Can I bottle this?

[prohl84]

infected or contaminated is entirely appropriate if an organism is living in your beer that you never intended to

In the biological sense I do not believe infection is appropriate because it deals with pathogens. In beer nothing is actually getting attacked- it's competition among microorganisms not pathology. I agree contamination is always appropriate when it is unintentional- I would absolutely use either term when applied to mold, mildew or anything really undesirable in your beer.

When it's a drinkable sour, accidental or not I prefer the term wild or spontaneous fermentation because it is far less discouraging to people who may be willing to give it a try if they know it won't hurt them. Even if I sound like a jerk off ATM (I'll go on youtubes if I really need to troll somebody ) I really would like to prevent new and new-ish brewers from dumping a whole batch they might enjoy just because terminology implies there is something wrong with it.

Thankfully a good number of brewers do exactly what the OP did and start a thread just like this one and receive valuable advice which leads them to a successful beer.

Also like to apologize for derailing the end of the thread.... I only recently began liking sours anyway; don't know why I am nitpicking their associated terminology so adamantly. Cheers everybody!

 

[fearwig]

In the biological sense I do not believe infection is appropriate because it deals with pathogens. In beer nothing is actually getting attacked- it's competition among microorganisms not pathology.

"Man, this ebola is sure competing with my intestines!"

I think infection is pretty accurate. There is an unfortunate habit among homebrewers of maintaining a kind of blind optimism about infection, especially with other people's beer. Aged poop tastes like poop. You can maybe, maybe inadvisably come back from an infection, if you kill it and repitch quick, and wild flavors can turn out OK in certain styles, but when someone posts "My summit DIPA has purple hair, is it going to be OK?" and everyone responds "YES, put it in a bucket for ten years who knows just do it!!"--I mean it starts to sound more like a dare than advice, doesn't it?

 

[TheHairyHop]

"Man, this ebola is sure competing with my intestines!"

I think infection is pretty accurate. There is an unfortunate habit among homebrewers of maintaining a kind of blind optimism about infection, especially with other people's beer. Aged poop tastes like poop. You can maybe, maybe inadvisably come back from an infection, if you kill it and repitch quick, and wild flavors can turn out OK in certain styles, but when someone posts "My summit DIPA has purple hair, is it going to be OK?" and everyone responds "YES, put it in a bucket for ten years who knows just do it!!"--I mean it starts to sound more like a dare than advice, doesn't it?

Well hey, in this case it worked out. Lesson is to taste before you age

 

[TylerAI]

"Man, this ebola is sure competing with my intestines!"

I think infection is pretty accurate. There is an unfortunate habit among homebrewers of maintaining a kind of blind optimism about infection, especially with other people's beer. Aged poop tastes like poop. You can maybe, maybe inadvisably come back from an infection, if you kill it and repitch quick, and wild flavors can turn out OK in certain styles, but when someone posts "My summit DIPA has purple hair, is it going to be OK?" and everyone responds "YES, put it in a bucket for ten years who knows just do it!!"--I mean it starts to sound more like a dare than advice, doesn't it?

I think it is more of an issue of dealing with what you have and trying to improvise and adapt. A glass half full thing. If you prefer to brew to a specific recipe to achieve a specific result, and will not tolerate otherwise, then you should dump an odd flavor and cut your losses. I am a tweaker. My curiosity makes me wonder what will happen if. It's an investment in time, but maybe the first person to discover beer did the same thing. He decided to wait and see.

 

[prohl84]

My accidental sour tasted better than a few of my uncontaminated brews. As far as "blind" optimism is concerned I saw the lacto w/ my eyes but I used my tongue to pass final judgment. Only batch I've ever had to pitch had a rancid hazelnut oil slick on top- that one I did not have to taste first.

I do agree that bugs are a crapshoot. The Belgians were making lambics and whatnot spontaneously long before microbiology existed.

Contaminated beer server: "This Baby Butt Brown Ale has a delightfully subtle enteric bocquet from the wild bacteria that live on our equipment."
Beer drinker: "Where's the nearest Brewpub from here?"