Contamination maybe?

[idgawomp]

About a week ago I racked some ginger beer into a second carboy for kegging but wasn't able to get a keg that evening so I tossed in some campden tabs, covered the carboy top with some aluminum foil (I thought it would only be for the night) and left the carboy alone for 4 days. The brew was about 5% ABV, and the foil was draped over the sides and kept closed with a rubber band. I know that I should've just put in an air lock but I thought it'd get kegged the next morning.

I'm worried the brew has gone bad.

There are these weird little droplets floating on the top towards the sides of the carboy. I've taken some pictures and placed them in this album. Any ideas what it may be?

Thanks y'all!

 

[GASoline71]

So you racked to a carboy for why?

Did you need your fermenter for another beer?

Do you use buckets for fermenters?

Not fully understanding why it went into a carboy before kegging. I get that you were waiting on a keg. But it could have just staryed in the fermenter until you were ready.

The little dark droplets look like an oily substance. Not sure what it could be.

Gary

 

[idgawomp]

I had a friend who has been doing homebrew for a while come to help me along the process and he recommended it... I have absolutely no clue why he did it that way and it still doesn't make much sense but it happened.

I used a glass carboy for fermenting and it was racked to a plastic carboy.

Thanks Gary. Does it look like some kind of fermentation by product, or is it even reminiscent of contams at all?

 

[GASoline71]

To be honest, I've never seen the little droplets like that. Wish I could help you more.

But the transfering of beer to another vessel for a day prior to kegging is a waste of time, and can lead to unwanted contamination. The foil over the carboy shouldn't have been a pronblem.

Another question... is it supposed to be that cloudy and yellow? What yeast did you use?

Gary

 

[idgawomp]

I used a champagne yeast... no malted extracts, just ginger and citrus juices.

It seems to be clarifying some with time; it was far cloudier a week ago.

Yeah, those droplets are REALLY weird. I'm wondering if my roommate or partner got a little to interested in the goods while I was gone and took a peek.

Do you think it's safe to drink?

 

[firestem4]

That looks like some kind of oil. Odd. I have no idea what it is.

 

[Epimetheus]

If it is liquid, try to get some out with a pipette or soda straw and see what it is. One way to test for oil is to put it on brown paper. If the paper turns translucent and does dry out, it is oil

 

[Trox]

Did you sanitize the carboy and aluminum foil prior to racking it over? I would let it go a couple more days and see if it spreads, if not then just rack from under it.

Also next time your friend suggest using a secondary kick him in the shin. The only reasons to use a secondary is to either free up your primary, or to bulk age a big beer for more than 3 months. Other than that there is no reason to rack to a secondary and every reason not to (oxidation and infections being the two biggest).

Edit: the reason why people still think you need to use a secondary is the misconception that the yeast can impart off flavors to the beer if it sits on it too long. This is a real concern for breweries that are doing large batches of beer at a time; the weight of the beer on top of the yeast can make it pop which is where the off flavors come from. For the homebrewer we work with such small batches that the yeast won't pop from the weight.

 

[idgawomp]

Thanks so much for the advice, Trox.

I experimented with a different way to process the ginger... I'm a pretty dedicated home cook so I've played around with lots of different ways of preparing my aromatics when making dishes. When prepping ginger, if washed and scrubbed well, I'll leave the skin on while cooking/steeping to impart much more potent aromas from the essential oils in the skin. I did the same thing with the ginger root in my ginger beer, so I'm wondering if perhaps the oils at the top have gathered more readily in the absence of fermentation turbulence.

Advice much appreciated, y'all.