Disturbing "Slime/slug" like thing

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naterater

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Hi everyone, Im new to home brewing and have recently discovered something very un-settling in a bottle of my beer. This is my second batch, and from all accounts seemed to go fairly well, however I went to pour a bottle today and after it was empty I noticed there was a very large mass left rolling around inside the bottle, one that was too large to travel out the neck with the beer.

After some effort, I extracted what can only be described as a slug like mucus, 2 of them to be exact. They are fairly dense, quite large and I have no idea what it is or how it got there.. I am thinking of dumping the whole batch out!

I checked a few other bottles and they all seem to be clear of any random "slugs".

Is this some kind of growth resulting in contamination? Has anyone seen this before? its pretty disgusting!!!

I use ez-cap grolsch style bottles, and the kit was a barons Canadian high test.

Thanks for any info..
 
How long have they been bottled for? I don't like to use grolsch bottles anymore because I don't feel they get a good seal all the time. You may have had an infection in that bottle from improper cleaning or a bad seal. Either way...if the other bottles like good and taste fine.... DON'T DUMP! It's a sin to dump beer...in case you didn't know.
 
I've seen what you describe in some mead we brewed, I think it is a mold, however this was in the carboy before bottling, not in the bottle, did the beer taste ok? If so, why throw it out, just drink it, nothing can live in beer that will hurt you. Just close your eyes and drink, if you feel something on your lips or tongue, stop drinking and grab another.:rockin:
 
I have had slug-like masses form at the bottom of my kegerator. Water and beer tend to puddle at the bottom, and when I was cleaning found the "things".

Figured I had found a new lifeform. I threw it out into the yard.

:confused:
 
I had a couple in a batch of Edworts Haus PA I did as my 2nd AG batch. I ended up dumping the batch 4 months after being in bottles and tasting every week or so. It had a strong mold taste that only got worse over time.

Do not throw it out however on speculation. Taste it. Is it enjoyable? Drink up. No? give it more time to see if it corrects itself. If still gross by by the time you NEED the bottles for another batch, then dump it and clean the crap out of the bottles.
 
wow, thanks for the quick reply's everyone! Good to know I haven't made a ground breaking scientific discovery in my beer bottle. I've elected to keep the batch and soldier on, if I find any more I'll take a few pics for curiosity's sake, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger...
 
I've seen what you're talking about in the bottom of my empty bottles. If I leave some empties lying around with a little bit of beer/yeast in the bottom, it will grow a nice lump of mold that looks exactly like a slug. Takes a while to get it to break up so it comes out of the bottle, its extra incentive for me to not be lazy and clean the bottles as I drink them!
 
Slime. Slugs. Snot. Yeah. :(

I had my second AG batch, a stout type, grow this sickly translucent tan colored goo in the primary. These 'slugs' also had specks of green and red in them. Found it after 3 weeks. There were slug sized gobs around the rim at the edge of the wort. The wort also had what looked like dandruff floating in it.

This gunk did not look like the remnants of any krausen or normal flock I had even seen.

Naturally, I tasted some wort. :cross: I tasted of rotten bananas (like a banana that has gone black on the counter for too long) and stout.

I used Safale US05. Ferment temps were low 70s (F).

My buddy brewed at my house the same day. His extract brew was fine.

I washed everything in scolding hot water and loads of Best brand iodine. No problems since.

No idea what it was.
 
Red-jelly looking stuffin the carboy. I racked to corny keg. Small klumps of the stuff. I got too busy and did not take pictures. It looked like cherry colored bugers.

The beer was an old Dunkel weisen kit... Like 5+ years old, LME style. I sipped some. It tasted like Guiness Extra Stout.

We'll see how it affects my digestive tract. Farting up a storm so far.
 
...for mine, less than six weeks.

We bottled it from the corny. It kind of normalized. It drinks like beer. Someone who likes funk would be disappointed.

I had been calling it Thing 2. We shortened it to T2 on the caps.
 

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I've seen what you're talking about in the bottom of my empty bottles. If I leave some empties lying around with a little bit of beer/yeast in the bottom, it will grow a nice lump of mold that looks exactly like a slug. Takes a while to get it to break up so it comes out of the bottle, its extra incentive for me to not be lazy and clean the bottles as I drink them!
^^THIS^^

I ALWAYS put water in my empty and shake the crap out of it before dumping the water, IMMEDIATELY after pouring it....for this very reason....I don't want that stuff to set up a residence in my bottles....
 
This is called "ropiness" and is due to contamination by wild Pediococcus bacteria. It's not necessarily a terrible thing, some people add Pedio on purpose, and the slimy, ropey behavior will disintigrate over time.
Especially if there is brettanomyces also. The ropiness are actually exopolysaccharides, so a kind of sugars/starches, which the brett can feed on.

In lambic it is even kind of expected, just a phase the beer needs to go through.
 
Hi everyone, Im new to home brewing and have recently discovered something very un-settling in a bottle of my beer. This is my second batch, and from all accounts seemed to go fairly well, however I went to pour a bottle today and after it was empty I noticed there was a very large mass left rolling around inside the bottle, one that was too large to travel out the neck with the beer.

After some effort, I extracted what can only be described as a slug like mucus, 2 of them to be exact. They are fairly dense, quite large and I have no idea what it is or how it got there.. I am thinking of dumping the whole batch out!

I checked a few other bottles and they all seem to be clear of any random "slugs".

Is this some kind of growth resulting in contamination? Has anyone seen this before? its pretty disgusting!!!

I use ez-cap grolsch style bottles, and the kit was a barons Canadian high test.

Thanks for any info..
This is most likely coagulated proteins in the brew. Though it may seem gross, it is harmless, and is not harmful. You can filter the beer through a strainer, or you can drink it down. It will not harm your kick ass beer!
 
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