Contaminated? Or not?

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beerman77

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So I made an Oktoberfest. I used a vial of specialty yeast but forgot to take it out of fridge for a few hours before pitching. To make matters worse, I put the fermenter in the garage which is now too cold to ferment an ale. NO activity first 48+ hours. Then the little light bulb came on above my head and I moved the fermenter to a room in the house. The next day there was some activity and the airlock bubbled.... but not that much. Never got more than a half inch of krausen. It bubbled very very slowly for over a week then stopped. I took a sample and the gravity was too high and the beer tasted yeasty. I let it sit for another week. I open it tonight and I guess my beer thief was not fully sanitized because there is some funky looking crap floating on the top. Dead yeast and a few black chunks that resemble mold or fungus. I fearfully took another sample. The gravity had come down to an acceptable level and I even more fearfully tasted it. To my surprise, it tastes fine! Not yeasty anymore and does not have any hint of "nasty". I remember reading the DO NOT DUMP YOUR BEER thread on this forum so I am transferring to my CAREFULLY SANITIZED carboy tonight.

SO has this happened to anyone before and to the more experienced, do you think it's wise to try and salvage?
 
It could be a number of things that you are seeing. And hell yes you should salvage it, esp if it tastes good. In the future, you'll know what not to do but remember DO NOT DUMP YOUR BEER.

If you taste it a month from now and it tastes like festering scrotum cheese, then yes you can dump it.
 
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