Expert help needed with my fungal infection!

[Tippsy-Turvy]

Well, not "my" infection but my beer's. Does the white stuff in the photo look like an infection of my beer or is that what oxidation looks like?

By way of detail, I experimented using my bottle as a "secondary" and soaked adjuncts in it for week before removing them and throwing in some sugar cubes to begin the carbonation. My suspicions are:

1)The sugar cubes came from a jar which my entire family regularly stick their hands in so, on hindsight, perhaps the cubes could have been microwaved first??
2)There was a thread tied to the adjunct bag in the beer which came out of the bottle and tied off at the bottle neck which might have meant the bottle cap wasn't sealed properly?
3)The head space was still too large and I should have filled the bottle to the top (or added a little sugar to create CO2)?
4) all of the above??

Incidentally, only the bottles experimented with in this batch have this white stuff.

Thanks

 

[unionrdr]

What was the "adjunct"?

 

[DrunkleJon]

Is that white stuff on the outside of the bottle?

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

What do you mean by "soaked adjuncts in it for a week"?

 

[woozy]

>>1)The sugar cubes came from a jar which my entire family regularly stick their hands in so, on hindsight, perhaps the cubes could have been microwaved first??

After much deliberation, I've come to the conclusion that sugar is naturally anti-septic so I believe, no, it doesn't matter how sugar was stored. It's clean. That's the deliberation I came to and I'm sticking with it.

>> Does the white stuff in the photo look like an infection

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking at. I can't really tell what is reflection from the flash and what is yeast floaties and what is anything else.

or is that what oxidation looks like

I was under the impression oxidation wasn't something visible. At least that was my impression.

 

[seriousbeef]

This is called the query germ. As you can see, the bacteria have huddled together and formed the letter 'Y', implying the bacteria want to ask you a further question. Pop open the top and listen to their concerns. :fro:

 

[Yankeepride15]

What kind of yeast did you use? I've had WB-06 cling to the side of the bottle like that instead of settling out.

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

The adjunct was orange zest and crushed coriander seeds, both soaked in vodka overnight. They were then rolled in a spice bag with the ends tied off (looking like a spliff), inserted in the bottle and the beer racked over them.

What you're seeing is forming on the inside of the bottle and has gradually spread. Only the bottles with the adjuncts have this issue (so probably not the yeast).

 

[rcbishop]

That looks like it could be yeast, and doesn't look like any infection I know of, so I'm gonna go ahead and vote "yeast".

What's it taste like? Does it have the amount of carbonation you expected?

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

True, the real test is when I taste it. I'll just give it another week of carbonating then I'll taste it.

From what I've read, if it's a wild yeast infection then I should expect the flavor to be "hot alcohol tasting".

Thanks everyone.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Is that on the outside of the bottle? Sure looks like it from the last pic.

 

[Revvy]

Guys, it's flocculated yeast that, probably due to static electricity has stuck on the inside of the sides of the bottle. It's the same thing that happens in the hundreds of panic threads about it clinging to the side of carboys, like this;

A little info on infections seems necessary kiddies, a visible infection can ONLY form on the SURFACE of a beer!!!! Pelicules, and films and even mold, can only happen where there is oxygen present, or where the surface comes in contact with oxygen. They form SKINS..... Something inside a bottles (which is pretty much a vacumm) or below the surface of the beer in a fermenter is in an Anerobic environment, infections can't grow there.

If you see anything below the surface it's not an infection it's just a floatie and 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of the time, the floaty in a bottle of beer is going to be yeast and perfectly normal.

Quit jumping at everything that might look strange in fermentation, it all looks strange, and smells strange. Fermentation is ugly and stinky....when it's perfectly normal.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

That's what I was thinking too, but that last pic made it look like something was on the outside. Either way, no worries.

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of the time, the floaty in a bottle of beer is going to be yeast and perfectly normal.

I like those odds!

Will give it the taste test in a couple of weeks and report back. Being still green at brewing and this being my first major off-the-beaten-track experiment what I'm witnessing is 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999995% likely to be just newbie anxiety.