How quickly does an infection spread acros the surface?

[ProfessorWoland]

I've still not grown out the n00bish fear that my beer is going to turn into a mess every time I see something on the surface.

Long story short is I'm bottling on Saturday but for the last 24 hours there are a small number isolated white spots on the surface.

I'm 99% sure it's yeast coming aback up to the surface to say a quick hello.

If those white spots were something nasty I'm guessing the surface of the brew in my bucket would be covered by now?

 

[billslaw1024]

Do the spots look fuzzy? May be mold if so. I'd bottle it and see how it tastes after a few weeks. You'll know right away if it went bad. A guy in my homebrew club brewed a batch that went bad. There was no denying it from the second you smelled and tasted it. It was sour as could be.

 

[ProfessorWoland]

Do the spots look fuzzy? May be mold if so. I'd bottle it and see how it tastes after a few weeks. You'll know right away if it went bad. A guy in my homebrew club brewed a batch that went bad. There was no denying it from the second you smelled and tasted it. It was sour as could be.

It still looks like more than likely yeast. They've not grown. It still smells really nice, but that could be the bag of cascade I'm dry hopping with.

I'll have a taste tomorrow before bottling. I'm almost sure its ok as mold or a bacteria/fungus infection would have grown after 72 hours.

 

[TopherM]

If you have any question that it might be an infection, carb and get the bottles to fridge temps as quickly as possible. The kinds of probiotic bacteria that commonly infect beer are similar to yeast in that they go dormant at fridge temps. As long as the beer tastes good, the infection will pretty much stop growing if the beer's cold, and they are perfectly safe to drink.

Good luck!

 

[billslaw1024]

Did you use whole leaf hops? I've had seeds float to the top. They were white and covered with yeast. Freaked me out too. But it was just hop seeds. I've thought about trying to get some whole leaf citra to look for seeds. It would be awesome to get a plant going.

 

[ProfessorWoland]

Did you use whole leaf hops? I've had seeds float to the top. They were white and covered with yeast. Freaked me out too. But it was just hop seeds. I've thought about trying to get some whole leaf citra to look for seeds. It would be awesome to get a plant going.

That'll be it. They've gone now.

 

[Demus]

Infection this late in the ferment is highly unlikely. Unless you had some sort of mishap you're worrying about nothing...