Infection in my Cherry Wheat Beer??

[ScottyDog423]

Hello Everyone,

So I recently brewed a Wheat Beer and decided to add cherries to the secondary for something I've never don't before. But after a week of the cherries fermenting I believe I have mold growing. This is my first attempt with adding fruit to a beer to inexperience is big and was looking to clarify.

So in he recipe I made I added a smack pack of yeast (Wyeast Lab 1010 American Wheat), I've read in a few other forums that this could possibly be the year or it could be mold. I personally am not sure, would anyone be able to help me out? I added a picture if my current brew its in a 5 gallon plastic big mouth carboy, I used 9 pounds of fresh frozen cherries. I let them thaw out for a good three hours then pitched them in the carboy and racked the wheat beer over them. There were still a little cold and did chill my carboy the first day.

If this is mold can this still be salvaged?

Any help would be fantastic, I've read other forums about this but it seems like with mold its really based off of how it looks in the picture so I wanted to start a new thread and ask for some help/advice.

Thank you in advance!!!

 

[microbusbrewery]

Did you sanitize the cherries? I doubt it's mold, but it's hard to tell from the picture. Mold is usually pretty distinct and fairly easy to identify. If you didn't sanitize the cherries, I suspect you got some wild yeast and bacteria and you're probably seeing the beginning of a pellicle.

 

[ScottyDog423]

I did not, I chalk it up to inexperience but I assumed because they were flash frozen fresh cherries I would be ok. What ever it is doesn't look funny like normal mold would so that's why it through me off.

I know other people posted about mold as well but it seem to be a case by case issue based off the picture. I would take another picture but I'm afraid to open the carboy and let more oxygen in.

This may sound like a dumb question but if it is just wild yeast will it still be ok to drink?

 

[microbusbrewery]

Yeah, it'll still be fine to drink. It might really dry it out as time goes on, to the point that it gets a bit thin, but that's not an absolute.

I had that happen to me once with a peach/apricot wheat. It tasted great but I set a few bottles aside and they kept fermenting. Never had a bottle bomb but they went so dry that they seemed way too thin and watery.

Just an FYI, freezing can kill some bacteria, but most yeast will just take a nap. They actually store yeast samples long term by freezing them. There are a few different options, but I prefer some potassium metabisulfite. Put the fruit in a bowl or small bucket, add 1/8 teaspoon of potassium metabisulfite to about 1/4 cup of water, then pour it over the fruit. Cover with a towel and leave it overnight to off-gas. Add it to the beer in the morning and you should be good to go.

 

[ScottyDog423]

Thanks! I bottled it yesterday after tasting it. The sample I took tasted really good, it was a little tart but really good. A beautiful red color too. Reminded me of a Founders Rubaeus but with cherries if that makes any sense.

I'm going to pop on open once fully carbonated and see what happens.