Infection?

I've got a beer that's been just over 3 weeks in primary, and still has a 1/2" thick sticky looking krausen... I just realized that there is some fuzzy funk growing in the blowoff jug, and quickly switched it out for a sanitized airlock... but was struck me was that the blow off jug was still bubbling!

Does this sound like an infection?

Pictures would help.

the word "fuzzy" is never a good thing...

As Shecky mentioned, pictures tell a thousand words.

You are saying the fuzzy stuff is in the blow off jug only right? I would change that water.. maybe put in a real airlock. Just because the blow off jug got the funk does not mean your beer does.

Have you smelled the beer? Tasted it?

I'll get a pic tonight. But yeah, the fuzz was only in the blow off water, and it's got a clean airlock on it now...

The beer LOOKS fine visually, it's just that it looks exactly like it did at day 2... and No, I haven't done a hydrometer reading yet... I don't usually bother until the krausen falls and the bubbles stop, but this one seems neverending, and I thought I'd heard that was a sign of infection...

Needs pics, type of yeast, etc.

That has been known to happen, you get blowoff into an un sanitized vessel, and mold grown on top of that stuff..That's fine. If it's in your fermenter, that's a different story.

But mold and an infection are two different things. Sometimes the surface layer in the fermenter can grow mold on top...But the beer below is perfectly fine. Many of us have had that happen. And all you need to do is rack below the mold to save the beer.

An infection is really where the beer itself is altered, like soured or turned to vinegar...THAT'S an infection...Mold is benign and most of the time only affect the part of the beer that is in contact with air...the layer on the surface.

Here's a pic... Thoughts? I wouldn't think anything's amiss, except that this is 25 days in...

Looks perfectly fine, though it is very odd for it to look like that after 3 weeks. I don't think it's an infection, just an odd fermentation.

Do you have any idea how much yeast you pitched? How long of a lag time did you have before you started seeing activity?

My guess is you pitched a suboptimal yeast count. Did you make a starter? You need about 0.75 million cells per ml wort per degree plato. For an OG of 1.050, that's about 175 billion cells. A smack pack or a white labs tube will give you at most 100 billion, though the viability could be significantly less depending on how it has been handled.

You should end up with good beer regardless, it's just that the fermentation will go slowly and it could possibly end up underattenuated. Also, when the yeast have to spend an unusual amount of time propagating rather than getting it out of the way and proceeding with fermentation, you could end up with high levels of esters, fusel alcohols, aldehydes, and/or diacetyl depending on the strain.

Sorry, yes, I pitched a 1L starter, and the yeast was wyeast 1338 european ale...

Lack of oxygen could be another factor. How did you aerate before pitching?

I pour thru a strainer, and then shake my carboy.

Well then that is just weird...

Other possible causes - low fermentation temp? What temperature has your fermenter been?

Lack of free amino nitrogen is a possibility. All grain brewers will rarely have this issue, but if this was an extract batch, extract can be inconsistent in terms of its nitrogen content. If the extract is old or poorly handled, it's nutritional value to the yeast could be compromised. This could be compensated for with the addition of yeast nutrient.

I realize I'm making assumptions here, but these are a couple of other possibilities.