Gelatinized cold break from too-hot fermentation?

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McKnuckle

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It's rare-to-never that I have a brewing problem that I can't Google and find a dozen or more instances of people experiencing the same thing. It's all been done before. But not this time!

I brewed a Saison with 100% pils, mashing around 150º. I pitched WLP565 at 68º and after 24 hours, there was no activity. The wort was clear as can be, straw yellow with settled trub on the bottom. So I placed a heating pad under it and went to bed. The next morning, I checked and the temperature was 95º. Whoops... But at least the yeast were churning away vigorously.

After reading about this, it seems a hot temp is tolerated by this yeast, and others report great flavors with no fusels even when fermenting so high. They warned about cooling too much as it might cause the yeast to stall out. So I adjusted things to the mid-80s, and rode it out.

It's now a week later, and the "beer" is basically still... but totally opaque, gummy, and the color of buttermilk. I tried to take a gravity sample, but the liquid in my wine thief was viscous and gooey, dripping "mouse tails" instead of pouring, so there was no point in continuing. I've placed a sample in the fridge to see if it would clear, and nope, after a day, it's exactly the same.

So here's what I think happened: When I heated the fermenter from underneath, it basically cooked the settled break material, causing it to gelatinize and remain suspended throughout the beer. It's not a layer - it's pervasive.

The beer is, I'm betting, toast.

Any thoughts on this theory, or similar experiences?
 
My guess is contamination by bacteria that produce slimy exopolysaccharides. It will be hard to pinpoint the source of the contamination, but holding your beer at 95 is going to favor these fast growing organisms.

You may be able to rescue the beer by pitching Brettanomyces, which can chew up the goopy polymers. I would probably dump and clean.

Have you tasted the snot yet?
 
I have tasted it. It's hard to get past the consistency, which is like...ugh. It's a bit sour, bit bitter, yeasty, but not funky or "off." I have clean yeast at the bottom of the fermenter. I still think it might be cooked break proteins. Dunno. In any case, I'm not going to play with bugs. I wanted a nice Saison! Time to dump I think.
 
Does the beer smell or taste buttery in addition to the sourness? If so, it is probably contaminated with pediococcus. Pedio throws a lot of diacetyl and is known for making lambics "sick" with ropy, viscous material that is broken down by brettanomyces later in the fermentation.
 
Not really too buttery. The images I've looked at showing pediococcus infections show the presence of a film on top of the beer, distinct from the rest of the liquid. Mine was consistent through and through the entire volume. There was no separate head, scale, or floating layer. The entire beer was the consistency and color of mucus, basically. Yeah, that's it - I was searching for the right disgusting substance and it's mucus... Horrifying. :cross:

I did dump it this weekend. There was a clean layer of yeast on the bottom which I discarded, just in case it was infected. However, there was no cold break material. Despite the suggestions that I had an infection, I'm still leaning towards my original theory about the break becoming gelatinized. The scoops of fermenting beer that I took off the top, put in a jar, and refrigerated, also never settled. There is some yeast at the bottom but the liquid is opaque mucus. There is no discernible texture, layering, or any other structure to it.

I realize this is off the beaten track for what most brewers experience, but I will hold out that there's a scientist out there lurking who one day might reply here...
 
Not too buttery? Any amount of buttery flavor is not a good sign.

Also, not all contaminations result in a pellicle (surface growth of bacteria). The appearance of your beer (hazy, slimy) and the flavor (slight butter, slight sour), together with the fermentation temperature all point towards contamination.

People ferment sour beers at 90-110 degrees all the time. When Pediococcus or other select species of Lactobacillus are involved, the beer starts out exactly how you are describing it. In those cases, there is also break material in the fermenter.

This process is not like cooking an egg, which I think is the comparison you are trying to make. Perhaps you think your beers are immune to infection so you are looking for alternative explanations?

I'm a scientist too. Does that help? Either way, your should probably clean your equipment pretty well.
 
By "not too buttery" I mean I didn't detect butter. That's more explicit. Anyway, it was gross, and now it's gone. Good riddance.

I certainly don't think my beers are immune to infection - I've had one occur before. But my cold break disappeared and I'm still looking for it. I like exploring possibilities, so thanks for your assessment; it certainly may be correct. You're diagnosing a problem over the internet with no photos or personal empiricism involved. No need for sarcasm. ;)

I am soaking my fermenter in PBW and expect it to be fine after that.
 
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