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Brett infection then new krausen?

Discussion in 'Fermentation & Yeast' started by SirJoshuaIV, Jul 27, 2012.

 

  1. #1
    SirJoshuaIV

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Jul 27, 2012
    So I brewed a Coffee Porter about 2 weeks ago. Everything went fine, hit my gravities, fermentation kicked off very well. A few days after the Krausen fell, I noticed what appeared to be a Brett infection with a film forming across the top with big bubbles underneath. A few more days passed and I was certain it was a brett infection. Last night I noticed what looked to be a little bit of krausen forming on the top. This morning there was a small krausen that had formed across the top of the whole carboy and the airlock was bubling away again.

    Prior to the new krausen forming, the carboy had a distinctive off aroma characteristic of infection. Today, it smells like a beautiful coffee porter. This seems very odd to me.

    Has anyone ever had an infection come and go like this? To me it would appear that the fermentation stopped (it appeared to have fully fermented, did not take a reading though), and then the infection took hold and the yeast then took care of the infection? I have brewed many many times, and never seen anything quite like this. I am curious to hear your thoughts.


    Last quick note, after the infection appeared, I stopped cooling it to 66 degrees, and it raised to 70. This is when the new krausen formed and the infection seemed to disappear.
     
  2. #2
    COLObrewer

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Jul 27, 2012
    Well sir, if your brew was infected with brett (Which is yeast by the way) it will stay infected with it. It is possible that the yeast you pitched was re-activated when you allowed the beer to warm. That being said, a brett coffee porter may be the next best beer in the world so, let it run. And in the mean time you can learn about wild beers by perusing the Lambic and wild beers section of this forum or etc, here, I'll get you started: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Brettanomyces
     
    shattstar03 likes this.
  3. #3
    shattstar03

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Jul 28, 2012
    Pics or it didn't happen :)
     
  4. #4
    SirJoshuaIV

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Aug 13, 2012
    Sorry no pics, but here's the update.

    Fermentation finally stopped. The walls of the carboy were caked with yeast, which typcially does not happen with this recipe. I pulled the airlock and was immediately hit with a very strong aroma of bread and coffee. I took a gravity reading and it was 1.007. down from a OG of 1.068. This beer usually quits at around 1.014, at least the last 5 o 6 times I brewed it. The taste was actually extremely pleasant, one of bread and coffee that blended seamlessly... Overall, this is a very pleasant suprise, I only had several infections in my brewing career, and they usually are not better than the original recipe... this one was!! I kegged it and carbed it, I'll drink this one feeling lucky on every sip!
     
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