Post your infection

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jcarson83

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Just what I said. Post it. I put this in the beginners forum because I think it will show people what a real infection looks like and that its not anything what krausen looks like.

Oh and name it if you can.

4284-P1010501.JPG


Lactobacillus
 
Evan I know you have a good one that why I started the thread. Get all these nasty infections in one place.
 
How about big, white 2 inch diameter bubbles floating on top of a white haze after five weeks?
 
If we get more pictures up I think this thread should be stickied/(called prost thread here?). It'd be helpful for a lot of new brewers who may be worried that they have an infection.
 
Heere joo go!

infected1.jpg


It's a Flanders Red, "infected" with Wyeast's Roeselare Blend (Saccharomyces, Brettanomyces, and Lactic bacteria). If your beer looks like this, it's probably infected with brett, lactic bacteria, or some other kind of similar stuff.

And here's the thing: it's very rare to "accidentally" create a sour beer that's any good. You need to start off with a good base for the style, use the bugs intended for that style, and age it accordingly. As with oak, many people think that, if they have a crappy batch of beer, they can "save" it by oaking it or adding bugs. Garbage in, garbage out, as the saying goes. Others accidentally get infected and people think they've made a lambic. Nay-nay. It's possible, but the odds are stacked against you in almost all possible ways. First, chances are that the base beer had too much bitterness and hop character to be a good base beer for a sour style. Second, the chances that you're accidentally infected with a bug that makes good sour beer are also minuscule. FYI.
 
I think ppl would play, it's just the fact that they look so nasty no one wants to take a picture of it. I know they say don't dump your beer if it gets infected untill you try it but after seeing an infection like that it wouldn't ever taste good.
 
I'd play, but I've never had an infection like any of those. Of course, I have that roselare in a primary right now, so I'll be seeing that eventually.
 
that's a nasty one jcarson

lol

The only one that was mine was the first but it was pretty nasty.

I've been googleing for pics and haven't found that many. I don't think many people want to admit to having infections. Not that its a big deal, only a part of the process.
 
I'll post a picture probably tomorrow of what *might* be an infection. My camera crappped out and I need to get a new memory card.

I'm brewing a weizen though, and it's exhibiting interesting behavior. The SG is at .014, which is right at the top of the range according to beersmith. It's been a week in the fermenter, and it has a krausen ring (almost 2.5 inches of ring!) like it's raised and fallen already.

The kicker is that there's about 3/4 of an inch of foamy stuff on top. It's not foam per se, and doesn't look like anything here on the thread, which reassures me. It's pretty thick stuff, and when I did a beer thief sampling to test the SG, it formed a hole that didn't go away (the foam is pretty "solid" for lack of a better term). The residue on the foam looks creamy, almost like yeast. The foam itself looks like a sponge starter for something like ciabatta bread that's been fermenting for 2 days.

I'll have pics up tomorrow, and I'm leaning towards RDWHAHB. I'm interested to see what people thought though, specifically because I have never seen the ring fall (4 days maybe?) and then another layer of krausen-like foam.

The taste isn't much like a weizen though. No real wheat flavor and there's something... off... about it. I can detect hints of clove and banana, but not nearly as much as I'd expect in a weizen. Plus, it's a darker orange than I would have expected.

All in all, a weird first weizen. It makes me mildly concerned for the irish red I racked to secondary the same day. I hope it wasn't something I did to every batch I touched. That would suck.

So to keep this closer to on topic, what do you do with an infection like that? Rack it anyway and leave an inch or two of beer to protect yourself from sucking foam?
 
Flatline-

Relax. My wit had the same thing. It's not an infection, just the wheat creating a thick "head" in your carboy, much like it will in your glass. When it's done, rack it. It'll be fine.
 
I'll post a picture probably tomorrow of what *might* be an infection. My camera crappped out and I need to get a new memory card.

I'm brewing a weizen though, and it's exhibiting interesting behavior. The SG is at .014, which is right at the top of the range according to beersmith. It's been a week in the fermenter, and it has a krausen ring (almost 2.5 inches of ring!) like it's raised and fallen already.

