Still fermenting, but developing an infection

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duffman2

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Well, I was ready for bottling a week ago. Now I realize that fermentation of my oatmeal stout has started up again, but I now have an infection growing on the top of my beer.

Is there anything that can be done to save her? Should I rack it to secondary to get away from the infection on top? Or do I just need to let her finish fermenting despite the growing mold monster that is perched on top of her right now?
 
Yeah...you better post some pictures because no one's going to be able to offer an opinion without seeing it.
 
Sorry guys, guess I gotta pony up the dough for the premium membership. Here I am asking you guys for help and I can't show you anything.

Well, in lieu of that for right now I'll do my best to describe it in detail. It began fermentation at 1.064 on 1-18 and went strong for a week and a half but then it stalled at 1.030. I repitched some notty on 2-4 and then on 2-11 I checked it out again and still 1.029 or 1.030. That's when I noticed the small gray film developing on the surface.

Now, yesterday I noticed airlock activity pick up and actually bubbling at a pretty good pace. So today I sampled it and......1.024! So it appears to be moving down the gravity chart and is making more alcohol. But the infection has spread to a bigger area and is just like a gray film that has grown thicker and more pronounced. Doesn't look like krausen at all.

And the hydro sample went from still tasting good last week to now tasting slightly sour. Not horrible, but more sour.

Hopefully this helps you guys a little better
 
Ha, just went to double check myself and from the last hour when I checked it till now it seems to have a definite krausen going all over! It is a thin brown krausen over the whole surface but there is still a 4 inch diameter area that is more gray than brown and also seems to have soft gray spots on the bubbles.

Maybe I'm just paranoid
 
duffman2 said:
Sorry guys, guess I gotta pony up the dough for the premium membership. Here I am asking you guys for help and I can't show you anything.

Well, in lieu of that for right now I'll do my best to describe it in detail. It began fermentation at 1.064 on 1-18 and went strong for a week and a half but then it stalled at 1.030. I repitched some notty on 2-4 and then on 2-11 I checked it out again and still 1.029 or 1.030. That's when I noticed the small gray film developing on the surface.

Now, yesterday I noticed airlock activity pick up and actually bubbling at a pretty good pace. So today I sampled it and......1.024! So it appears to be moving down the gravity chart and is making more alcohol. But the infection has spread to a bigger area and is just like a gray film that has grown thicker and more pronounced. Doesn't look like krausen at all.

And the hydro sample went from still tasting good last week to now tasting slightly sour. Not horrible, but more sour.

Hopefully this helps you guys a little better
Click to expand...

I just wanted to highlight that it looks like you are saying you tested your beer after a week and a half....

You might have a better gauge on how well your ferment is going by just leaving it alone for 3 weeks and testing it after it is done. A week and a half is not enough time for a beer to finish..

On the other hand, it is odd your ferment restarted - did your temps change drastically during ferment? Did you pitch enough yeast to begin with?
 
jjones17 said:
I just wanted to highlight that it looks like you are saying you tested your beer after a week and a half....

You might have a better gauge on how well your ferment is going by just leaving it alone for 3 weeks and testing it after it is done. A week and a half is not enough time for a beer to finish..

On the other hand, it is odd your ferment restarted - did your temps change drastically during ferment? Did you pitch enough yeast to begin with?
Click to expand...

No it started fermenting in January on the 18th and did great for a week or 2. I left it alone for 2 and a half weeks before checking the gravity on February the 4th and finding that it stalled at 1.030. Then I repitched and checked two weeks later to find it now fermenting and reading 1.024.

I fermented at a cool 64 F for those first 2 weeks, and then I let it warm to 68 F after I thought that it was done and now it is back to fermenting and still at 68
 
duffman2 said:
Sorry guys, guess I gotta pony up the dough for the premium membership. Here I am asking you guys for help and I can't show you anything.

Well, in lieu of that for right now I'll do my best to describe it in detail. It began fermentation at 1.064 on 1-18 and went strong for a week and a half but then it stalled at 1.030. I repitched some notty on 2-4 and then on 2-11 I checked it out again and still 1.029 or 1.030. That's when I noticed the small gray film developing on the surface.

Now, yesterday I noticed airlock activity pick up and actually bubbling at a pretty good pace. So today I sampled it and......1.024! So it appears to be moving down the gravity chart and is making more alcohol. But the infection has spread to a bigger area and is just like a gray film that has grown thicker and more pronounced. Doesn't look like krausen at all.

And the hydro sample went from still tasting good last week to now tasting slightly sour. Not horrible, but more sour.

Hopefully this helps you guys a little better
Click to expand...

you could just post pictures on a picture hosting site and link us to there.
 
I post my photos to Imageshack and then copy the Direct Link over and put the image tags around the link. The image tags are up in the top of the writing box, 2nd row down 4th from the right. Looks like a yellow picture.
 
Alright, I'm getting my things together to try that out. Bear with me please, I'm new at this computer stuff lol!
 
FWIW, while you're wrestling with the pictures, once I helped a friend who really did have an infection - a whitish, filmy sheet over top of his wort after fermenting. We managed to skim it all out with a colander and paper towels, and the beer turned out fine.

BTW - you can also link to Facebook pictures.
 
Alright cool swampass, that worked pretty good. It looks better today, only looks like krausen. The off colored spot was where the clear spot is but now the whole thing doesn't look bad. I'm probably fine

The only thing that sucks is that it fermented at 65 and now I let it warm up to 71 for this last week or so when it kicked back up and started fermenting again
 
Aw man, I wanted to see an infection, I find them fascinating...

The bad news is your beer looks completely normal, and boring.

edited to add...the more I think about it, I'm going to have to make a sour just to watch the pelicle rather than wait for other people's accidents.
 
img2188j.jpg
Click to expand...

Mmmmmmmm.... Beer! :mug:

EDIT: Thought I'd put your pic up for you.. If you ever host a picture and want to show it, no link, just take the URL address for you photo (the link you posted), then surround it with image tags like so:


And while I'm editing might I say Mmmmmmmm.... Beer! :mug:
 
You have saved a stuck ferment, good work!

Unfortunately, I too get a sick enjoyment out of seeing other people's infections (beer related infections).
 
rjwhite41 said:
Unfortunately, I too get a sick enjoyment out of seeing other people's infections (beer related infections).
Click to expand...

You guys are sick! Sick, sick! When it's your own beer child, you never want to see an infection!

I'm happy it's looking good, we'll see how it turns out
 
This is far over due, but this oatmeal stout turned out fantastic. We kicked the keg like 2 weeks ago and we loved every drop of it!

Just another validation for patience and "Never Dump Your BEER!!"

Cheers
 

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