Failed Fermentation, Contamination

[simplegreen]

Ok so had my first contaminated batch. Doesn't taste like it's spoiled but deff has some foreign invaders. I was hoping it was yeast rafts but there was some on the thermometer of my lager fridge.

So. I racked to a new carboy left the top floaters in the old carboy, re pitched Oktoberfest wyeast because the wort was still sweet.

I accidentally dropped my hydrometer so i wasn't able to get an OG

Went out a few days later and saw a few more floaters. I sanitized and skimmed them. I'm fermenting at 50 degrees. Still no activity.


Finally got my new hydrometer in and took a reading. 1.043 she didn't ferment (or partially didn't). So. My plan is, pump it full of o2 increase the temp to 50degrees. make a starter, repitch. See if i get activity.

but i still have floaters in "wort" should i reheat this stuff to kill that off? what could that hurt besides lower volume at the moment? Evaporate any trace alcohol?

What would you do? (throw it out i suppose is an option)

 

[douglasbarbin]

What's the deal with the picture of the airlock?

 

[Gavin C]

I'm fermenting at 50 degrees.

How much yeast did you pitch. Whats the batch size. Extract or grain brew?


If it's covered in gunk and infected chuck it out. The picture shows nothing consistent with an infection IMO. Just blurry.

How long since you pitched yeast

 

[govner1]

If it tastes sweet vs something unpleasant I'd leave it alone. Looks like yeast activity to me.

 

[simplegreen]

Sorry i'll try to add more detail.

The size of the batch was a 5 gallon, all grain oktoberfest lager. I pitched Wyeast (Octoberfest Lager Blend) - 2633 ..... twice.

The pick of the airlock: basically i was getting some initial activity but have gotten nothing since. I pitched the initial yeast 2.5 weeks ago. Pitched a second time a week ago after noticing the funk and no further activity.

It tasted sweet and when i finally got my new hydrometer i got 1.043 so i know it didn't take because that would be just shy of what an OG would be, not a final gravity.

The white growth doesnt feel like normal yeast activity to me. 1) its a lager i would imagine bottom fermentation 2) i had a very similar small white growth on the thermometer of lager fridge as well.

hope that helps a bit.

 

[Gavin C]

how much yeast did you pitch?

Just one smack pack and then another later on?

 

[Gavin C]

You would have needed about a 2L starter for this batch assuming an OG ~1.050 and a very fresh Wyeast smack-pack

Here is recent lager fermentation of mine for reference. Yours looks abnormal to me for sure. If you did not pitch enough yeast (no starter= not enough yeast) things will stall or never get going.
.
OG 1.048 FG 1.009 (2.5L starter decanted and pitched at 48F). Fermented at 50F.

48hours after pitching WLP 833

 

[simplegreen]

Thanks gavin. after 2 pitches of smack packs assuming a third would you attempt it assuming doing a starter this time? Knowing the funk issue?

btw we're local. Im doing more BIAB indoors during the hot season as well. Good BIAB write up

 

[Gavin C]

No I would not invest any more time or money into this batch.

If it's gone bad, dump it. Learn the lessons and move on would be what I would do. Brewing for me is like cooking. If I make a meal I don't like I don't eat it (unless I'm really hungry)

Lots of folks seem to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to fix bad beers. Best of luck to them and to you if that's what you want to do. I just don't have the patience I guess.

Just chuck it and clean your gear. Next lager pitch an appropriately sized starter. Been doing lagers and hybrids of late. FG is usually reached and the beer kegged in 2 weeks.

This is way past the point of safety for a wort IMO. Still 1.040+ it could well harbor nasties to make you or others sick.

Thanks for reading my write up. Hope it was of some use.

Where about in DFW are you? I'm in Irving.

 

[simplegreen]

Office is in Irving, i go there.. every few... months... I live out in East Rockwall county

 

[Chadwick]

Fixing bad beers seems to work better when you are making an Ale. Even then, from my own experience, you won't make a "Hail Mary" save most of the time.

If I was shooting for a Lager and things went bad, I'd be much less optimistic with "saving" techniques than I would if it was an Ale.

Lagers are about the clean fermentation. If that fermentation isn't clean, then it isn't. End of story. End of lager.

Sure, you can save it and possibly make a beer that can be consumed. But it won't be anything like what you intended. More than that, you can't disguise the mistake into something you can claim to have intended to make. Based on my own experience with lagers gone bad, the best you can hope for is a beer that will age into something that you can give to winos.

The strong flavor flaws of a lager gone wrong are hard to cover. At best you can hope it tastes like Naddy Daddy.