Moldy Beer...now what?

[zombieflo]

I brewed 15 gallons of beer in late June and then got my butt kicked by summer. Both beers required a long conditioning so I just let them go in the primary in the fermentation chamber. Last night I went to dry hop them and found mold spores on the neck of the carboys and bungs and what I think is mold on the inside of the carboy as well. When I opened the temperataure controlled fermentation chamber it smelled gross - rancid for lack of a better word. I do have dehumidifier in the chamber and there was not excessive moisture.

I have brewed over 50 batches of beer and never had a problem with infection or mold. I use StarSan and have what I thought were thorough sanitation procedures. I have searched the forums but can't seem to find a thread that seems directly comparable. I have attached pictures for reference.

My questions:
1. Can the beer be saved? If so, how?
2. I have not tasted the beer because of concerns of contaminating more of my equipment. Is this a risk?
3. Can equipment that has been contaminated be cleaned so it can be reused? Is PBW soak, scrub, rinse, and StarSan sufficient?
4. Any thoughts on what lead to the mold?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[freisste]

Doesn't look like mold IMO. Looks like you used dry yeast and a bit stuck in the carboy neck.

Be careful when smelling the fermentation chamber. The CO2 will burn your nose. Maybe there is nothing wrong?

 

[freisste]

Just looked again. Kinda looks like mold on the neck.

 

[zombieflo]

Quite familiar with the co2 smell and burn from typical fermentation but it smelled strongly of something different - something I can only describe as rancid. It was just plain gross. The carboy necks and bungs have white mold spores with darker spots although I have to admit I should have made sure to take better pictures. I am just not sure whether it is worth tasting the beer and trying to save it or if I should just dump it to prevent further contamination.

 

[flars]

I would begin by cleaning the outside of the carboys with PBW and a tooth brush. You don't want mold dropping into the fermentors, if that is mold. Have someone hold on to the blow off hoses so the bungs don't twist as you lift.

Rinse well after the PBW cleaning then Starsan. Don't forget to clean and sanitize your hands at each step. If that is mold you don't want to put it back on your equipment after cleaning and sanitizing.

After the cleaning you will be able to access the beer with a taste.

In the future I would recommend removing blow off tubes as soon as active fermentation has ended. The hoses contain grunge to close to the beer and they will be much easier to clean after three or four days of use.

 

[cernst151]

I'd certainly taste it, if only out of morbid curiosity. Any of your glass can certainly be cleaned. Starsan should be sufficient but I might even use a bleach solution for the first run then a final rinse with Starsan. Anything that's plastic or rubber though could have an infection built in so I'd just throw it out and start new.

I would probably pour out the beer but I'm curious if these could be saved with some sort of lambic blend. I know the lacto and brett strains like to eat weird stuff and when you're brewing a sour you'll often go through a period of it tasting and smelling terrible before they turn it around and make it wonderful.

Does anybody have an idea on that? Could you try it with 1 of those batches? Maybe clean out one of the carboys, rack one of the other beers into it and add a brett lacto mix and give it some time? I have no evidence, or even confidence, that it would work but it would be a cool experiment and if it does work it could save thousands of gallons of homebrewed beer nationwide!

 

[chickypad]

I'd probably do like flars said and rack it out carefully after wiping off as much as I could, then bottle it up if it tastes fine. I've certainly seen mold on carboy caps and rims and haven't died from it yet, though I can't say I've noticed any down the inner surface of a carboy before. I don't see how turning this into a sour is going to fix a mold problem.

 

[zombieflo]

Thank you for the responses - much appreciated! I will give it a taste and report back in case anyone else finds themselves in a similar situation.

Good advice flars on removing the blow offs after the krausen drops. I definitely won't be lazy anymore about dumping gear and tools on the fermentation chamber so I can't take a quick peek - lesson learned!

 

[zombieflo]

I lost the spore war and dumped all 15 gallons. I did clean the outsides and pull samples. 2 were really bad and 1 was bad. I just decided to cut the losses and move on instead of risking further contamination. Everything scrubbed and bleached thoroughly and no signs of further mold.
Lessons learned:
- clean and sanitize the carboy outsides better
- take at minimum a weekly peek in the fermentation chamber

 

[flars]

That is really crummy to lose all that beer.

Moisture control inside your freezer may help for the future. There was a post where something called Damp Rid was mentioned to reduce the relative humidity. There are the water absorbing crystals that are used in gun safes.

 

[tacks]

You may want to hit the inside of the fermentation chamber with starsan or bleach water before putting more beer in there, it had to get into the fermentation chamber before getting into the beer, unless you think it was infected before you put it in the chamber. Sorry for the loss, always a bummer pouring it out.