First infected batch

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Ooompa Loompa

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So I went to grab something out of my closet today (which is where I have one of my beers sitting in the secondary), and I hadn't looked in there for 5 or 6 days. Anyway, There is a nasty white film growing on the top of the porter that I brewed about a month ago. I was planning on waiting a while longer to bottle it just becuase I've been kind of busy lately, but I guess I'll bottle tomorrow. I tasted it and it actually tastes really good, so hopefully it stays that way. I'm at work right now, but if I remember to I'll snap some pics when I get home.
 
Alright, I snapped a couple of pics

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Oh yea, that looks like a bacterial infection for sure. It might actually be a brett or some other 'good bacteria' infection, but I don't know for sure. Just waiting for landhoney to show up here.
 
Yeah that's what happened to my O-fest ale. Same exact look. I think it's wild brett, but landhoney can tell us for sure.

I sanitized the **** out of the carboy afterwards.
 
I've had that pellicle many times on several brews and each time I just went ahead and kegged it. The beer turned out fine.
 
same here fingers. mine was even thicker. i left it in the secondary for a long time, and the beer was crystal clear, and tasted fine. just leave the skin behind.
 
Well, bottling is done. Leaving the skin behind was easy because as I syphoned it all kind of stuck together and just stuck to the side of the carboy. So by the time the carboy was half emptied all of the skin was stuck to the upper half. Like I said it smells and tastes fine, and I'm an optimist anyway, so I think it should turn out great.

When I went to bottle I realized I only had about 25 caps left, so I had to run to the LHBS and pick some up. When I was there I picked up new tubing and new rubber stoppers for my airlocks, and I just threw the old ones away. Everything else that touched this batch is soaking in a heavy bleach/water mixture right now. After that I will rinse it thoroughly with water, then hit it with a star san rinse. Nothing will live past that. And of course I will hit it with star san again just before the next batch goes in.
 
Ohh, umm, oops................OMG I think I ruined my beer!!! I think it's infected. I'm gonna have to dump it right???? What should I do.....HELP!!!!

There is that better? :D :D :p
 
z987k said:
I think it's wild brett, but landhoney can tell us for sure.

I never tell anyone anything 'for sure' - I'm not a microbiologist, and I don't think anyone can say anything for certain just from a picture.

All that to say, to the OP - you may want to drink these sooner rather than later in case( good probability IMHO) they become over carbed. I never thought about this before, but this situation is another benefit of kegging. If the beer is infected but still tastes good - you can keg it and carb it cold enough that the wild yeast/bacteria are dormant and won't continue to affect the flavor. I'll keep bottling 99% of my beers, but I do keg occasionally and it may come in handy for an unintentionally 'infected' batch.
 
Well, even though it's only been a week I decided to pop one open today because I was a little worried about bottle bombs. The bad news is I'm pretty sure I see the "infection" growing in the necks of the bottles on top of the beer. But the good news is this stuff tastes infreakincredible. At a week it has a little bit of carbonation, it's not even close to being fully carbed yet, so I'll continue to monitor it, watching carefully to avoid bottle bombs.
 
When we think we might have bottle bombs, we make sure that they're inside a cardboard box and that the box is inside a couple of thick heavy trash bags. That way if they go off, they're contained. It's much easier to clean up that way.

HTH,

M.
 
When we think we might have bottle bombs, we make sure that they're inside a cardboard box and that the box is inside a couple of thick heavy trash bags. That way if they go off, they're contained. It's much easier to clean up that way.

HTH,

M.

My first batch I put the bottles in SWMBO's closet to condition since it's huge with plenty of extra room. Naturally they turned into bottle bombs and almost ended my brewing days. She was PISSED!
 
Well, even though it's only been a week I decided to pop one open today because I was a little worried about bottle bombs. The bad news is I'm pretty sure I see the "infection" growing in the necks of the bottles on top of the beer. But the good news is this stuff tastes infreakincredible. At a week it has a little bit of carbonation, it's not even close to being fully carbed yet, so I'll continue to monitor it, watching carefully to avoid bottle bombs.

Hey Ooompa, I know this was almost two years ago, but I just had almost the exact same situation with a stout I brewed recently. I know what the culprit was, cacao nibs. I didn't heat them or soak in vodka to disinfect. I just tossed them in. Despite finding a pellice, mine tasted great, even better after cold conditioning. We bottled, and it's been almost a week now and I do see something growing in the necks of the bottles.

Anyway, my question is did you ever have any bottle bombs, or did the taste ever turn sour or gross?
 
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