Floating white clumps (mold?) in my carboy - with Pics

I've seen a couple posts on this topic, but none of them have pictures (despite every single reply saying "post a pic"). So here is my post with pictures to help me and anyone else in the future who has this problem.

This is an Oktoberfest in the secondary carboy. It spent 2 weeks in the primary fermenter and has now been in the secondary for a week or two (I forget exactly how long). It has been kept at room temperature (~70 F) the whole time . Everything was sanitized, however the airlock I used was brand new and didn't want to stay in the carboy neck. At one point it fell out completely (for a brief second). A contaminant could have gotten in at that point. You can see in one of the pics that I had to tape the airlock to the neck of the carboy.

Other posts (without pictures) suggest that this could be yeast clumps, however it really does look like mold that grows on food after its been in the fridge for too long. I haven't tasted it yet, so I can't tell you if it is affecting the taste. I have moved the carboy from the closet to a kegerator (38 F) in an attempt to slow the mold's growth, if that is what it turns out to be.

What do I do? Siphon from the bottom, leaving the floaters behind, and pray it hasn't affected the taste? Do I need to drink this while sitting on the toilet?

 

Honestly never had a mold problem.. but that looks like mold. Sorry for the bad news, they look flat and they probably were smaller at first eh? the clumps of yeast are GENERALLY when the yeast is first pitched, at least in my case.

I've heard of guys' taking from the bottom, but how with out a racking adapter i don't know. you still risk transfering the mold. I'd say transfer and if it grow's back pitch it, if it doesn't let it stay and taste after a couple more weeks. Don't open it too much to let it get re-exposed to air and more nasties.

 

Easier to skim it off from the top first, but that's pretty damned difficult with a carboy. It may still be salvageable. But it would need to be done ASAP... every day, heck, every hour left like that m

I don't think it looks quite like a "beer spoiler" bacteria (in quotes because they actually often make for an awesome beer), particularly because I've never seen so many little colonies apparently unconnected by ANYTHING, but it's hard to be 100% sure without seeing it for myself. However, I am as certain as I can be given the circumstances that it is mold.

If you want to try and save the beer, try to rack out of the carboy from below the mold, and try your best not to let the first few inches of your siphon/racking cane touch the mold as you enter the surface of the beer. Higher up isn't much of a problem. Then immediately clean and sanitize the hell out of the carboy and any equipment that might have come in contact with the mold, and any equipment that might have come into contact with that stuff... and you get the idea.

Get on it right away if you don't want to dump it though. The mold for the most part only affects the beer in contact with it, but the longer you wait, the more that spores are going to be an issue. Ditto for your equipment, which can also potentially spread to other nearby equipment. And while I'm not sure precisely how likely it is to actually happen, any amount of time you leave potentially contaminated equipment lying around increases the chances of it spreading to other equipment exponentially. But don't let that scare you into not trying to save your beer (or even throwing out some equipment!) Just make sure you don't procrastinate, and clean and sanitize anything that might have come in contact with the mold, and as a precaution, it's probably worth sanitizing anything with a high risk of having collected spores. If there's a draft in the room, you should probably be even more proactive about sanitizing stuff.

 

About you comment on drinking it while on the toilet for safety, don't worry, nothing that grows in beer is going to do that. Assuming you are used to the , um, "probiotic" nature of bottle conditioned beer

 

I appreciate all the feedback on this. I'm fairly new to brewing and am still trying to figure it all out.

I racked the beer into a soda keg and put it in my kegerator at 38F. I noticed that there were mold spots on the walls of the carboy above the water (beer) line, so I'm assuming that it originated on the walls. I left about an inch worth of beer in the carboy in hopes that only that much was contaminated. I'll put the beer on carbonation tomorrow and taste it within a week. I'll update you on how it tastes. At this point I'm betting its either amazing or trash. This may be the first batch I have to throw out.

Oh, and I have the contaminated carboy filled to the top with OneStep sanitizer, so hopefully I can salvage that piece of equipment.

 

What's this ? A new poster asking if it's mold AND IT IS ! This must be a HBT first !

Doyle, don't worry, there's not much you can do right now apart from waiting to see how the final beer turns out. Not all mold will leave a nasty taste and it mainly just chills on the surface. Bleach the crap out of all your equipment and the mold probably will not come back. If it does, you might want to ferment your beer in a different part of the house for a while.

