Everyone i need help....now!!!

[Eichelbergerbrew]

Hey everybody, I am pretty sure I screwed up my beer. I think it has a bacterial infection, and although I don't want to throw it out, I don't want to be drinking it and getting sick or anything. I am gonna try and get pics up of it soon but i am gonna try to explain it the best I can for now. It has what looks like little pieces of trub still all over the top of it (and it has been in the fermenter for almost 3 weeks). Also, near the top of the fermenter (around the stopper), but nowhere near the beer, it looks like there is a bacterial infection because there a some little white spots (which from my microbiology class signals a bacterial infection). The beer doesn't smell bad, it just looks BAD. ANYONE with any info on what I should do please let me know. I am pretty pissed off myself because I cleaned EVERYTHING and used star san after PBW. But i guess s*** just happens sometimes. Any help would really be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[MetallHed]

relax guy!

I wouldn't dump it out until you have allowed it to completely do its thing, because you just dont know sometimes.

take a reading, see if its ready to bottle... then BOTTLE. wait a good month to bottle condition, then take a test.

thats what I would do. If anything it's just more bottling practice!

 

[Revvy]

You're panicking for nothing. You say it doesn't smell bad, then more than likely it isn't. You have noob nerves, that's all.

We'd really need to see pictures, but more than likely you have what EVERY new brewer who starts a thread like this had, AND WHAT EVERY BEER HAS, little bits of remaining krausen and yeast rafts, bits of yeast buoyed to the surface by co2.

Rarely if ever is the beer ever totally clear on top. There's always bits of stuff floating on it. And that DOESN'T mean there's anything wrong. Nor does "white spots" always indicate a bacterial infection, where beer is concerned.

 

[Shooter]

Nothing sounds abnormal here. If I used the items you're talking about as a sign my beer was infected I'd have dumped out roughly two dozen batches to this point.

 

[Revvy]

I wrote this yesterday, and it contains some info that you need to read.

You don't dump your beer, for making a minor little mistake. Your beer is hardier than that.

And you don't dump something because you think it's going to turn out bad. You only dump a beer that you KNOW is bad, and you give it at least a couple of months in the bottle before you even make THAT decision.

Read theses two threads that were compiled for nervous new brewers to realize that your beers are not a weak baby that is going to die if you look at it wrong.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

Our beer is really resilient despite the boneheaded things we do to it. And even if something appears to be wrong, often time and the yeasties go along way to correct itself.

And if everyone dumped their beer just because of a common thing like an airlock suckback, no one would be brewing. We ALL have had sanitizer from our airlock get into our beer at one time or another. There's a ton of panic threads on here about that, and the answer is always the same, RELAX.

I think about it in terms of my time and money, I'm not going to dump 30 or more dollars worth of ingredients, 6 hours of brewing time, and at least 2 months from yeast pitch to cracking the first bottle, on what could be a minor mistake (that may not even harm the beer anyway,) until I have exhausted all probability that the beer won't improve. And even then that means at least walking away from the bottles for maybe 6 months or more.

And so far I have never beer wrong.

After all these years of brewing I still haven't had a dumper.

And I've made some big mistakes.

But I have never had a beer that wasn't at least palatable, after all that time.

They may have not been stellar beers, but they were still better than BMC or Skunky Beers in green bottles that people actually pay money for.

So just read those threads and next time, relax, and give your beer a chance to prove how strong it really is.

 

[dale1038]

+3...your beer is fine!

 

[broadbill]

Those white spots you remember from microbiology class are clonies. They grow like that when you dilute bacterial cultures to a really low concentration and streak them out onto agar plates. Bacterial infections in beer mean you have BILLIONS of bacteria in there. No chance whatsoever you have colonies from single cells grown up on the sides of your fermenter. Just does not work that way. The white spot near the top of the fermenter sound like mold. Nothing really to worry about IMO.

Even if you didn't sanitize, chances are your beer would be fine if you were able to get a good yeast growth growing in a reasonable amount of time. The reason for this that yeast will out-compete the bacteria and make conditions unsuitable for their growth. That is why the chances of bacterial contamination are really small once yeast have fermented it out.

You are all good...

 

[ChshreCat]

You will learn that fermenting beer can and usually will look pretty gross. Unless it has blue fur on it, it's probably fine.

 

[Alehouserock]

Sounds to me like Krausen.

As others have said, don;t worry about it.

 

[Revvy]

You will learn that fermenting beer can and usually will look pretty gross. Unless it has blue fur on it, it's probably fine.

Like THIS!!!!

And that is NORMAL, BTW. :rockin:

 

[Eichelbergerbrew]

Hey everybody, thanks for the input on everything. I figured it would still be drinkable but I just wanted some veteran input on what to do. I can post pictures of it, but when I preview the post they are HUGE. My girlfriend and I are going to bottle the beer anyway per your orders (hah) and I will let it sit for a while in the bottles. I will let you guys know how it turns out. Thanks again for helping a noob out.

P.s- PM me so I can send you a "yeast starter" or something for the help

 

[r_flagg]

You will learn that fermenting beer can and usually will look pretty gross. Unless it has blue fur on it, it's probably fine.

And even then I would still rack it! I kind of enjoy seeing each new beer and what its sludge looks like from day to day. That pic is a perfect example of something I would love to wake up and find in my fermenter. The milk adage of when in doubt throw it out definitely does not apply.

 

[FromZwolle]

blue fur is just penicillin. bottle up that medicine and make a fortune.

 

[danculwell]

Another thing I want to point out. If it smells and tastes fine then there is no health risk involved in drinking it. Things that will hurt you wont survive in beer.

 

[JLem]

Another thing I want to point out. If it smells and tastes fine then there is no health risk involved in drinking it. Things that will hurt you wont survive in beer.

Even if it smells and tastes like ass, it still won't hurt you - like you said, things that will hurt you can't live in beer (but can turn them pretty nasty smelling/tasting)

 

[danculwell]

Even if it smells and tastes like ass, it still won't hurt you - like you said, things that will hurt you can't live in beer (but can turn them pretty nasty smelling/tasting)

Correct, all I meant was if it smells and tastes like ass you probably wont be drinking it anyway. It certainly wont hurt you.

 

[ctufano]

Like THIS!!!!

And that is NORMAL, BTW. :rockin:

mmm kiwiwit