Alien In My Carboy ?

[Sharkman]

As you can see there is an alien in my Carboy..

I've search all threads and Internet and can't seem to find why my lager is fermenting this way..

Been fermenting at 50f for 7 days now and no fermentation either.. Used a fresh batch of California lager.. Any help please ? This batch a dud ?

 

[Brew_Dude41]

Did you do a starter prior to pitching?
Pretty cool looking, any movement or signs of intelligence?

 

[paulshe]

I had one of those. Looked way odd. But everything is fine. It's just a crazy mix of yeast and proteins. I've only seen this on one of my batches but it turned out great. S-05 yeast with a high level of corn and rice. One of my variations on tales of 3 crops. I've seen others showing the same thing.

 

[Sharkman]

No just did the direct pitch..

I'm gunna take a gravity reading today..

Also there is no signs of fermentation and no yeast cake on the bottom at all.. So I'm not sure.. Was thinking of adding some yeast nutrient

 

[jessup]

Irish moss has made some strange things happen for me. Maybe lagering has made the floc'd stuff act strange? It will likely morph over time which could be cool to see progress.

 

[soccerdad]

Body snatchers

 

[sillbeer]

Better than a mouse in your carboy.

 

[ba-brewer]

50 maybe too cold for california lager, the wyeast site lists a optimum range of 58 to 68. I have had good results with that yeast in the low to mid 60s.

 

[kh54s10]

It looks like proteins, yeast and trub. Strange that it is in the middle. It looks like you might have very slow fermentation by the bubbles above the wort on the side of the carboy.

50 degrees might be too cold for the strain.

One pack is severely underpitching for a lager. Without a starter you should have pitched about 4 packages.........

Warm it up a little and let her ride.

 

[OleBrewing]

my first mead had some strange coagulation going on. fermentation did take off and never worried about it.

I probably would not take a gravity reading as you can tell that it has not done anything. I would warm it up a little like ba-brewer states about the yeast approximate range.

Reason to not take a reading is that you may introduce something you don't want even if you practice good sanitation. Fact is you know there has not been any fermentation so the only time I would remove the air lock would be to re-pitch.

If you pitched with the wort being that cold you should have used a large starter (from what I here on the forum) lagers require a large cell count.

 

[Sharkman]

Interesting .. Thanks for the replies.

I got this recipe and yeast from. Northern Brewer as the pre prohibition pack and just followed as they stated.. I also thought that 1 pack for lager is under but thought I would follow as directed..

Was thinking of adding another yeast pack right now and raising up to 68 but when I opened my freezer it had some funky off flavours already so dunno if I want to waste a pack of yeast on it.. Maybe heat it up and through some lactic in there for a sour..

Grrrrr

 

[TAK]

That's not protein, it's an alien. You can tell because the carboy is on it's side, but the gravity is artificially at a 90 degree angle to the right. What else besides something extraterrestrial could cause that?

 

[CrankyBeaverBrewery]

Crazy alien for sure and yeast coagulation with protein.. Rise that temp and let her ride maybe even add another pack of yeast and some yeast nutrient

 

[jtratcliff]

Do you no-chill? I get a cold break blob like that sometimes when I overnight chill (slow-chill?).

I've seen others post similar pictures here in the past.

It'll drop out.... Or eat your face.

 

[CajunChuck]

Better than a mouse in your carboy.

Or a screwdriver...

 

[Braufessor]

If you are taking a gravity reading, I would also taste it. I would not add more yeast unless the taste is ok.

Too cold, too little yeast. Sitting at 50 for 7 days without active yeast fermenting ...... that could very well end in a bad result. Wort is never sterile. The key is getting yeast off to a good start and over powering any other bugs. If wild yeast and bacteria got rolling ahead of the yeast, you might not really be able to do anything with it.

Like I said, taste it before you use more time/money on it. If you do repitch, I would just throw in some dry yeast like US05 and hope for the best. At least that is cheap.

Are you sure it was California Lager yeast? Northern Brewers pre prohibition lager kit (on line recipe) calls for S-23 dry yeast or Pilsen 2007 liquid yeast.....
https://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/allgrain/AG-PreProhibitionLager.pdf

Or was it a different recipe? Kit?

 

[Sharkman]

Yah I'm gunna taste it tonight.. I raised the temp yesterday but still nothing.

Correct pre prohibition lager calls for Pilsen and that is in another Carboy but with the same result ( didn't wanna post 2 carboys )

So both California lager and Pilsen yeast did the same..

After boil and whirlpool I ran it through the wort chiller to 15-17 C and pitched right away.

Il taste tonight and get back to you.. If there is crazy esters and wierd organopholeptic properties in there il just chuck it and move onto my peach wheat ale

 

[jtratcliff]

It'll be fine. It's just break material that will fall. Do a Google image search for "weird mass in carboy" and you'll see plenty of similar looking photos.

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

Another dead thread.....hope the alien didn't get him ��