Infection!

[Athompson808]

It's an October fear in a 6.5 gallon Carboy. I've been lagering it in my basement for 6 days. I think the temperature there is a bit too high. Is it salvageable?

 

[Athompson808]

Oh, and it doesn't smell bad, it still smells like it did when I started lagering.

 

[Trokair]

Well, I'd let it go. Read plenty of posts that said they racked from under an infection with little to no problems with the beer. Would hate to waste even an okay beer.

That picture makes me want to go home and re-clean my empty carboys though.

 

[Athompson808]

I think I will. I thought I sanitized like crazy, apparently not. Should I rack now and move to a cooler place or leave it like that?

 

[Trokair]

I think I will. I thought I sanitized like crazy, apparently not. Should I rack now and move to a cooler place or leave it like that?

The posts I've read were all left alone until bottle/rack time. I've not had an infection so I can't shed light on that would but it would stand to reason that if you lager it at the lowest temp possible it will inhibit the growth of said nasties until bottling time. Just a thought.

 

[Athompson808]

Then that's what I shall do. Thanks!

 

[JLem]

If you leave it alone it will continue to get funky and/or sour. If you want to drink it at it was intended to be you should bottle it now (better yet, keg it now) and drink them as quickly as possible. That batch is NOT going to stay the way you intended it. It's probably already started to turn on you. Racking from under it is just to keep the film (aka pellicle) out of the bottles/keg....the infectious agent is already swimming throughout your beer - nothing you can do about that now.

If you enjoy sours/funky beers, I'd let it go and see what you get. Many of us do this sort of thing intentionally to our beers

 

[earwig]

That's disgusting, dump that **** and move on. Unless you're poor or an alcoholic with no other means of obtaining alcohol there is no reason to keep that mess.

 

[ggoodman]

has anyone ever tried boiling an infected batch and then re-pitching?
or even bringing it up to pasteurization temps. and then re pitching?

 

[Atonk]

If I saw that in my fermenter I'd be excited, only because I love sour beers. I agree with JLem - I think you could rack from under the pellicle and drink it quick if you keg, but it's already infected. Probably be a damn good sour in a few months.

 

[earwig]

If I saw that in my fermenter I'd be excited, only because I love sour beers. I agree with JLem - I think you could rack from under the pellicle and drink it quick if you keg, but it's already infected. Probably be a damn good sour in a few months.

Is it safe to drink that? I don't know anything about sour beers except that I hate them.

 

[JLem]

Is it safe to drink that? I don't know anything about sour beers except that I hate them.

Yup...safe to drink...no human pathogen can survive in beer. Whether it tastes any good is both a matter of taste and a matter of the quality of the beer. Like any other style/beer, sour/funky beers can be well made or not and different people like them more or less. Yours is obviously an unintentional sour/funky, so who knows how it will taste. And, yes, many beers are brewed to look/taste this way intentionally.

If you are not ready to experiment with this sort of brewing, you should probably dump it. However, it would be interesting to see how it evolves over time.

 

[Athompson808]

It's been in cooler temperatures in the garage for the last few days, now it looks like this. Is that normal?

 

[Athompson808]

I only ask because it looks nothing like it did, that all looks like foam and not giant nasty alien blob invasion.

 

[JLem]

It's been in cooler temperatures in the garage for the last few days, now it looks like this. Is that normal?

Normal for an infected batch, yes.

 

[Athompson808]

Sweet. I'll let you know how well it tastes/turns me into an alien blob monster.