The kicker is that there's about 3/4 of an inch of foamy stuff on top. It's not foam per se, and doesn't look like anything here on the thread, which reassures me. It's pretty thick stuff, and when I did a beer thief sampling to test the SG, it formed a hole that didn't go away (the foam is pretty "solid" for lack of a better term). The residue on the foam looks creamy, almost like yeast. The foam itself looks like a sponge starter for something like ciabatta bread that's been fermenting for 2 days.

I'll have pics up tomorrow, and I'm leaning towards RDWHAHB. I'm interested to see what people thought though, specifically because I have never seen the ring fall (4 days maybe?) and then another layer of krausen-like foam.

The taste isn't much like a weizen though. No real wheat flavor and there's something... off... about it. I can detect hints of clove and banana, but not nearly as much as I'd expect in a weizen. Plus, it's a darker orange than I would have expected.

All in all, a weird first weizen. It makes me mildly concerned for the irish red I racked to secondary the same day. I hope it wasn't something I did to every batch I touched. That would suck.

So to keep this closer to on topic, what do you do with an infection like that? Rack it anyway and leave an inch or two of beer to protect yourself from sucking foam?


Just remember...no two krauzens look the same, some are thick, some thin, some have lots of brown, some are creamy white...Krauzens are living things, so they all look different...so yeah, RDWHAHB....
 
Yeah I went with RDWHAHB and took a specific gravity reading today, and while there's still a thick creamy head (on reflection it looks like trub, only up on the top), but the SG reading had dropped 2 points and it looked, smelled, and tasted like weizen.

Then I sat down and did the math, and realized it took 3 days to start any real fermentation. That means I had 4 days of fermentation when I took a peek, instead of the week. I guess I need to move to clear fermenters so I can see.

I figured I'd leave it another week before I check on it again.

First time brewing a weizen, so yeah, that was quite a shock for me.
 
Say, I pitched some Orval dregs on this Saison 5 days ago. Could this be a pelicle forming, or just some sacch. kicking back up? I'm new to the whole bug thing. Please tell me it's infected....please...

Thanks
KD

IMG_0341.jpg
 
Here's what BioSalud* got me after 2 days:

DSCN0448.jpg


If anyone's wondering, it smells like vomit. I don't know how I'm going to bring myself to taste it, especially multiple times, in order to know when to throw the yeast in if it smells like this. I might just not boil it when the lacto is "done", and just pitch the yeast tomorrow, and hope it end up good. I ended up decreasing the amount of extract a bit so it would bring this to 4.1% with sacch, so it should ferment out rather quickly and kill off the lacto within about 2 days I would assume.


*some probiotic drink with a bunch of lacto spp.
 
What's Biosalud and why are you using it in your beer? Actually looks normal to me and nothing like lactobacillus.
 
I just said...a probiotic with a bunch of lacto species. Its basically the same thing as yogurt culture. I'm using it to sour it up for an oud bruin.

Well, reading what you are brewing in your signature, I salute you for your adventurous spirit. You might want to throw some Brett in their too.
 
I split it into 2 batches. I think one I'll throw some Orval dregs in, and the other I'll just let go with the lacto and sacch. I just pitched the sacch, and I'll probably throw the brett in one of the batches next week.
 
I split it into 2 batches. I think one I'll throw some Orval dregs in, and the other I'll just let go with the lacto and sacch. I just pitched the sacch, and I'll probably throw the brett in one of the batches next week.

I would let the sacch. attenuate fully before adding the Orval dregs. In my experience, the Brett from Orval can be overwhelming if you feed it too much.
It's questionable whether or not it will sour with just sacch. and Orval (Brett Brux.) I think.
 
This is a rather low gravity beer, and most of my stuff does get to where it needs to in a week. Plus I've had 5 or so different lacto species decreasing the total sugar amount for about 3 days already.

It's questionable whether or not it will sour with just sacch. and Orval (Brett Brux.)
Yeah one batch is going to have sacch + lacto, and the other will have sacch + lacto + brett. I may or may not use some amylase to break down some of the larger sugars that the brett would use, so that it won't have as much food and therefore won't be as powerful. However, I'm not sure what concentration I'd use. Usually you do 3 beano tablets per batch, but I've got L. casei in my wort, which produces amylase on its own.
 
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