Is this infection

[williamneal]

Hello all,
This is a batch of Cream Ale that has been fermenting for about 10 days and still has clear bubbles floating in the fermanter. Is this an infection?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[day_trippr]

Looks like krausen from here. What yeast strain is that?

Cheers!

 

[hotbeer]

Don't worry about it. It is what it is. Although from the picture, I don't see any of the proper signs to say it's infection. Maybe a pic when it slows down might give better clues. I have had beers suddenly start fermenting again after weeks. And they didn't show any of the signs of infections and they were very good beers.

If it is infection, there isn't any practical way to deal with it and make your beer right again..... whatever right is.

And sometimes infections don't ruin the beer. So let it finish, bottle/keg and then see if it's something you will drink or not.

 

[Kickass]

Looks like normal yeast krausen.

 

[williamneal]

Looks like krausen from here. What yeast strain is that?

Cheers!

Thanks for the reply, the yeast is US-05

 

[IslandLizard]

Do you have any reason to believe there's an infection in your beer?

I'm asking, because...
Although, it's not conclusive at this point, or from the picture, those big "slimy" bubbles could point to a possible infection.

As @hotbeer mentioned, there's not much you can do about it, at this point anyway. Let it ride out, your beer may well be A-OK.

 

[skunkape]

Holy crap! It's a yeast infection!

 

[williamneal]

Do you have any reason to believe there's an infection in your beer?

I'm asking, because...
Although, it's not conclusive at this point, or from the picture, those big "slimy" bubbles could point to a possible infection.

As @hotbeer mentioned, there's not much you can do about it, at this point anyway. Let it ride out, your beer may well be A-OK.

It was the big puffy bubbles that concerned me, I never noticed bubble like that in any of my other brews.

 

[williamneal]

Holy crap! It's a yeast infection!

Hopefully that Yeast is us-05 and I do not wind up with a sour cream ale

 

[mac_1103]

Hopefully that Yeast is us-05 and I do not wind up with a sour cream ale

There's a member here who says that anything is a beer ingredient if you're brave enough, but personally I would never add sour cream to an ale.

 

[day_trippr]

Thanks for the reply, the yeast is US-05

I swear I was thinking "gotta be a Chico-related strain" as they tend to have light poofy krausens that take a long time to finally drop
Carry on, it's all good...

Cheers!

 

[IslandLizard]

I would never add sour cream to an ale.

Maybe the original phrasing is off... such as a critical missing comma.

 

[mac_1103]

Maybe the original phrasing is off...

Jokes are usually better if you don't explain them, but yes by all means, let's eat grandma.

 

[IslandLizard]

Jokes are usually better if you don't explain them, but yes by all means, let's eat grandma.

You're right. I hope I fixed it...

 

[williamneal]

I swear I was thinking "gotta be a Chico-related strain" as they tend to have light poofy krausens that take a long time to finally drop
Carry on, it's all good...

Cheers!

Thanks

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Sometimes it's best to have a fermenter you can not see into.

Seal up your fermenter and put your faith into the hands of the Beer God.

 

[fluketamer]

i have seen the same yeast with the same beer throw several different types of bubbles / kreusen . sometimes my house strain gives rafts someitmes it doesn't even with the same exact grain bill. and fermenting temp. it can be a little scary until you find out that it all makes good beer. the first time i saw yeast rafts i thought for sure it was ruined. now i dont care whats floating on there, i just care what the beer tastes like.

 

[skunkape]

Hopefully that Yeast is us-05 and I do not wind up with a sour cream ale

Oh man! I bet that could be done. Maybe some combo of lactose and L. Plantarum...

 

[skunkape]

never mind

 

[fluketamer]

Sometimes it's best to have a fermenter you can not see into.

Seal up your fermenter and put your faith into the hands of the Beer God.

i wrap mine up in a wool blanket like a papoose insulated and covered from prying eyes - you know you are a homebrewer when you wrap your fermenter in a papoose... and are proud of it .

