lacto infection?

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JayMac

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Hey guys, so it looks like I'm having a few problems with my first few all grain batches. The first one, I believe to have a lactobacillus infection, at least from the searches I've done on here. This beer was in primary for 2 weeks before I transfered to secondary to free up a primary. It is a film like substance.. greyish in colour and I can see some white floating bits in it. It's either lacto or maybe pellicle, see the pictures attached at the bottom.

The second one I'm not so much worried about, as it sort of look like some yeast still floating on top, but this beer has been in primary for three weeks... so I'm not quite sure how that can be possible. I know that the stuff stuck to the walls is just krausen, so please note that I'm not confusing that with infection! Just the little floating bits.

I know these may be common things, but I have never seen them before, so any input would be greatly appreciated! If it helps at all, I'm going to keg these in the next couple days, so perhaps these possible infections can be avoided by racking around it. And yes, I do realize that the first beer doesn't have much in it... I lost a LOT when racking and boiled off a little too much, so I'm not left with much.

Thanks for your help! And here are the pics:

infection.jpg


kraussen.jpg
 
Second one is fine. Looks like CO2 coming out of solution. No worries there.

I can't really see the first one, but lacto would be obvious. It's nasty. You won't really know until you taste it.
 
I'll take a taste of them when I transfer to the kegs... but the only problem is that I don't have a thief to take a sample. I find it very hard with just a hydrometer and test jar.

I guess I'll just rack around it and if it tastes good, who cares?!
 
Have to agree, lacto is going to be a pretty thick filmy skin. That pic doesn't have the usual big bubbles you'd see. It could be some hop residue or something else like yeast just floating on top.
 
Both look normal to me. Cold crash and it will all fall to the bottom. Or just rack and keep moving.
 
I guess when you've never really had anything bad happen, even a slight deviation of the normal appearance makes a brewer jump to conclusions! I'll cold crash and rack away this week. Unforunately my basement has been very warm this summer... at about 72F, so this *might* have something to do with it.

On a related note, how long would it take to crash cool one of these? I don't have dedicated fridges, but I could give up a day in one of my mini fridges for them. Would 12 hours each work? or is that insufficient?
 
Second one looks fine.

First one looks like the start of a lacto film. Might not be, but I'm not as confident on that one as everyone else here. I've used a lot of lacto, and sometimes it looks like that. Even brett won't always form a pellicle.

No need to freak out on it, especially if it's not tasting sour or "off", but you might want to get it bottled soon and keep cool. You can also go buy a pack of Campden tabs at the homebrew shop and toss in a crushed tablet.
 
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