 

The beer will be FINE!

My problem is an oktoberfest (marzen) at 70F "the whole time"????

Maybe this is what happens to lager yeast when you lager at 70F.

 

Yeah yeah yeah. My kegerator was full at the time it was fermenting, so I could either put it in the garage or in the closet. Its been getting way below freezing here lately, so I didn't want to chance it in the garage. I'm as OCD as the next brewer, but the reality of time and space constraints dictate my home brewing technique more than my desire to make perfect beer. I've been known to let my beer sit in the primary fermenter for months because I couldn't find the time to transfer it.

 

You should have no trouble salvaging it. Pour out the One-Step and throw some bleach water in there.

 

Except it will need one HELL of a D rest!!!!!lol.

I would have gone in the garage no question. If it freezes, no problem, but it would take -10F overnight to freeze even a tiny bit of 5 gallons in full fermentation.

It will be fine, but Lagering takes planning ahead. That is why I don't do lagers anymore!

 

You didn't try a sample while racking to the keg?? That's crazy talk!

 

I was trying to be a little tactful, but let's summarize CRAZY.

Lagering at 70F
asking for advice AFTER transferring to keg.
Not tasting, I can forgive.

 

Looks like yeast rafts to me but what do I know?

 

I also think the beer will be fine. Also, who racks a beer without checking the gravity and taking a taste sample?

 

Don't worry too much about it. 2 years ago I let my pumpkin ale sit in my brother's garage for 2 months in secondary (we couldn't find mutual time to bottle our 2 beers). <en we finally made time to bottle, there was that white stuff floating on top of my beer. Although it was more like a complete coating of the entire top of the secondary...I used a sterilizes rod to move it to one side of the carboy, and siphoned off from the other...left the white stuff (as well as about an inch and a half of beer) behind in the carboy. After conditioning for a couple weeks, the pumpkin ale was great...You'll never keep JUST the yeast you pitch in your beer, and the longer it sits, the more likely it'll grow out stuff (unless you keep the temp down!) Do your best to leave that funk behind and your brew should be fine.

 

My 1 beer that had mold was actually great!

A lager fermented at 70 will be FRUITY, but possibley still great if you are OK with that.

 

So to close out this thread, the Oktoberfest has been in the kegerator for several weeks now and I tried a glass last night. Then I tried 3 more. I don't think the mold has affected the taste of the beer at all. It isn't quite as malty as I would have liked it to be, but I don't think that has anything to do with the mold contamination (more to do with my original recipe). To all of you who suggested I go ahead with kegging it and leave an inch worth behind in the carboy, I thank you. I now have 4+ gallons of drinkable beer salvaged.

 

Had my first moldy beer this weekend! Forgot to take picture (was to disappointed) English bitter but it tastes terrible! Don't know if its in my head or not but I can't drink it. Gonna make my buddy try it before I dump the keg!
Not sure what went wrong sanitized everything the same as I always do...
Oh well live and learn

 

Its prob not mold but yeast rafts. Only one way to know for sure.

 

Pretty sure it was mold. Looked kinda like this. The beer smells off and tastes nasty

 

New brewer here also so flame away! Searched for mold in primary and landed here. I followed the advise of pulling from under the top inch or so and left 1.5" behind. Now my question is regarding my gravity readings. It's a Lemongrass Ginger Ale, og from the recipe is 1.051 but my actual og was 1.030. After 8 days on WLP051 at 73 degrees I racked to secondary and I was at 1.010. Final specific gravity should be 1.013. What should I do at this point to avoid a weak abv?

 

I pitched a starter some time ago and saw this same kind of mold in your photos: little white patches, floating....so I threw it away.

After pitching my 10th brew, my carboy looks identical, small white mold patches floating on the surface.

I pitched from a proven & active starter, WLP350 abbey ale yeast. The starter has no mold and is still krausening. After 1 day, the carboy had white mold patches. I swirled the mold back into the wort. The next day, A high krausen producing LOTS of gas and it smells DELICIOUS! No sign of mold, but krausen is unusually uneven. After I swirl the carboy, the krausen subsides leaving clumps of foam, never seen it before.

I am wondering if it is the yeast itself that can sometimes develop a mold???

 

It could be the yeast itself. Sometimes it clumps up and floats around especially if you pitched from a starter and let it flocculate for a few hours.

People post these threads all the time and it's almost never mold.