White Streaks

Good Day lads!
Since you were such a big help with my American Wheat (very tasty!) I thought I might dip into the well of your knowledge once again.
I am making a Chocolate Stout. Everything brewed fine and the primary ferment was exciting. I transferred (via siphon) to a secondary carboy and it has been bubbling active for two days. I got home last night and there appears to be cloudy white streaks at the top of the carboy in the beer. It doesn't look like yeast or any kind of sediment. The waterlock still smells like beer. Should I be worried?

The last thing I want is to lose a good stout this time of year.

Much thanks!

 

I have heard that white streaks or strands in a bottle would be a sign of bacteria running amok. I'm not sure if the same holds true for a fermentor though.

 

Thanks Ian, that is my intial and underriding fear. I am hoping it is just part of the fermentation due to the chocolate mixture I put in. I have a hard time letting go......

 

Post your recipie. It could be cocoa fats floating on the top of you green beer.

 

Whoa! Don't pour it out! You've come this far, go through with it.

I'm a newb with only 6 batches under my belt. Listen to the pros

 

It's better to have white streaks in your brown beer than brown streaks in your white underwear.

 

I don't have the exact recipe here but this is a broad version:

-I made a mixture of Brown Sugar, Coco powder and Water on the side. Brought to a boil, mixed well and let cool Covered

-In a pot I had three gallons of water at exactly 170 degrees steeping two huge bags of grains for 15 minutes.

-Took pot off heat and removed steep bags. Added Powder malt extract with Hops and chocolate mixture. Brought to a vigourous boil.

-Boiled for 1 hour. Last 15 minutes I added irish moss. Last 5 minutes I added finishing hops.

-Brought temp down to 8o degrees and transferred to Primary via siphon. Added boiled and cooled water to bring to 5.5 gallons.

- When temp reached 68 I added the yeast.

-3 days with a blow off tube. VERY exciting action! Cats loved it

- transferred to secondary (where it has been for three days) w/ waterlock

-after 2 days in the secondary I noticed the streaks.

No additional change last night after initial post.
Thanks to all who replied for the confidence and a good laugh.

 

Give it a little swirl; they may just be bubbles. The first time I used a secondary I thought my beer was growing mould, but it was just little islands of bubbles.

 

chances are its just some sort of sediment from the krausen or something. i wouldnt worry until a week and a half from now when you bottle it. if it tastes/smells funky, then think about tossing it. it'll probably be fine though. There really should not be much active fermentation going on in the secondary, the reason there is is you transferred after 3 days. next time give it a week in the primary before transferring. the gunk left over from your beer krausening in a carboy is a pain to clean off.

 

On a semi-positive note, if by chance it is infected, it sounds like it might be that White dust mold. I have never had that (*knocks on wood*), but from what I read it does not effect the taste of the beer so it should still be drinkable. But still, the thought of the mold being in there may make you not want to drink it I guess.

 

It's already chock full of fungus; surely a little mould won't hurt!

 

Let it sit in the secondary and taste that bad-boy before you bottle/keg. If it tastes OK, then bottle/keg. If you toss your lunch, well then maybe you don't want to spend the effort. !!!!!