Post your infection

Wee3Pie said:

Where do you think the infection came from? It was all new equipment which im sure I cleaned thoroughly?

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You may have cleaned it, but did you sanitize everything?

Yes with starsan.

Whats the plan of action now? Gravity is at 1.010. Bottle it? It still tastes ok.

Wee3Pie said:

Yes with starsan.

Whats the plan of action now? Gravity is at 1.010. Bottle it? It still tastes ok.

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Don't bottle it if it still has a head of krausen. You could end up with bottle bombs. I'm not convinced that's an infection. Let the krausen fall and be patient.

Ill take new photos. It looks more infected now.

I posted this in another thread, but I'm wondering if anyone can identify which infection this is? I'm really hoping it's brett since its a saison and I plan on drinking it in a few months.

Wee3Pie said:

Ill take new photos. It looks more infected now.

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I'm no expert, but that just looks like krausen to me, especially because it's only five for six days old at this point. I'm willing to be proven wrong, though.

Let it ride for now and keep an eye on it. I'd be willing to bet that the "infection" will subside and eventually drop into the beer. In fact, it looks like the change from your first pictures to today's are indicative of that. If it does drop out, and no scuzz takes its place, then you should be good to go.

Wee3Pie said:

Ill take new photos. It looks more infected now.

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Looks a bit gelatinous but that's not uncommon for some yeast. Just to be clear, I don't think you should bottle when the krausen falls, I just meant you should let the krausen fall for further inspection. I never bottle under 3 weeks. Even when your hydrometer readings are steady you might as well let the beer "clean up".

jimmytango said:

I posted this in another thread, but I'm wondering if anyone can identify which infection this is? I'm really hoping it's brett since its a saison and I plan on drinking it in a few months.

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It is not possible to identify an infection by the pelicle. It definitely is infected. At this point all you can do is to ride it out and see how it tastes.

Wee3Pie said:

Ill take new photos. It looks more infected now.

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Hmm, after seeing these better pictures I'm singing a different tune. You are most likely okay.

Two questions:

Is the head mucoid in texture? Touch a bit with a spoon and feel it with your fingers, such a consistency is characteristic of acetobacter.

Are the bubbles in the head coated at all with a thin pelicle aka a film? Try popping one with a spoon. It looked like this was the case in your first pictures though not so much now.


I missed the part where you said this was all brand new equipment, but I'm not ruling out infection. LAB (lactic acid bacteria) occur naturally on grain and could've entered the wort thru any number of ways - something as simple as a plume of dust in your kitchen when emptying your grain in. Krausen definitely looks normal at this point. Furthermore, with the knowledge now that this wort is so young, I definitely think you're fine - unless the infection is rampant, signs do not typically become readily apparent until the better end of a week is up, and even then take practice to suss out. I worked in a commercial distillery so rattled with contamination from improper grain storage and milling too close to mashing and fermentations that LAB and aceto would beat out the yeast sometimes within a day of pitching. Can you say sweaty gym socks and vinegar?

Updated pictures:

Looks fine to me!

As I suspected - main fermentation is over and the krausen is settling down. You're looking just fine.

Gravity has been at ~1.010 for 3 days now. When should I bottle?

Wee3Pie said:

Gravity has been at ~1.010 for 3 days now. When should I bottle?

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1.010 for three days after about 10-14 days? You can bottle now. Some folks let theirs sit for a little longer, but that's a personal choice.

Good luck!

As long as it's a stable FG, & settled out clear or slightly misty, bottle it.

Not sure if this is infected. My current secondary. Used Bavarian Wheat, w Willimate and centennial, w Wyest American wheat Yeast, and sweet orange peel at flame out. After primary tasted amazing. But I had to go and get creative and added mango to secondary. Now not sure if this is infected or just funky fermentation

Wife went into the closet where I keep it and said jokingly "now ur adding Cherios to it? ". Lol

pstereo, looks infected. Just to be sure grab a sample of the head and feel it - should feel slimy like mucous or lard. Obviously off putting smell would indicate as well - I'd expect a mixture of sweat, barn and vinegar based on the visual. Ive seen similar looking heads in unlautered mashes for distillation heavily infected with acetobacter, those "cheerio"-like spots form when the grain hulls rise to the top and form a layer, depending on the level of infection you'll get such a nasty smell that contamination will be exceedingly apparent. Hard to say without seeing in person; could just be funky krausen.

Cheers,

I was wondering about these little white/grey islands, not the big white co2 bubbles. Maybe the beginning of an infection?

Grettings from Germany!

Higher resolution:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6107515/Bier/2016-08-08 18.47.55.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6107515/Bier/2016-08-08 18.48.02.jpg

Just left-over krausen, with what looks like cold break? Cold break always looked like wet popcorn to me?...

I just started a yeast starter last night with WLP060 and DME. My guess is this is an infection...which sucks. Looking for opinions. This is 16 ish hours. I don't have a stir plate and I just give it a shake/swirl here and there. Boiled for ten mins with tin foil on top and cooled, aerate, pitch (from new sealed tube). It kind of looked like mucus or snot.

That does look really funky...

This one took me by surprise. This is a 9.5% Belgian strong ale that fermented down to around 1.002. I even purged the headspace with co2. It has been in the secondary for 2 months and this just started to form. I don't know what to make of it...

Looks a lot like those round, sorta beady yeast colonies? Looks like a lot of headspace too. Maybe not enough Co2 purge?

