Bottle or drain?

[venquessa]

I took a sample of this on Friday and had a peak at it on Monday night and it looked fine...

Today...

Fullsize: http://www.campbell-multimedia.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/IMAG0359.jpg

I'm guessing that dull, milky, bubbly coating is not meant to be there.

Question is... if I bottle it, will it be foul, get worse, be a health risk or is there a chance it will be fine?

 

[scoundrel]

How long has it been fermenting? What yeast did you use? I think you're ok. No health risks but you need to be sure fermentation is done before bottling or you risk bottle bombs.

 

[venquessa]

Its 2 weeks tonight. FG last Friday was 1.015, so it's been for a while done.

Used Coopers Yeast + Yeast Vit.

If it's a Lacto infection and I bottle it, will it just get slowly more sour, I mean if I drink it in a few weeks will it not taste foul?

 

[TyTanium]

Don't dump it.

How'd the sample taste? I've had a few look similar that were fine - often just after the krausen falls it can look a little weird.

If it is infected, forget about it for 6-12 months and see how it tastes.

 

[venquessa]

I'm thinking about racking it to a bottling bucket tomorrow and just try very hard not to suck the film into the syphon.

Thing is, it completed it's ferment in the first week and has sat with a dark, foam free surface for 6 days. When I peaked in on Monday night it looked okay, just a few bits of the yeast slurry floating, nothing like it looks now.

It's hard to see in the photo but the surface of that white scum is matt, not shiny.

 

[TyTanium]

I'm thinking about racking it to a bottling bucket tomorrow and just try very hard not to suck the film into the syphon.

Sounds like a good option. If it tastes good, bottle it and drink quickly

Also, just as a precaution, maybe use a bit less priming sugar and place bottles in a plastic bin...just in case, haha.

 

[venquessa]

I just tasted it and... it tastes like beer. I added a very strong bittering hop this time, so I and definately taste bitter, but nothing else obvious.

 

[TopherM]

It looks like you have krausen stuck to the lid because you didn't have enough extra space for the krausen to expand in the first place. That's probably where the film comes from as well. It won't hurt anything. You need a slightly bigger bucket.

 

[Revvy]

I'm sure it's fine.

Unless a beer tastes infected you really need to see it through it's entire process.

 

[Tall_Yotie]

If it tastes like beer, then it is beer. If it tastes like crap, then it is not beer (or just poorly made beer). Stuff that grows in beer is not the type this will hurt you, just will taste bad, so when in doubt, taste!

 

[scoundrel]

I'm thinking about racking it to a bottling bucket tomorrow and just try very hard not to suck the film into the syphon.

Check the gravity now. Is it still 1.015? It may just be degassing but be sure. I don't think I'd bottle it yet if the yeast are still cleaning up.

 

[venquessa]

Well, it's bottled. Decided sooner the better.

Most of the white film stuck on the side of the bucket, but I left the last 2 litres in the FV.

Primed, bottled, looks okay. I'll keep an eye on it. Fingers crossed.

 

[scoundrel]

Well, it's bottled. Decided sooner the better.

Most of the white film stuck on the side of the bucket, but I left the last 2 litres in the FV.

Primed, bottled, looks okay. I'll keep an eye on it. Fingers crossed.

Did you take a gravity reading? If not, keep them cool.

 

[venquessa]

I'm 99% sure it was finished fermenting, unless you think the "bug" that was growing on the surface may consume more than the priming sugar+yeast and produce more gas?

I'm also 99% sure the stuff on the top was not produced by yeast... at least not the coopers yeast....

 

[scoundrel]

I'm 99% sure it was finished fermenting, unless you think the "bug" that was growing on the surface may consume more than the priming sugar+yeast and produce more gas?

I'm also 99% sure the stuff on the top was not produced by yeast... at least not the coopers yeast....

Just to put your mind at ease, I've had a few beers look like that when the Krausen dropped and it wasn't an infection. Also, you said it tasted like beer. If it were infected, it would taste tart or a bit sour.

 

[venquessa]

Well I had a bottle at 1 week. It had a very poor hop balance with what I expect are the Target hops being a little over powering, it was young after all, but.... a definate sour undertone. Just a hint.

2 weeks in bottles and I'm having one now. I noticed a very, very slight film on the surface of 2 or 3 of the bottles. I choosen to open one of them.

It is still quite hoppy, but then, I think I intended that, but I'm not sure I like Target hops.

But... alas, it has the sour undertone still. Worse the head looks lumpy, particularly around the edge of the glass. It's not foul, it's beer, it just has a funny sour taste, which luckily doesn't linger, it's just there around the "mid point" of the taste if that makes sense.

Probably some form of wild yeast... I'll leave it another week and I'll drink as much of it as I can bother, if that is the lot, then great, if not I'll dump the rest once I have more home brew in drinking state.

 

[landshark]

Don't dump them!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Collect them up and box them up and put them in the cellar or basement or somewhere where you can forget about them for a year. Or 2. THEN try them.

Also... don't use the bucket again unless you are making a sour. Buy a new one.

You may have got the infection when you opened the bucket up. Never know. Open fermentors as few times as possible, minimizes the risk of infections.