Does this look infected to you?

[iron_city_ap]

I just cracked open a primary to dry hop and this is what I found . I haven't come across anything like this yet, but I'm guessing its not good. If this is an infection, is there anything I can do about it?

 

[mlyday]

Brown stuff no. white stuff probably.

 

[weirdboy]

Yeah the white bubbly parts don't look good.

What you can do is rack out the beer from underneath that, being as careful as possible to not disturb the top layer and leaving the bit on top (maybe an inch or so) behind. Then drink it quickly.

But taste it first. If it tastes bad there's no sense in wasting all that effort.

 

[iron_city_ap]

Thanks guys. Here is the recipe I used. Just smelled it, and it smells like beer. Nothing funky at all. My OG was 1.054 and I just checked it and its sitting at 1.012. I used White Labs Trappist yeast. It was brewed on 1/25, so about 20 days ago. Not sure if that info helps at all.

I was planning on transferring it anyhow since I'm trying to get into harvesting yeast and I want to get the yeast before I mix in a bunch of hops. Should I forget about trying to keep this yeast? Any recomendations as far as that goes?

As of now (I'll wait till later today to see what you all are saying), I'm thinking I'll transfer it, leave the top layer, dry hop as planned and see how it looks in a couple weeks. I'm really up in the air with the yeast harvest though.

 

[eljefe]

I would not harvest the yeast. May not cause a problem but the $7 you save is probably not worth the $20 or $30 you might lose if the next batch is bad as well.

 

[iron_city_ap]

Good point. Guess that brings up the question of when you get an infection, does it effect the yeast, or just the beer, or both.... how widespread does it tend to get? I'm kind of nervous about dry hopping this stuff and having it still turn out nasty. If its going to be bad, I'd rather not waste the primary space with a bad beer when I could be fermenting a good one. Needless to say, EVERYTHING is getting a good oxi/bleach soak and scrub when its available. For some reason, this makes me feel dirty, and not the good kind of dirty.

/waiting for one of the 'sages' like Yooper or Revvy to chime in on this one, but obviously I'll take any and all advise

 

[weirdboy]

The problem is you cannot realistically harvest ONLY the yeast without also getting the infection along with it, unless you have laboratory equipment and a very steady hand. And you can visually differentiate between the yeast and the baddies.

Infections CAN mess up your equipment, but generally speaking a thorough cleansing and sanitizing takes care of it in my experience. However if your stuff is old or has little nooks and crannies that don't are hard to clean (e.g. scratches, manufacturing imperfections, etc.) it can carry over to other batches.

 

[iron_city_ap]

In that case, bye bye yeastie boys. It sucks, but if its for the greater good then they gotta go.

Any other opinions as far as dry hopping/ secondaring the beer? Is it a good idea or should I scrap it (hopefully not)?

 

[android]

i would just drink it at this point. if you dry hop it in a different vessel, you risk spreading the infection to that vessel also and allowing it to redevelop when you are waiting to finish dry hopping.

 

[iron_city_ap]

Well, I ended up transferring it yesterday. I washed the 1st bucket with antibacterial soap then let it soak in some oxi clean. Today, its getting rinsed out then soaked in bleach for a couple days. After that, its getting some star san for a couple more days. Hopefully that'll get any/all the neasty stuff out of it. The bucket I transfered it to will be getting the same treatment. Actually, pretty much all of my equipment will be getting a very solid going over.

 

[eljefe]

After you bottle it, I would recommend inviting a not so good friend over. Give him/her the first bottle and watch the reaction. If they react negatively, you can give them a condescending "You don't know anything". If they like it, you can say "well, that was the last one and I wanted to make sure you tried it." You can't lose.

 

[iron_city_ap]

lol. I'm actually going to keg it. I'll give it a look/taste before I put it under pressure. If its still bad, I'd rather find out before I waste CO2. I'm a little optimistic simply because the beer still managed to ferment down to the estimated FG. Maybe by transferring it, I got it away from enough of the bad stuff that the alchohol will kill off anything leftover. Its currently #2 in line to go into a keg, so it'll be sitting for a while yet.

 

[bluestang50]

Can you get sick from any kind of infections that beers get or does it just throw off the taste?

 

[mlyday]

Cue Revvy in 3...2....1.

 

[KevinW]

Can you get sick from any kind of infections that beers get or does it just throw off the taste?

