Infection ?

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mr_leetzor

mr_leetzor

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I checked my fridge this morning to see this in my beer

infected-beer-small.jpg

Is that Lactobacillus ?

I tasted a sample and couldn't find anything off in the flavor(it is an IPA).

Going to keg it tonight and try to drink it rather quickly, IIRC it turns sour after some time from that type of infection.
 
dont worry, forget about it and leave it alone. Beer can look weird and nothing will be wrong with it, how long has it been aging? nothing worse than drinking green beer...
 
hopsalot said:
dont worry, forget about it and leave it alone. Beer can look weird and nothing will be wrong with it, how long has it been aging? nothing worse than drinking green beer...
Click to expand...

Its been about two weeks in the secondary. Definitely done fermenting, but I have never seen anything like that in my beer.

The one thing I did different this time was add isinglass about a week ago, then didn't have the keg space to take it out of the secondary.

At any rate it is kegged now, hope it does alright.
 
yeah that's an infection. Had it a couple times myself. I never could identify what it was, but it eats unfermentables and over time sours the beer. I know it's not lacto and I've done lacto fermentations before. And I know it's no form of brett either as I've done pure brett fermentations and they also don't look like that.

To get rid of it I had to declare total war on my stuff which included bleach, yes bleach and lots of it on all the fermentors. And i threw out all the hoses it had touched.
 
That angles bad, I never jump the gun and declare an infection, especially with a pic like that, through the glass and at that high an angle from the beer.

Are you using a 6 gallon carboy on 2.5 gallons of beer as a secondary, that's what it looks like?

it could just as easily be some yeast colonies brought up to the surface from co2 and fizzing....Which happens quite often.

That's what I vote for...I don't think it's an infection at all....

Before you (or anyone jump the gun) how about you get us better pictures?

Have you tasted it yet....
 
Revvy said:
Before you (or anyone jump the gun) how about you get us better pictures?
Click to expand...

I mentioned in the first post that it tasted fine. But yes the angle is bad.

The top had a thin film of white with white bubbles. Sort of like when you make hot chocolate or soup and do not stir the pot for a while, that layer forms on the top. Reminded me of that.

It's kegged now, so I can't take any more pictures. But I did manage to take a side shot that showed the white film on the sides of the carboy.


infected2-small.jpg
 
In that case it's one or two things...

If you dry hopped it in secondary it may have just been the reaction that often happens between the leaching hop oils and co2 bubbles trapped under the thin oil slick...NORMAL.

Or a Lactobasilus infection....If that's the case, firebomb everything with bleech/water, or sanitizer, replace hoses, etc...and after you are done with the keg do the same thing with it...don't forget to thoroughly clean and sanitized your keg in a month or so when it is empty. In fact you may want to mark it with some tape so you don't forget.

:mug:
 
I'm with z987k. This looks like a lactobacillus infection; something obviously slipped through your sanitizing efforts. Lactobacillus tends to work slowly, so your beer may have passed through your kidneys and returned to the earth before you begin noticing any degradation in body and emerging sourness.

The massive headspace in your secondary is a concern, and may have encouraged the latent lactobacillus to bloom. Most beer-spoilage organisms are aerobic, needing oxygen to work. If you didn't purge your secondary with a blast of CO2, there's still air in the headspace. The milky white bubbles are a definite sign that something is awry. You want to minimize the headspace in a secondary vessel as much as you can, minimizing contact with oxygen that can lead to premature staling.
 
WOW! I think this is the first infection thread that I have ever read here that turns out to actually be an infection.
I feel like my life is complete now.
 
flyangler18 said:
I'm with z987k. This looks like a lactobacillus infection; something obviously slipped through your sanitizing efforts. Lactobacillus tends to work slowly, so your beer may have passed through your kidneys and returned to the earth before you begin noticing any degradation in body and emerging sourness.

The massive headspace in your secondary is a concern, and may have encouraged the latent lactobacillus to bloom. Most beer-spoilage organisms are aerobic, needing oxygen to work. If you didn't purge your secondary with a blast of CO2, there's still air in the headspace. The milky white bubbles are a definite sign that something is awry. You want to minimize the headspace in a secondary vessel as much as you can, minimizing contact with oxygen that can lead to premature staling.
Click to expand...

while I do think it's an infection, I don't think it's lacto. I just pitched pure lacto for a few days prior to pitching yeast on a weisse and it looking nothing like that. Plus it is very alcohol sensitive.
 
z987k said:
while I do think it's an infection, I don't think it's lacto. I just pitched pure lacto for a few days prior to pitching yeast on a weisse and it looking nothing like that. Plus it is very alcohol sensitive.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's definitely not pure delbrueckii
!
 

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