yeast normal or infection?

[kaminsknator]

I've attached two images one looks ok but has a small white spot. The other one looks really different and only has the white bubbly looking stuff. Is this standard or infection? Darker one is oktoberfest lighter one is a hef both used safale-us05. They are both 2.5weeks old and in Mr. Beer fermentation barrels.

 

[bucketnative]

They both look fine to me.

 

[christyle]

At 2.5 weeks, it looks kinda odd, but not totally out there. Can you give them a sample?

Also, us-05 for a Hef?

 

[flars]

The bluish grey spots in the center of the first picture don't look to good. Let them both sit for a week to see if anything else develops.

 

[Alain2]

Looks good to me.

 

[kaminsknator]

At 2.5 weeks, it looks kinda odd, but not totally out there. Can you give them a sample?

Also, us-05 for a Hef?

I can taste them sure, what am I looking for if its infected as far as flavor goes?

This is my second batch and everything I read about Mr Beer kits say to throw the yeast away and I had the us-05 from a cider I started so I used it. I really have no idea what i'm doing.

 

[kaminsknator]

The bluish grey spots in the center of the first picture don't look to good. Let them both sit for a week to see if anything else develops.

I think the blue/grey is just the lighting this is the opening of a Mr. Beer kit the color appears creamy/white and uniform. I'll let it be hopefully this gets smaller (yeast falling out) rather than grows into something crazy. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[flars]

I think the blue/grey is just the lighting this is the opening of a Mr. Beer kit the color appears creamy/white and uniform. I'll let it be hopefully this gets smaller (yeast falling out) rather than grows into something crazy. Thanks for the feedback.

Creamy/white is okay.

 

[christyle]

Basically, want to see if anything tastes "off" as far as funky, sour, or just plain unpleasant.

Understood...for a Hef, a very large amount of the flavor comes from the yeast itself. You will likely have more of an American Wheat now, just won't have the flavors you're used to for a Hef. It will be beer though

How are your sanitation practices? When you prep the vessel, to take samples, etc. Make sure everything is clean and sanitized.

 

[kaminsknator]

Basically, want to see if anything tastes "off" as far as funky, sour, or just plain unpleasant.

Understood...for a Hef, a very large amount of the flavor comes from the yeast itself. You will likely have more of an American Wheat now, just won't have the flavors you're used to for a Hef. It will be beer though

How are your sanitation practices? When you prep the vessel, to take samples, etc. Make sure everything is clean and sanitized.

I always sanitize everything with either starsan or that powder stuff that came with the Mr. Beer kit though I think I'll avoid it in the future when it dries it left a white powder behind.

 

[christyle]

I'm not sure if the stuff you're talking about is 1-step or PBW maybe, but make sure it is a sanitizer, not a cleaner. Star San is a sanitizer, PBW is a cleaner. Always go for that star san. Get a 5 gallon bucket with lid to keep a batch in so you dont have top keep throwing it out, if you dont already have one.

 

[kaminsknator]

I'm not sure if the stuff you're talking about is 1-step or PBW maybe, but make sure it is a sanitizer, not a cleaner. Star San is a sanitizer, PBW is a cleaner. Always go for that star san. Get a 5 gallon bucket with lid to keep a batch in so you dont have top keep throwing it out, if you dont already have one.

Thats good advice I'll pick up a bucket and lid tonight. I was referring to whatever Mr. Beer includes in their kit as sanitizer.

 

[ChemErik]

I believe the Mr. Beer kits give 1-step cleaner. It's not sanitizer, but that doesn't mean you are likely to have an infection. You just have a higher risk. I also don't see anything that looks like an infection to me, though I've never had one on my beer.

Going forward, I'd only use the powder from the kit for cleaning and use Star SAN for sanitizing. I'd let the beer keep going and in a week it will either clearly be good or have an obvious infection, more likely being good.

 

[kaminsknator]

Ended up stabilizing at 1.07 which means the beer is at most 3.8% alcohol. The yeast ended up falling out and the beer tasted good but too sweet. Glad I'm making all these mistakes on the small batches before I get into really making beer.

 

[christyle]

I'm just going to assume you meant 1.007? 1.07 is a starting gravity of something like a 8% beer... If 1.007...That's fairly low finishing for most ale yeast strains...shouldn't be all that sweet really. It could be a yeast off flavor, where were you fermenting, and at what kind of temperatures?

 

[KarmaCitra]

I never really had great results on these kits anyway, beer did end up too sweet. Not sure why, but then again back then I was also not using StarSan.