Can't tell if this is normal or first signs of an infection

[hezagenius]

I've never had an infected beer before, at least not that I'm aware of. I made a mead a few weeks ago with an original recipe and was going to take a sample to taste and test. I was on the high side of the recommended yeast temp so I wanted to make sure I didn't end up with jet fuel and should just cut my losses and dump it. As I looked into the fermenter before I took a sample, I see a few little bumps on the surface. They look like small pellicles but I suppose they could be collections of CO2 bubbles that haven't broke the surface yet. What do you think? Infection or normal? I guess either way, I might as well wait a few weeks to see what happens. I decided to not take a sample in case it was infected. I didn't want to taint my plastic wine thief.

 

[day_trippr]

Interesting camera angle...but I don't see anything worrisome...

Cheers!

 

[seatazzz]

Just looks like co2 to me. Pretty color.

 

[hezagenius]

Pretty sure it's infected. It's still fermenting away so I'll just let it ride for a while. Must have been something in there from the get-go because I have not opened the fermenter since initially filling it.

 

[Miraculix]

Pretty sure it's infected. It's still fermenting away so I'll just let it ride for a while. Must have been something in there from the get-go because I have not opened the fermenter since initially filling it.

Had an infection once that started looking almost identical. Also had a batch that tinted turned out fine and looked almost identical when botteling... So 50/50 chance from my perspective.

 

[hezagenius]

My flavor profile target is something close to NG Serendipity (cherry, apple and cranberry) so a little sour flavor shouldn't be a problem. My plan was to rack onto cherries in a secondary but maybe I'll just skip the cherries this go around. Or I guess I could just add them into the primary? I'll just have to keep anything that's touched this stuff separate now. If this batch turns out OK taste-wise, I may try it again in all new equipment to see if another infection starts. Then maybe I can attribute it to the inputs and not the process.

 

[Yooper]

How long has it had that much headspace? That's the issue I see.

 

[hezagenius]

How long has it had that much headspace? That's the issue I see.

3 weeks. It's in the primary and hasn't been opened since I filled it on brew day. Not sure how much O2 there could be once fermentation started, but who knows. I aerated it pretty good when I transferred it to the fermenter. Pitched rehydrated yeast. Fermented on the high side of the temp range. This was a 3 gal batch in a 5 gal fermenter. Some of my previous meads had decent krausens so I didn't want to use a 3 gal fermenter, but this one never had a krausen at all, probably due to the yeast strain (D47).