My beer is clearly contaminated, but my question is: As it tastes clean (it's a very pale ale and I can't pick out funky or sour flavours, it just tastes like I intended it), is it safe to bottle? I don't think it's giving off gases as the airlock hasn't bubbled for weeks and the bucket is airtight.
Another Thread About Infections...
- Thread starter RustyHorn
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tgolanos
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Infections can chew through more complex sugars that yeast cannot, so it very well may still drop quite a few gravity points.
If you want to reduce the chances of bottle-bombs, let it sit for a while longer. Keep checking the gravity and make sure it's truely stable. Then, I'd prime with half the amount of intended priming sugar before bottling just to play on the safeside. I did this once on an infected beer and it came out decent.
If you don't want to wait, bottle, place in a plastic tub and drink them quickly.
If you want to reduce the chances of bottle-bombs, let it sit for a while longer. Keep checking the gravity and make sure it's truely stable. Then, I'd prime with half the amount of intended priming sugar before bottling just to play on the safeside. I did this once on an infected beer and it came out decent.
If you don't want to wait, bottle, place in a plastic tub and drink them quickly.
Cheers, makes sense! I'm English, so low carbonation wouldn't be unusual!
Not sure why you say infected if it tastes clean just like you expected. Do you have a picture?
There are white bits floating in it and a film covering it. It's definitely contaminated! The white bits are not yeast.
Lefou
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Putting your bottles in some sort of protective casing is great insurance. I recently had my first bottle in two years of brewing shatter. Thankfully, it didn't make a severe mess or fragment badly.
I brewed, primed, and bottled an amber bock of moderately high gravity - for me, anyway - near 1.066 over the winter. It didn't finish quickly. The yeast was still quite active, but dormant due to low room temperatures. As the weather warmed through spring to summer, my forgotten, under-attenuated beer's yeast became quite active.
Next time, I'm being a bit more careful.
I brewed, primed, and bottled an amber bock of moderately high gravity - for me, anyway - near 1.066 over the winter. It didn't finish quickly. The yeast was still quite active, but dormant due to low room temperatures. As the weather warmed through spring to summer, my forgotten, under-attenuated beer's yeast became quite active.
Next time, I'm being a bit more careful.
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
Dumped this in the end. I tried it and it had turned sour and dropped a few more points. It tasted great but I need the fermenter. I've got regrets now... I should have just bought a new one and let this beer ride it out. Oh well.
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