Cherry hefe white mold pieces?

[jajao44]

I've had a Cherry going I put 5lbs in first 3 weeks and I went do a secondary and it had theses little white mold looking patches. I racked it anyway trying to avoid them. I bottled it today and it had more patches in it. I'm hoping its just mold from the cherries floating. Here it is:

 

[unionrdr]

It could even be wild yeast on the fruit.

 

[lumpher]

did you sanitize the cherries in any way, such as 170 degrees for 10 minutes, or did you just dump them in?

 

[jajao44]

I de stemmed them and froze them. Then a day or two before I added them I let them thaw in the fridge. After they thawed I crushed them with the pit still in then dumped them in.

 

[unionrdr]

Should've soake'em in some plain vodka 1st. Or simmered them for a short time to sanitize.

 

[Yooper]

That's not good. Mold is not a good thing to have growing on your beer.

I'd dump it.

 

[jajao44]

Aw that sucks. Its already bottled though so I'm going to let it go and we'll see. I tasted it and it tasted normal a little less sweet then I was hoping but still good and cherry. Do you think the mold would die without cherries floating on the top?

 

[DoctorDuvel]

For what it's worth, I had a good amount of white mold on a porter I did once - though I didn't use any fruit or anything. I bottled it anyway, tried to avoid the mold as much as possible - beer came out great.

 

[Pratzie]

Aw that sucks. Its already bottled though so I'm going to let it go and we'll see. I tasted it and it tasted normal a little less sweet then I was hoping but still good and cherry. Do you think the mold would die without cherries floating on the top?

Well more importantly, was it sour or sulphur like in an way? Did it give any impression of spoilage?

 

[edecambra]

Sour cherry hefe! Sounds tasty but if there are wild yeasties you may get bottle bombs so keep an eye on them

 

[Caucasian]

Well if you want sour, white mold infection won't do it. Doesn't impart any flavor or gastro-intestinal effects. It's hard to control when its humid, i've had two beers with it that tasted great.

 

[AndrewD]

Has anyone actually had adverse effects from drinking a legitimately infected beer? One end of the opinion spectrum is that any mold on beer will cause your genitals to shrivel up and fall off, and the other end is a lot of people that have ignored infections and not had any issues.

 

[Sublimis]

I've had a Cherry going I put 5lbs in first 3 weeks and I went do a secondary and it had theses little white mold looking patches. I racked it anyway trying to avoid them. I bottled it today and it had more patches in it. I'm hoping its just mold from the cherries floating. Here it is:

Looks like Mold
Mold can usually be just skimmed off with no lasting effect on the beer's flavor. Withdraw a sample of the wort with a siphon or turkey baster and taste it. If it tastes foul then its not worth keeping. Otherwise the beer was probably not harmed. Infections in beer caused by molds are not dangerous. Be meticulous in your sanitation and you should not have any problems.

 

[Pratzie]

Ok at the risk of sounding stupid but to take this topic a little further... I haven't racked any of my brews on fruit yet, but am considering it with my next batch of cider, as well as a Cherry Wheat recipe that I have. Are there more benefits of sterilizing the cherries, ie simmering in a pan covered with watered to keep the temp around/over 170 for a short time? Furthermore, wif this were to occur in the future, is there a need to pasteurize when it is bottled? Or would straight bottling with priming sugar work fine with Oxygen absorbing caps? Sorry for the million questions, im just curious since im still relatively new to home brew... haven't lost a batch yet but its always a concern with trying something new, especially with secondary fermentation and racking.

 

[unionrdr]

Pasteurization happens at about 162F,so steeping at 170F for a short time should do it. Don't pasteurize beer at bottling time,or you'll drive off alcohol,& change the flavor/aroma profile.

 

[jajao44]

Its been bottled for about 4 days now OG was 1.050 FG 1.010 I only put about 4oz priming sugar in because I;ve been having problems with over carbonation. I checked on them last night and it looks like the last dozen or so bottles that were bottled have a more noticeable amount of mold at the top of the bottle. The first case is normal looking.

When I opened one of the bad looking bottles it foamed over too much carbonation. Tasted fine like it did in the fermentor. Is this because of the mold eating and producing more co2? I'm thinking about putting it all in the fridge.

 

[DoctorDuvel]

I'm no scientist, but i would say the foaming is definitely from the mold. In my early days of brewing I'd get lots of foam-overs, I eventually realized i wasn't cleaning the bottles thoroughly - mold would form while they were empty, and when it dries, sometimes a soak and a quick brushing wasn't good enough.

By the way, over-carbonating also used to be a problem until i learned about to-style levels of carbonation and the carbonation tool in beersmith. Dumping in 5 ounces of priming sugar in a 5 gallon batch, which after fermentation could leave you with 4 gallons of beer, will usually be too much...always base your amount of priming sugar on the amount of liquid you'll be bottling, not how big the batch started with or was supposed to be. Sorry if i'm explaining something you know - it was a big revelation for me.

 

[unionrdr]

Bottles can foam over even if not infected. The gas in the head space can act like a nucleation point &foam over. Fridge time gets more co2 into solution that usually stops this.

 

[DoctorDuvel]

Bottles can foam over even if not infected. The gas in the head space can act like a nucleation point &foam over. Fridge time gets more co2 into solution that usually stops this.

ah, i kind of grazed over this possibility in my mind once or twice...good tip

 

[jajao44]

I tried one after a day in the fridge and it looks like the mold on top dropped out looks fine now. Opened one up didn't foam over but was more foamy then I like when poured. The beer is watery though so it dissipated quickly. I think I tried to use to many bing cherries. Next batch I think I'll put in a lb or 2 tart if I can find them. Its good though definitely not bad.