my garage I found it again. Apparently something had landed on the lid and knocked the airlock off and broken it. The grommet hole was wide open to the environment for untold months.
I brought the bucket out of the garage and opened the lid. I got a distinct acetone type of smell off it so decided to dump it in the yard finally and dispose of the bucket. After dumping it I continued cleaning the garage. Now, here is the part that is terrible. I did this without sampling it. Last night and today when walking in the yard near where I dumped it I smelled... the wonderful aroma of a delicious tart sour beer. Much like the tart smell of a Duchesse or La Folie. Now, I am regretting dumping it without taking a sample. I really wish I had bottled it up one of those times I was too uninspired to do anything with it. It had been trapped in a corner behind stuff that was being stored in the garage for quite a while during projects.
On a positive note, I did find in my beer fridge a forgotten mason jar of the budweiser keg that was at a party last summer that somehow was months past its best by date and sour. I think it is time to play around and see what I can make out of it.
I brought the bucket out of the garage and opened the lid. I got a distinct acetone type of smell off it so decided to dump it in the yard finally and dispose of the bucket. After dumping it I continued cleaning the garage. Now, here is the part that is terrible. I did this without sampling it. Last night and today when walking in the yard near where I dumped it I smelled... the wonderful aroma of a delicious tart sour beer. Much like the tart smell of a Duchesse or La Folie. Now, I am regretting dumping it without taking a sample. I really wish I had bottled it up one of those times I was too uninspired to do anything with it. It had been trapped in a corner behind stuff that was being stored in the garage for quite a while during projects.
On a positive note, I did find in my beer fridge a forgotten mason jar of the budweiser keg that was at a party last summer that somehow was months past its best by date and sour. I think it is time to play around and see what I can make out of it.
Is this the start of an infection? A couple rafts of tiny white bubbles, appearing over the last few hours.
View attachment 1461639666174.jpg
View attachment 1461639666174.jpg
brandonnys
Well-Known Member
That looks normal to me. See if it doesn't go away in a few days.
brandonnys
Well-Known Member
Pictures from today?
No, sorry; looks much the same, just more rafts. The inside of the carboy now has some condensation on it, so any pictures would be mighty blurry.
The only thing I can think of, is possibly some delayed off-gassing due a temperature change (pulled out of cold crash recently); seems odd that this would take so long, but I guess it's possible.
What has me somewhat concerned is that I was out of town for several days and when I got back, the airlock was low on sanitizer, so there's been some possibility of recent infection.
Was planning on bottling this tonight so it's ready by the end of May.
The only thing I can think of, is possibly some delayed off-gassing due a temperature change (pulled out of cold crash recently); seems odd that this would take so long, but I guess it's possible.
What has me somewhat concerned is that I was out of town for several days and when I got back, the airlock was low on sanitizer, so there's been some possibility of recent infection.
Was planning on bottling this tonight so it's ready by the end of May.
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brandonnys
Well-Known Member
That's my thoughts too. Just looks like the change in temp reactivated dormant yeast and they started moving around.
tgolanos
Well-Known Member
If your gravity hasn't changed in 10 days, I think it's OK. Could be the remnants of the Cardamom seeds you're seeing. Looks more like grain husks to me, though. Either way, I don't think it's anything bad.
How'd it taste?
How'd it taste?
TheMuffinMan
Active Member
Looks like seeds to me
That is fermenting wort
Recently dry hop?
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