Should I bother trying to keg/bottle this batch?

[msa8967]

After 4 weeks in the primary I decided to dry hop two batches of Amber ale that I wanted to use for my first kegging effort. I really thought I had cleaned and sanitized everything in the secondaries really well with oxyclean and starsan. Now after 7 days of dry hopping it appears that the brews have developed a serious infection as shown below.

Should I try bottling and/or kegging these or just the batches go? Can anything be done at this point to rescue part of these batches?

Thanks for any advice you may have.

Mick

 

[msa8967]

Here is a picture of the second batch. I dry hopped a third 4 gallon batch that day and it is fine. I used the remainder of the hops that had been in an open back for two of the batches. I thought that wrapping the bag in plastics and sealing it with rubber bands and storing it in the fridge would be enough to prevent any contamination but I could be wrong.

 

[Bob]

Have you tasted the beer? It could just be yeast flocking in weird ways.

Taste it. No matter what's in there, it ain't gonna kill you. If it is infected, it might taste nasty, but it won't hurt you.

I suspect everything's fine. Taste it, smell it, experience it.

Good luck!

Bob

 

[JetSmooth]

Taste it, smell it, experience it.

Sounds like the new HBT slogan.

 

[pericles]

Everyone who dryhops in a clear secondary freaks out about the way it looks at some point an another. Your pictures are exactly how beer is supposed to look while it's dry hopping. Relax!

 

[msa8967]

Everyone who dryhops in a clear secondary freaks out about the way it looks at some point an another. Your pictures are exactly how beer is supposed to look while it's dry hopping. Relax!

Thanks for your input. This is my first effort at dry hopping and I didn't know what to expect. I'll plan to keg this in a few days.

Mick

 

[lumpher]

Everyone who dryhops in a clear secondary freaks out about the way it looks at some point an another. Your pictures are exactly how beer is supposed to look while it's dry hopping. Relax!

yep. when i first started dry-hopping, i thought " oh sh... ruined" now, i look at my ipa's, and this is what i expect to see

 

[carnevoodoo]

Whoa whoa whoa... Wait a minute. That is NOT just yeast floc. That is an infection. Sorry to say, but you picked something up there. You can taste it and if it is ok, you can bottle or keg and drink it quickly, but you will notice that the beer will be off sooner than later.

Yeah. I don't know where this mass of horrible advice is coming from, but that's not good.

 

[dave5155]

Whoa whoa whoa... Wait a minute. That is NOT just yeast floc. That is an infection. Sorry to say, but you picked something up there. You can taste it and if it is ok, you can bottle or keg and drink it quickly, but you will notice that the beer will be off sooner than later.

Yeah. I don't know where this mass of horrible advice is coming from, but that's not good.

+1 on this. I have not seen anything like that when dry-hopping. I would still try it though

 

[XxonValdez]

rack from below it, do a search TONS of people have posted about how racking from below an infection like that has yielded awesome brew.

 

[likwidbliss]

My first dry hop did not look like that or any after that. Also floccing is the ability for yeast or any suspended particle to settle to the bottom over a period of time which clears the beer.

It looks infected to me. I have never had an infection, but many of my beers have looked weird. Some suggest to rack it below, I have never had the pleasure of doing that to save a beer.

 

[Bob]

Also floccing is the ability for yeast or any suspended particle to settle to the bottom over a period of time which clears the beer.

Not so. Flocking is merely the yeast gathering together unto itself. Yes, generally flocks settle out of suspension because they're generally heavier than the surrounding fluid. But that process is clarification. The flocks travel.

You dig?

Bob

(for whom terminology is important )

 

[likwidbliss]

Bob

I stand corrected. Yes flocking is the ability for the particles to "stick" together moving in the fluid and due to size tend to gather at the bottom in many cases. I was making a generalization in this case.

The beer on the other hand I believe is infected.

Reached 200 posts!

 

[msa8967]

I racked this from underneath to the keg today. Prior to racking I noticed that the size and number of the white bubbles was probably 50% smaller. Thus I am not sure what that might imply regarding any existing infection. The beer smelled fine and tasted OK but not great upon racking.

 

[ChshreCat]

+1 on it looking like an infection

and

+1 on racking from below it if it tastes edible. Just do it very carefully and try to disturb the surface as little as little as possible.

edit: I must be tired. Didn't notice there was a second page, including the above post. LOL.. I need sleep.

 

[Legin]

Hehe. Like the comment on this anomaly looking like a natural dry hopping.

You can always do the F.G. test. Check today and then in three days and if it lowers a good amount, Voila! infection...or you can taste it, rack from the bottom and call it good. I used that method when i had mold growing on the top of my beer.

On a side note: Maybe you should do a good cleaning of your fridge.

 

[mrsunshades]

If I'm watching over my flocks, does that make me a shepherd?