Ok guys need you input. Pretty sure I have an infection on my second brew

Really bummed out. I noticed the fermentation wasnt nearly as agressive as my last brew and it seems to have all but stopped now after 6 days in the primary (with this infection crusty stuff on the top. what is it!?)

So my question is can I pitch more yeast over the un-infected side?
Will this help?
Should i just dump it? I really want to salvage as best I can, I wanted to dry hop the crap out of it, is this just a waste of hops at this point? Can I get a sanitized scooper and take off the top crusty bits? I dont know what exactly the infection is doing, is it even safe to drink the beer after its been contaminated like this?

The ferment has been cruising quite cold (as its winter here in australia) between 60-70f.

Please help!!

PS. Still smells great like beer, but not game to taste until I hear from the seasoned vets

EDIT** Ive just read a post which says safale US-05 (Which was used in this beer) can form yeast rafts. Although im still not sure if I can conclude I'm ok just yet.....

Chrispy92 said:

Ok guys need you input. Pretty sure I have an infection on my second brew

Really bummed out. I noticed the fermentation wasnt nearly as agressive as my last brew and it seems to have all but stopped now after 6 days in the primary (with this infection crusty stuff on the top. what is it!?)

So my question is can I pitch more yeast over the un-infected side?
Will this help?
Should i just dump it? I really want to salvage as best I can, I wanted to dry hop the crap out of it, is this just a waste of hops at this point? Can I get a sanitized scooper and take off the top crusty bits? I dont know what exactly the infection is doing, is it even safe to drink the beer after its been contaminated like this?

The ferment has been cruising quite cold (as its winter here in australia) between 60-70f.

Please help!!

PS. Still smells great like beer, but not game to taste until I hear from the seasoned vets

EDIT** Ive just read a post which says safale US-05 (Which was used in this beer) can form yeast rafts. Although im still not sure if I can conclude I'm ok just yet.....

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Looks like yeast rafts to me. Although I've never seen them clump together on one side like that. How come there's no krausen ring after almost a week long fermentation?

foam_top said:

Looks like yeast rafts to me. Although I've never seen them clump together on one side like that. How come there's no krausen ring after almost a week long fermentation?

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I think theyre all on one side because I have tilted the bucket to the back, (where these chunks are) as im expecting a lot of sediment/hop sludge to fall out down to the bottom of my primary. As I will be bottling straight from the primary and dont want to spit out sludge. This would also account for why the krausen ring isnt apparent, as it would be sitting below the current beer beer level at the back of the container.

Love that it looks like yeast rafts, pheeeeeeew!

Definitely yeast rafts...

unionrdr said:

Definitely yeast rafts...

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This is awesome news. Just curious though, i dry sprinkled the yeast over the top of the wort (no starter/rehydration which I will try for my next brew), does this mean these yeasties havent fallen into the beer and started munching on the sugars? would this account for the lack of consistent fermentation ive been seeing? Can i give them a gentle stir to try to get them moving ?

Well, if you aerated your wort by shaking your carboy liker crazy, or other method of agitation that makes some foam on top, the yeast sprinkled on top will sit there absorbing moisture &/or sink through it slowly. It should take off on it's own when it sinks into the wort. It won't cause inconsistent fermentation of itself. There are other factors involved, like yeast health, temp, etc. Pitching dry yeast can cause up to 50% of them to die while rehydrating in the heavier gravity-than-water wort. That's why rehydrating in warm water first is better. You don't loose so many cells that way. And pitching dry can lead to longer lag times while it reproduces enough cells to visibly start fermenting. Basically, anyway.

Those are yeast flocs. Just because fermentation isn't visibly vigorous, doesn't mean it's not happening.

Check out this bad boy in my wheat ale!

That infection looks like a moon crater! The Perseids got in your beer, oh noes! Better hope it's not like what happened to Geordie Verrel in Tales From The Crypt movie!

thenorthwesthammer said:

I just started a yeast starter last night with WLP060 and DME. My guess is this is an infection...which sucks. Looking for opinions. This is 16 ish hours. I don't have a stir plate and I just give it a shake/swirl here and there. Boiled for ten mins with tin foil on top and cooled, aerate, pitch (from new sealed tube). It kind of looked like mucus or snot.

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If you used good sanitation practices it's probably just fine. It looks a bit gnarly, but most infections do not show that quickly, if at all. Starters typically take only a few days, usually not enough time to develop anything visible.

That doesn't mean there cannot be something lurking in there.

So, review your process, just in case you missed something. Could be as simple as a dirty spoon or not sanitizing the vial/purepitch pack/smack pack or the scissors.

Brew_Queen said:

Check out this bad boy in my wheat ale!

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That's surely a beauty!

How did it happen? Is that a secondary with a huge headspace?

Now is this film just from the yeast or is that a sign of infection? Sorry the noobness question, but I hardly ever rack to a secondary and this is the first I've seen that.

View attachment 1471358011020.jpg

Yup. Broken ice pack equals early stages of infection.

unionrdr said:

Yup. Broken ice pack equals early stages of infection.

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What would happen if he was to spray a mist of Starsan mixture on the film? It appears to be very early stage infection.

I'm planning on kegging it tonight after work.

The infection is all through the beer, not just on top. that's just where it manifests itself. Besides, I tried the Starsan spray once & it helped very little, if at all.