 

[Christoff]

so bubbles can be a sign of krausen/normal fermentation? I am still pretty new (about 30+ batches in) and I have never seen bubbles form while fermenting. Yesterday? Possibly a day and a half ago, I noticed bubbles, similar but not as many as the orginal poster's picture. Today, looks the same as it did when I first noticed. It's not white, no legs or "noodles" as one blog referred to it. No weird smells. This was also my first time using chocolate powder. No idea if that may be a contributing factor. I used us-04 yeast. I've seen plenty of rafts and its definitely not yeast rafts.

 

[hotbeer]

so bubbles can be a sign of krausen/normal fermentation?

Yeast make carbon dioxide gas. Excess gas in a liquid that can't be dissolved in the liquid itself will become bubbles. In my FV they've been very tiny bubbles that can be very hard to see until you give your eyes a chance to focus on them fully. But once your eyes focus properly there are a myriad of them that churn all the trub and everything else around.

If you are talking about the surface bubbles in the krausen foam, then there is protein content and other things that can affect the size of those surface bubbles and how big they get as well as how long they hang around before bursting.

Different batches of the same beer recipe have yielded different size bubbles for the krausen foam from one batch to the next. I don't know why. I can't tie it to head retention on the finished beer. But I think infection was doubtful for any of those batches.

 

[Christoff]

Yeast make carbon dioxide gas. Excess gas in a liquid that can't be dissolved in the liquid itself will become bubbles. In my FV they've been very tiny bubbles that can be very hard to see until you give your eyes a chance to focus on them fully. But once your eyes focus properly there are a myriad of them that churn all the trub and everything else around.

If you are talking about the surface bubbles in the krausen foam, then there is protein content and other things that can affect the size of those surface bubbles and how big they get as well as how long they hang around before bursting.

Different batches of the same beer recipe have yielded different size bubbles for the krausen foam from one batch to the next. I don't know why. I can't tie it to head retention on the finished beer. But I think infection was doubtful for any of those batches.

Yeah, its surface bubbles, not the bubbling of yeast activity. I don't seem to have an oily sheen layer, nothing is white, not a lot of anything else left on the surface after the krausen dropped. It's been fermenting for 6 days so it could be the beginning of a pellicle I am guessing. I did also notice my other batch of teh same beer that had more of the chocolate powder in it ( I am comparing amounts) has a solid surface layer of what looks like krausen mixed with chocolate. I wonder if the larger surface bubbles may have something to do with the chocolate powder creating a barrier on the surface? Which in turns makes me concerned about the yeast being able to purge CO2

 

[hotbeer]

I don't seem to have a sheen, nothing is white, not a lot of anything else left on the surface after the krausen dropped.

If you don't see anything why are you assuming it's infected and a pellicle?

Not all of my beers leave much evidence of the krausen other than some scum on the side of the FV. So just because you don't see anything doesn't mean you should expect doom and gloom.

Even if it is getting infected, to me the most sensible thing to do is nothing, At least nothing that you wouldn't do for a normal uninfected beer. Bottle or keg it when it's time and see if it tastes good enough to you when it's ready to drink.

I wonder if the larger surface bubbles may be something to do with the chocolate powder creating a barrier? Which in turns makes me concerned about the yeast being able to purge CO2

Your chocolate powder won't hold the excess CO2 from escaping the yeast or the liquid. If it has any of the characteristics necessary to make surface bubbles, then the CO2 will happily make bubbles on the surface with your chocolate powder. If the powder doesn't have the stuff needed to form bubbles, then the CO2 will go through it or around it.

 

[Christoff]

I am definitely going to leave it either way. I am going to taste test it when its done in a couple weeks and carbonated. The bubbles themselves look a lot like the bubbles you see in the pictures of infection. 1) I am just interested in learning. 2) if it is an infection, that will change the way I rack the beer. I don't really want to put infected beer into my kegerator as I have been reading it is hard to get infections out of the lines and o-rings so I will bottle it instead. I would rather the infection limit itself to this batch only. 3) I was planning on reusing the yeast and I am guessing I will have to throw it out if it is infected as reusing it would just result in the next batch(es) getting infected. 4) I goofed in my sanitization process and didn't keep my puppy out of the kitchen. I have good reason to believe the little turd may have licked the carboy. He is a total booze hound - whiskey, beer, wine, all of it.