No Yeast, yet beer is fermenting

[smilin_irishman]

I haven't pitched my yeast yet. I was waiting to reach pitching temp. Then I got busy and three days after brewing my beer is fermenting without yeast being pitched.

Has anyone else experienced this or have an explanation for this? Should I be worried? I was thinking I would just make it a point to pitch my yeast tomorrow no matter what.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MalFet]

Yeah, you should probably be worried. I'm not quite sure how you've determined that you've got fermentation going on, but there are certainly plenty of infections and wild yeasts that look like fermentation. In any case, leaving a big bucket of sugar water out for a few days isn't a great idea.

 

[day_trippr]

Well...the obvious first thought is you have some wilderbeasts in there doing their thing...

Cheers!

 

[smilin_irishman]

I did have a an airlock in my carboy. After using my glass carboy I rinse and wash with PBW and then sanitize with star-san before reuse. Just find it so odd that this would happen.

 

[kegdawg]

Thats like playing beer roulette!!! Good luck...it might turn out really good! Or really bad....

 

[MalFet]

I did have a an airlock in my carboy. After using my glass carboy I rinse and wash with PBW and then sanitize with star-san before reuse. Just find it so odd that this would happen.

There are bugs everywhere at all times. PBW and StarSan bring them down to low enough numbers that your yeast will out-compete them handily, but not if you give the bugs a three day head start.

 

[fredtheseal]

I had this happen to me...twice. I didn't have a starter ready on brew day so had to brew then pitch a couple days later. Even after each batch showed signs of infection/spontaneous fermentation I still pitched my yeast because I already made the starter. Both batches were about 4 months ago.

I tasted them both tonight. They both tasted bad. Not exactly vomit inducing, but I wouldn't want to drink it or have anybody else drink it.

Smell the airlock, you'll be able to tell if it's going to come out bad. I suggest you just save your yeast and pitch immediately next time.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Smell the airlock, you'll be able to tell if it's going to come out bad. I suggest you just save your yeast and pitch immediately next time.

The current sketchy brew under discussion notwithstanding, I'd caution against judging the viability of any brew based on emanated vapors. Gawd knows there are plenty of brews that smell like death during fermentation that are actually perfectly healthy and given the appropriate passage of time result in excellence...

Cheers!

 

[SwampassJ]

The current sketchy brew under discussion notwithstanding, I'd caution against judging the viability of any brew based on emanated vapors. Gawd knows there are plenty of brews that smell like death during fermentation that are actually perfectly healthy and given the appropriate passage of time result in excellence...

Cheers!

Yeah but if you get vinegar or a vomit smell you'll know not to keep high hopes.

 

[harrydrez]

There are bugs everywhere at all times. PBW and StarSan bring them down to low enough numbers that your yeast will out-compete them handily, but not if you give the bugs a three day head start.

It's all about cell counts: we reduce the number of nasties on the surface of the carboy and then introduce billions of yeast cells. The yeast then take hold and make the environment inhospitable to many other organisms.

Waiting for the temp to fall into the pitching range is fine; however, I wouldn't wait more than 24 hours or so. After that you are really running a risk. My chiller never gets me down all the way so I normally just dump the wort in that add a few extra frozen water bottlers to the water bath the carboy is sitting in. I normally toss in something like 3 frozen 2 liters and I stuff in as many frozen 1 liter bottles as I can. My immersion chiller normally leaves my anywhere between 75-79 and I like to pitch around 59-60 degrees and let it rise to the low/mid sixties depending on what I am making.

My cooling method will get me down to pitching temp within 10-12 hours easy.

 

[solbes]

Lambic baby

You never know what you might get with this batch. Next time I would wait no more than 8-12 hours before pitching yeast.

 

[mastweb]

Ouch! You are really playing with fire waiting this long to pitch you yeast. I think it would be less risky to pitch your yeast without a starter than waiting this long...

 

[GodsStepBrother]

Also if you do transfer this beer and bottle, make sure and take all your plastic equipment apart and bleach bomb it over night. Then rinse very well, and soak in Star San again. Those little bugs will hitch a ride on your racking cane like none other.

Like others have hinted, we brewers "Sanitize," not "Sterilize". The only way to completely kill everything is very high temperatures mixed with pressure held for a prolonged time.

 

[BesteBrew]

I like to think this is how man discovered the wonders of alcohol. Some sort of sugar/fruit concoction thats been laying around for a few days. Imagine not knowing anything about bacteria and seeing your grape juice starting to ferment. Then imagine the guy who the balls enough to go well that looks like it will be good to put in my stomach.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

Apparently monkeys will find figs that have been rotting, and eat enough of them to get a buzz. Also honey combs that fall in the right spot can collect rain water and ferment.

I brewed in a brewery where the spent grains where left outside for a farmer, he would take them and leave them out to ferment a bit before feeding the cows, he always said they loved to get a good buzz. Moral of the story, happy cows are drunken cows!