What I like about answers to questions like this is that somebody had to drink an infected beer to find out, yuck!

Kind of like Limburger Cheese, who in their right mind could have smelled that cheese and thought "it must taste good"

 

[starrfish]

Can you get sick from any kind of infections that beers get or does it just throw off the taste?

infected beer will not harm you. some are more pleasant than others. I have a unintentional sour that was a big hit while it lasted. supposed to be a pale ale, but turned into this sour almost strawberry taste, and FG dropped way low 1.003. no head retension at all... but tasty. saving 1 bottle to sour another batch...

 

[dvdanny]

Well, I ended up transferring it yesterday. I washed the 1st bucket with antibacterial soap then let it soak in some oxi clean. Today, its getting rinsed out then soaked in bleach for a couple days. After that, its getting some star san for a couple more days. Hopefully that'll get any/all the neasty stuff out of it. The bucket I transfered it to will be getting the same treatment. Actually, pretty much all of my equipment will be getting a very solid going over.

I would consider bleach bombing (few hour soak in bleach solution, i forget the concentration) it if it's plastic or glass, that'll guarantee everything is dead and won't give you the same problems anti-bacterial soap can.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

A soak in a strong starsan solution for several days should take care of any problems you have.

I use the same equipment to bottle regular beers as I do sour and wild beers. So far I have not had cross contamination.

 

[OldManHouston]

Subject line sounds like something you never want to hear a lady say after rolling over in the morning.

Sorry, had to say it. That is all.

 

[iron_city_ap]

Subject line sounds like something you never want to hear a lady say after rolling over in the morning.

Sorry, had to say it. That is all.

That's actually how my twisted sense of humor came up with it.

Like I said, I've already scrubbed (with a sponge, no abrasives) it with the antibacterial soap, it soaked for a night with oxi clean, and yesterday I started soaking it in bleach. I had to go out on a trip, so when I get home tomorrow, its getting another washing with soap (primarily to clean out the bleach), then another couple days soaking with Star San. I may even give it a couple days of soaking in another food grade sanitizer I have as well.

The guy I'm partnered with this month for work started talking about he wouldn't drink it out of fear of botulism and stuff like that. It kinda got me thinking, maybe I shouldn't drink this stuff. Sounds like I might be okay. I'll have to just keep an eye on it and if it keeps sprouting that white crystal looking stuff, or starts to smell bad, then maybe I'll have to consider pitching it. I'm not giving in just yet though.

Also, if I have to let it sit for a long time, sounds like a good excuse to pick up another fermenter

 

[iron_city_ap]

Here is the latest update.... Just took these pics.... I'm thinking it isn't looking too good. What do you all think?...

<a href="http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c27/iron_city_ap/?action=view&amp;current=badbeer.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c27/iron_city_ap/badbeer.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c27/iron_city_ap/badbeer1.jpg

 

[iron_city_ap]

Here are some of the latest pics. I don't think its looking too good, but I'll let you guys decide....

 

[Rockape66]

That latest pic looks like what my beers have looked like at about 5 - 6 days.

 

[McMalty]

uhh..............maybe, WTH is all that other junk floating just below the surface? What does it smell like?

 

[starrfish]

what does it taste like? take a hydrometer reading and taste the sample. that's the big key if it tastes ok & the gravity is stable bottle away and drive on.

 

[iron_city_ap]

It started out at 1.054 and is currently at 1.011. I tasted the sample, and it tastes okay. Nothing really off or funky. Just flat beer. I skimmed my sample from the top of the bucket, so if I don't feel so hot here in the next day or so, I know the beer is probably bad.

The green stuff floating in the pics. is just hops from dry hoping. Not sure what the heck the white stuff is. If you look at the first pictures, I had this almost crystal like stuff on it and I think that's what this is too, just in much smaller form and it hasn't pushed together yet.

Guess I'll just keep plugging away. Its currently cold crashing. When I rack to the keg, obviously I'm leaving the top layer out.

 

[starrfish]

If it isn't tasting bad or smelling bad, it's probably not bad. I've seen a similar thing before on a pale ale I did. it was fine...

 

[Yooper]

It sure looks like a pellicle to me!

I'm just sayin'. I can't really see it but it looks like some pedio or lacto at first glance.

 

[iron_city_ap]

Yooper, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Starrfish, actually it is a Pale Ale.