Sorry to bore anybody who has read 1,000 of these in their HBT-lifetime. But I just wanna check and make sure I'm doing this ok. I've seen the pictures of infections. Got a very small white spec like the ones that I've seen people like unionrdr describe as the broken ice kind. Plus a few of those strange "strong" looking bubbles. And the slimy looking layer on the top.
I know where it came from (I transferred to a "secondary" bucket, it didn't have too much headspace, and I added a bit of honey to the batch that was split in three in order to help purge the headspace. The first two are not infected, one of those I dry-hopped, one I added strawberries. This third one I completely effed up the lid when trying to cut the hole. It probably would've been fine, but I just thought I had to mess with it now. So yeah, awesome, got an infection bucket for the future). And I've got a plan as to where I'm going. The thing is I added lemon zest soaked in vodka to it, and I'm wondering if it might have helped to kinda stall the infection.
So I tested the gravity today. I would say it definitely smells like an infected beer. But the taste isn't bad, and oddly enough, out of the three experiments with this batch, I would say this one is my favorite. So I thought I could check the gravity again in a week, and if it hasn't gone down any then that could possibly mean that it did in fact stave off the infection from growing any stronger. Or is that too early to know? I suppose I don't mind waiting this thing out a while (although I am moving in July and don't know how that would affect it, if any). But it has no bad flavors right now, and if it's a bacteria that's gonna make it taste like **** at the end, I'll be a little disappointed. Or if it tastes OK now, then does that mean that it will taste fine in the end as well?
I know where it came from (I transferred to a "secondary" bucket, it didn't have too much headspace, and I added a bit of honey to the batch that was split in three in order to help purge the headspace. The first two are not infected, one of those I dry-hopped, one I added strawberries. This third one I completely effed up the lid when trying to cut the hole. It probably would've been fine, but I just thought I had to mess with it now. So yeah, awesome, got an infection bucket for the future). And I've got a plan as to where I'm going. The thing is I added lemon zest soaked in vodka to it, and I'm wondering if it might have helped to kinda stall the infection.
So I tested the gravity today. I would say it definitely smells like an infected beer. But the taste isn't bad, and oddly enough, out of the three experiments with this batch, I would say this one is my favorite. So I thought I could check the gravity again in a week, and if it hasn't gone down any then that could possibly mean that it did in fact stave off the infection from growing any stronger. Or is that too early to know? I suppose I don't mind waiting this thing out a while (although I am moving in July and don't know how that would affect it, if any). But it has no bad flavors right now, and if it's a bacteria that's gonna make it taste like **** at the end, I'll be a little disappointed. Or if it tastes OK now, then does that mean that it will taste fine in the end as well?