Is my beer infected?

[archaeofreak]

I finished brewing my first batch 6 weeks ago, and then left for Europe. I just returned, having left my batch in the fermenter the entire time, intending to bottle it now. When I arrived home, I saw what looks like mold growing in the airlock!

Is my beer infected? I took great pains to thoroughly disinfect everything prior to use...however, I did open the lid twice to check the specific gravity.

I am hesitent to open the lid until I am sure I am going to either bottle or toss...any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[stratslinger]

There's no way to tell without checking the beer itself... Sure, that could be mold in your airlock. But fermenting beer expels CO2 - you've had air bubbling OUT through that airlock, not IN. Dollars to donuts, whatever's in your airlock wouldn't have spread into your fermenter. There is a chance it came from within the fermenter, sure - but you're not going to know until you look.

Besides, you can't be certain you're ready to bottle without opening up the fermenter to check the gravity anyway!

 

[COLObrewer]

You will never know if you don't open the lid, grab a sample and taste it, the airlock has done what it is supposed to do, keep stuff out of your fermentor and let gas escape.

 

[neomantra]

what did you put in your airlock? sanitizer? vodka? or just plain old tap water? i'd vote for opening up the bucket and checking things out. it's possible the water in the airlock is contaminated without ruining the beer inside since the airflow is pushing everything out of the airlock and not sucking that contamination into the bucket. but you won't know unless you open it up.

if you open it up and it looks/smells/tastes ok just replace the airlock with a clean one imo.

(ack, others beat me to it, +1 to what they said)

 

[archaeofreak]

Ok, thanks everyone! Ill check it and post back soon....I think we used sanitizer in the air lock, but my GF did it, so cant be sure its not just h2O...

 

[archaeofreak]

I just checked it and I don't see any mold on the surface of the beer...there is a very strong alcohol smell after lifting the lid, to the point where if you took a deep breath over the open bucket, you might choke.

Here is another pic of the open fermenter....

 

[bigbeergeek]

Looks fine, no mold rafts. Bottle that bad boy.

I'm a firm believer in putting cheap vodka in the airlock. Nothing will grow in there, and I don't care if a few drops of vodka make their way into my beer at all.

Edit: not that I'd let a tiny mold raft or two keep me from kegging a batch, anyway.

 

[danorocks17]

you'll jsut have to give it the ol' taste test, if it doesn't make your hurl, you are in business

 

[NigeltheBold]

Looks good to me, but I'm not expert. The smell you are getting may be normal. Whenever I open my fermenter, I make sure not to stick my face in the bucket and inhale. You'll get a big breath of CO2 which can make you feel like you're going to fall over. Like the others are saying, give it the ol' taste test and bottle it if it doesn't taste spoiled.

I always use sanitizer in the air lock, by the way. But even if you didn't, they are designed to keep air out, so you may be good to go.

 

[archaeofreak]

Its probably CO2 that I am talking about..if I taste it, should it just taste like flat beer?

Its been in the bucket for 9 weeks...surely its finished by now! Do I really need to take a SG reading again?

I was going to just bottle it and let it condition for another month.

 

[johnnyspade]

That's beer in your bucket. Your fermentor is a safe and cozy environment but your airlock is not, not above the liquid anyway. You can get all kinds of odd goop in there. I like to use Vodka in the airlock, others will say sanitizer which is widely preferable over plain old tap water, just in case you get any suck back.

 

[Lucky137]

Its probably CO2 that I am talking about..if I taste it, should it just taste like flat beer?

Its been in the bucket for 9 weeks...surely its finished by now! Do I really need to take a SG reading again?

I was going to just bottle it and let it condition for another month.

Likely finished, but taking those gravity readings will give you an idea of where it ended up. This is good if:

1) you ever want to know or tell someone how strong your brew is (assuming you took an OG reading before fermenting), or...

2) you want to brew the style again, and you'll have a good idea of when the beer is done (rather than waiting 9 weeks again, which is pretty much all you have to go off of at the moment). I wouldn't recommend ONLY using this as an indicator in future brews with this recipe, but knowledge is power!

 

[archaeofreak]

OK, I will take the SG one last time

 

[neomantra]

you wanted to taste the beer before you bottle anyways, right? no reason not to measure the sample before you drink it!

 

[archaeofreak]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I bottled my first batch today, and got a chance to try the beer. I have to say, my first thought was it tasted like watery, weak, flat beer. I am afraid that it might not be the best, unless maturing in the bottle for another month brings out some flavors!

One more thing, I took the FG reading and it was pretty high still, only 1.2....According to the directions I should have had 1.04 or so, so according to the calculator, my final ABV was only around 3.8 rather than 5.0!

Not sure what happened there, but I am sure that after 5 weeks there was no more activity.

I cant say the bottling process went very smoothly either. I had a lot of trouble using the siphon (its not an auto-siphon) and lost a bit of beer that I couldn't get at the bottom of the carboy. I also broke of the nozzle at the base of the bucket accidentally, and had to siphon into the bottles too. Finally, my capper capped a fair number of the bottles slightly wonky (I noticed it mainly occurred on the Bass bottles I had saved) and I am worried that if and when carbonation builds, they may pop.

I now see the need for an auto-siphon or even kegging, as the bottling was not a fun activity. I saw many chances for the beer to become infected during this process, although I did my best to sanitize everything with an iodine solution.

Thanks again for all the advice!

 

[Clann]

I had a few bass bottles that I have been disapearing as they get drank. I did'nt like how they capped either

 

[neomantra]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I bottled my first batch today, and got a chance to try the beer. I have to say, my first thought was it tasted like watery, weak, flat beer. I am afraid that it might not be the best, unless maturing in the bottle for another month brings out some flavors!

One more thing, I took the FG reading and it was pretty high still, only 1.2....According to the directions I should have had 1.04 or so, so according to the calculator, my final ABV was only around 3.8 rather than 5.0!

Not sure what happened there, but I am sure that after 5 weeks there was no more activity.

I'm guessing you're off on your zeros there. What kind of beer was this meant to be, what was your target OG and what was your actual OG? Depending on the answers there a "watery, weak, flat beer" might be about what you should expect on bottling day...or it could be way off the intended recipe.

 

[jonmohno]

1.02 you meant right? /Well yes it has to with your og. You are fine with that.A FG.1.004 seems kinda questionable for that dark of a beer.Its hard to tell how your beer will develop, tasting it @ botteling gives you a very general vague idea,but some times you can say holy **** this is going to be freeging awsome.
It seems ive heard those Bass bottles arnt good for botteling with, but from my experience most craft beer bottles work good for botteling.