 

[BesteBrew]

That made me think of this stuff i saw at the liquor store called adult chocolate milk. Imagine when you milked a cow out came milk with alcohol in it. There would be a lot more happy farmers out there.

 

[Aunt_Ester]

Moral of the story, happy cows are drunken cows!

That made me think of this stuff i saw at the liquor store called adult chocolate milk. Imagine when you milked a cow out came milk with alcohol in it. There would be a lot more happy farmers out there.

I'm not sure if I missed the moral of that story. Or if you did.

 

[LVBen]

Drunk moose for the win! He was eating fermented apples and got stuck in the apple tree! Lol!

 

[GodsStepBrother]

Evolution is a real possibility, after watching this video I know realize most of us homebrewtalk members are looking at a version of our own ancestors. Could of been one of our great great great great great great great etc... Granpa's.

 

[Theis]

Ok this might be a long shot, but could the poster just reboil the beer for 10-20 minutes to knock out the wild yeast that has taken hold, then cool, aerate and repitch. I realize he is going to lose some fermentables due to boiling off ETOH that has already been made and might lose some aroma hop flavor due to increased boil time. Also this would do nothing to reduce off flavors already imparted by the wild yeast, but it might prevent further damage. Any thoughts?

 

[Snotpoodle]

Don't let these guys scare you off.

If you can't pitch immediately, just seal up the fermenter, pop in an airlock (fill it obviously), pop it somewhere to cool down, and pitch when you can.

No-chill is a legitimate method to cool your wort before pitching your yeast, almost every single one of my batches is No-Chilled, and I pitch the next day when its cool.

Sounds like your bugs were already IN your fermenter, for no-chill to work, it sorta needs to be clean.

 

[SwampassJ]

Don't let these guys scare you off.

If you can't pitch immediately, just seal up the fermenter, pop in an airlock (fill it obviously), pop it somewhere to cool down, and pitch when you can.

No-chill is a legitimate method to cool your wort before pitching your yeast, almost every single one of my batches is No-Chilled, and I pitch the next day when its cool.

Sounds like your bugs were already IN your fermenter, for no-chill to work, it sorta needs to be clean.

No chills a little different than what he did. In no chill you're boiling or near boiling wort is getting sealed off still in it's perfect, just boiled state. With this you can afford to wait a while to pitch because there shouldn't be much that will get it other than the pressure change in the head space as the vessel cools.

Transferring it at 100 or so degrees and letting it sit for 3 days will screw your day up if it's not sanitized really well. Longest I am willing to trust is 24 hours doing this method before I pitch.

 

[mastweb]

Ok this might be a long shot, but could the poster just reboil the beer for 10-20 minutes to knock out the wild yeast that has taken hold, then cool, aerate and repitch. I realize he is going to lose some fermentables due to boiling off ETOH that has already been made and might lose some aroma hop flavor due to increased boil time. Also this would do nothing to reduce off flavors already imparted by the wild yeast, but it might prevent further damage. Any thoughts?

Good thinking! I'll let the more experienced brewers answer, but the idea looks good!

 

[MalFet]

Don't let these guys scare you off.

If you can't pitch immediately, just seal up the fermenter, pop in an airlock (fill it obviously), pop it somewhere to cool down, and pitch when you can.

No-chill is a legitimate method to cool your wort before pitching your yeast, almost every single one of my batches is No-Chilled, and I pitch the next day when its cool.

Sounds like your bugs were already IN your fermenter, for no-chill to work, it sorta needs to be clean.

As SwampassJ mentioned, what he did wasn't No-Chill. With No-Chill, you use near boiling wart to sanitize the container, and then seal it off.

Ok this might be a long shot, but could the poster just reboil the beer for 10-20 minutes to knock out the wild yeast that has taken hold, then cool, aerate and repitch. I realize he is going to lose some fermentables due to boiling off ETOH that has already been made and might lose some aroma hop flavor due to increased boil time. Also this would do nothing to reduce off flavors already imparted by the wild yeast, but it might prevent further damage. Any thoughts?

It would kill off the bugs, but most of the damage is already done. At best you end up with...what?...slightly less crappy beer? It'd be more interesting (IMO) to let this ride out and see what happens. Life is far too short to chase after bad beer.

 

[smilin_irishman]

So, I went ahead and pitched some safale-05 and am going to see what comes of. Either it will be drinkable or it won't. It is definitely a lesson learned no matter what the outcome. I will let you know what happens. The sad part is that it was my second batch of a dead guy clone and I had some pacman I was going to use this time. Guess I will save it for the next batch.

 

[ForerunnerBrewer]

If you leave a glass of water sitting out overnight you will probably notice bubbles forming on the side as it will be aerated from the faucet, like your wort will be aerated from transferring it into your carboy or bucket. Is it possible that this is what you saw, or did you see bubbles actively rising?

 

[smilin_irishman]

I saw bubbles actively rising.

 

[smilin_irishman]

I ended up tossing the batch. It soured. Thanks for all the input. It is definitely a lesson learned.