Delayed boil

[MWink]

I had my mash done and brewing was unexpectedly interrupted. Wort went into a sanitized bucket. Got to my boil two days later. It looks like yeast has already started growing(I didn’t pitch it). What issues am I looking at with this beer?

 

[hotbeer]

Anything from your best tasting beer ever to something you won't want to drink.

 

[mashpaddled]

Who knows what was in the bucket or got into the wort along the way. Hopefully it's just leftover brewing yeast in the bucket.

 

[hotbeer]

The activity was before boil wasn't it?

Assuming you went ahead and boiled it for a long enough time, you killed anything growing. However if it was fermentation going on then some of your sugars were already converted to alcohol and the alcohol now boiled out. So you won't have as strong a ABV as you might have.

 

[catalanotte]

In a couple days you may have inadvertently started a wild kettle sour but if you boiled afterwards it doesn't make much sense that it is fermenting. The boil should have killed any wild yeast or bacteria. Check your OG, did it drop from the post boil reading?

 

[bracconiere]

i once had a spontaneous fermentation...didn't have a fermenter for it, so it was after the boil in my case...

but to this day i still regret not having the gonads to taste it at least!

 

[wsmith1625]

The activity was before boil wasn't it?

Assuming you went ahead and boiled it for a long enough time, you killed anything growing. However if it was fermentation going on then some of your sugars were already converted to alcohol and the alcohol now boiled out. So you won't have as strong a ABV as you might have.

If your OG is too low, you can add sugar to raise it back up.

"One pound of sugar adds approximately 1.009 specific gravity points per 5 gallons. If you do add more of simple sugars (ie. corn sugar, table sugar, honey, Brewer's Crystals) the following may occur: Increased dryness"

 

[catalanotte]

It looks like yeast has already started growing(I didn’t pitch it).

Post a picture

 

[beren]

If I don’t have time to boil and I’ll at least try and get it up above 200° that way I hopefully don’t get spontaneous fermentation

 

[Calder]

Boiled + no yeast = No fermentation (assuming this is shortly after the boil, and not days).

It is probably something from the kettle rising to the top, and not an active fermentation.

Like others, I would be concerned the brew could have become infected prior to the boil. Have you tasted it, does it seem at all sour? Any contamination would not have survived the boil, but any products it may have produced pre-boil (lactic acid) would still be in the product.

 

[beren]

If your OG is too low, you can add sugar to raise it back up.

"One pound of sugar adds approximately 1.009 specific gravity points per 5 gallons. If you do add more of simple sugars (ie. corn sugar, table sugar, honey, Brewer's Crystals) the following may occur: Increased dryness"

I think you mean it adds 0.009

 

[wsmith1625]

I don't actually know the formula and copy and pasted from Northern
Brewer. I did this once when making a Belgian IPA and forgot to add the sugar to the boil. I added the same volume of sugar to the fermenter and it worked out fine.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/blog...ext=One pound of sugar adds,Increased dryness

 

[bracconiere]

I think you mean it adds 0.009

LOL, no need to nit pick....

 

[JayZeus]

Well?????? How did it turn out? =)