Bacterial Infection?

[trubie]

I'm looking for someone to tell me definitively if this is indeed infection of my beer. The yeast is cultured from a Chimay bottle, and seemed healthy and clean when I pitched. Fermentation started going good within 12 hrs but as the wort cooled more a little air probably sucked in through the airlock. It smells a little 'buttery' now and the goo in the surface makes me think I have an infected batch...I am only looking for a response from someone who has seen this (and made the same mistake?) and can say for sure what they can see in the photos.

 

[Face Eater]

I've had a few batches with stuff like that on top of the krausen and they all turned out fine. Not sure about the buttery smell but by the looks of it, seems fine.

 

[Darwin18]

That's just normal yeast activity. It honestly takes a lot more than a little air to get an infection especially if pitch the correct amount of yeast and follow basic sanitation.

 

[theredben]

3 questions:

1. What kind of hops did you use/how did you strain them? Just want to make sure that those brown bits are not hop particles.

2. How did you know your cultured yeast was "ok"? Taste? Plating? How did it smell during the various starter phases?

3. How does the beer taste currently? In the end, that is all that matters. Since there are no pathogens in beer, taste is the only meaningful way to evaluate infection (contamination).

 

[trubie]

1. The hops are pellet variety, they were not strained that well, but I have seen hops floating on top of yeast but this looks different and not at all green or leafy.
2. The yeast culture looked and smelled like Chimay during the starter phases, formed a nice white krausen before pitching.
3. Haven't tasted the beer since it's early in the fermenting. I have had other batches go sour, and although I have heard there are no pathogens in beer you will get sick from drinking one...

 

[theredben]

Did you not taste your yeast starter? How did you know what was in your starter vessel?

 

[Revvy]

Everything is fine, you have krausen, and partially dehydrated krausen

All browns, or greens or yellows or whatever are NORMAL.....The ONLY thing EVER to worry about in how something looks is if there is a skin on top of the beer- Not whether a krauzen is light or dark, or big or small, or whatever it may look like, or even what something smells like in the beginning. Fermentation is ugly and stinky, when it is perfectly normal, so worrying about how something looks is a waste of energy.

If you start with the premise that it is really hard to ruin your beer, then even if something looks ugly, you can just relax, and go "everything's normal."

Yours is normal.

 

[trubie]

yes, I tasted the starter, it tasted fine, and thanks for the info-

 

[rycov]

+1 to revvy. dried krausen, yeast parts, flem, gunk, crap. all normal for fermentation. search the word pellicle and you will will be at ease.

 

[trubie]

Ok - it was indeed infected. I tasted it and it was sour like spoiled milk- total drain pour!

 

[MrManifesto]

damn, that sucks. didn't even look that bad. i suppose just use some white labs trappist yeast next time. best of luck.

 

[Wvbrewer77]

It will be fine. It looks like healthy fermentaion. That stuff will end up stuck to the side of the glass when the krausen goes down.

 

[MrManifesto]

It will be fine. It looks like healthy fermentaion. That stuff will end up stuck to the side of the glass when the krausen goes down.

hmmm should probably read his last post...

 

[plumbob]

Ok - it was indeed infected. I tasted it and it was sour like spoiled milk- total drain pour!

That's unfortunate, that doesn't look at all like infected beer, not even close.

Tastes change and mellow as time goes on. If you still have an active krausen (which you did in the pictures) the beer rarely tastes really good, it isn't finished!

Try to give it more time in the future chances are very good you'll be rewarded.

 

[Grumpybumpy]

Don't dump it! Give her a little time

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Home Brew Talk

 

[trubie]

The spots increased for about a week and a goopy sludge covered the yeast cake. After several weeks I added yeast nutrient. Today I Tested the gravity, it's a little over 1.023. The yeast was fermenting slow ar first, then after I added some nutrient and it went more extreme and seemed to be much healthier looking and smelling Unfortunately, the damage was probably already done and the smell and taste of it was terriibly undrinkable.