Another "Is my beer infected" thread

I have enough batches behind me to know not to worry, but this is the first time I have seen floaters like this. Amber wheat, extract, OG was 1.056. This was the troublesome Danstar Munich yeast that sat for four days before showing any signs of active fermentation. It has been nearly three weeks; gravity is down to a very good 1.014.

Is this an infection, and if so, what can I do about it?

Thanks in advance to this great forum!

Looks OK to me, what does it taste like?

If you know enough to know that this is another "is my beer infected" post, than why are you posting it? You already know the answer.

Looks like krausen rings and yeast rafts. What yeast did you use?

It has a sour banana flavor up front, with a lingering plastic/cleaning fluid flavor aftertaste. Danstar Munich dry yeast was used.

TheWeeb said:

It has a sour banana flavor up front, with a lingering plastic/cleaning fluid flavor aftertaste. Danstar Munich dry yeast was used.

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Sounds like a Hefeweizen yeast to me, what temp did you ferment at? I'd bottle it and drink it but you need to let your taste buds be your guide.

That flavor profile doesnt sound too far off for danstar munich. It is a bavarian style yeast and definatley produces sour and banana flavors, as for chemical cleaner flavor, diacetyl? what temp was this fermented at?

Also, this is a very low flocculation yeast, so those floaties are common.

also what sanitzer did you use?

Phenols, which are naturaly produced by yeast, particularly bavarian yeasts, can react with chlorine residue to create medicinal or plastic flavors. Do you use bleach? how well do you rinse?

Shinglejohn, you are probably right. I use StarSan and follow the same procedure as before (no rinse). You pointed out a couple of things that have changed this time, however:

1. This is my third wheat beer; the first two I used Weihenstephan W3068; the Danstar must have a different flavor profile and that is one thing that I am detecting.

2. In every other brew I used a 50/50 combination of tap water (boiled, of course) and distilled water. This time I used all tap water, and I noticed that it has recently had a bit of a chlorine taste to it.

If the yeast is reacting to the chlorine in the water, will these off flavors clear up?

TheWeeb said:

If the yeast is reacting to the chlorine in the water, will these off flavors clear up?

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Nope, if the phenols are because of the chlorine/chloramines in your water they won't clear up AFAIK.

Check out your areas water profile, call the water department.

It may just be green beer!

I don't know, they kinda look like flakes of congealed fat or wax in the pic. Do they look like wax or fat in real life?

they are flat floaters. They do look like wax, or fat, but that is not possible, as there was no wax or fat in my recipe. Funk, funk, funk; I will not open it for a few days and see what happens. If they are yeast rafts, they should drop out, yes? If infection, then I assume they would spread and maybe get bubbly or hairy.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/post-your-infection-71400/

post 1 maybe?

I thought there was another thread too, with more pictures and a similar title.

Just a wondering?

Bottled today, FG still at 1.014, so I went for it. I think the "infection" was yeast rafts, as the top was clear and they must have dropped out. It still had a very strong plastic smell but as they say, relax, and have . . . lesson learned.

Shinglejohn said:

If you know enough to know that this is another "is my beer infected" post, than why are you posting it? You already know the answer.

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You just said that to get the EAC designation, I believe it has worked.

I actually just bottled my first batch of wheat beer and I used WLP-320 American Hefe yeast. I opened my fermenter to see the same thing you took a picture of and had a little panic attack. None of the other beers I've brewed had floaters like that before. I thought maybe it's from the low flocculation, but it looks pretty nasty! Thank you all so much for your experience and letting both of us know that Hefe yeast does this. I feel much better!

AzimuthBrewery said:

I actually just bottled my first batch of wheat beer and I used WLP-320 American Hefe yeast. I opened my fermenter to see the same thing you took a picture of and had a little panic attack. None of the other beers I've brewed had floaters like that before. I thought maybe it's from the low flocculation, but it looks pretty nasty! Thank you all so much for your experience and letting both of us know that Hefe yeast does this. I feel much better!

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My first hefe is 11 days in and looks about the same. Funky little floaters.