I guess it happens to the best of us...

Well, I opened up my pail of an AG Irish Red to bottle it today, (brewed it on August 24th) and I think I found my first infection. It had a whitish film over it with penny and dime sized bubbles. It looked like the pictures I've seen of lacto. I bottled it anyways. It didn't smell great, but it wasn't nauseating. Smelled sour, tasted like it smelled.

This batch was cursed ever since I pitched the yeast. I pitched a packet of the recalled Notty (I didn't know it was recalled). After 4 days of no activity, I pitched ANOTHER packet of bad Notty. The OG was 1.051, the FG was a disappointing 1.019.

I guess time will tell with this this one. Do I run the risk of bottle bombs?

For a lacto infection you should expect the FG to just keep dropping and dropping...right down to 1.004 or something crazy like that. Even if it smells like crap, stick with it a while longer before bottling and keep an eye on the hydro readings to see if they stabilize

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

For a lacto infection you should expect the FG to just keep dropping and dropping...right down to 1.004 or something crazy like that. Even if it smells like crap, stick with it a while longer before bottling and keep an eye on the hydro readings to see if they stabilize

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Well, the hydro has been at 1.019 for 2 weeks (I checked 4 times). It's in bottles now. I didn't think it was lacto, but it sure did look similar. For a beer that is already supposed to be "malt forward", I have a feeling this one will be cloyingly sweet.

BTW, I'm retiring the bucket this beer was in. It was my first fermenter ever, and I'll bet it has had at least 50 gallons move through it!