Green Nasties?

[sethhelstrip]

I'm making a Coopers Stout at the moment. This time I decided to deviate from the instructions and used 500g of extra dark spray malt and 300g of brown sugar - and I also reduced the quantity to 32 pints.

Anyway, I was worried that its not smelling like its going mad - so I lifted the lid on it today, and found this green stuff on top of the foam.

http://s27.postimg.org/f07qp73hf/IMG_20140119_142925_small.jpg

This is the first time I've ever seen anything like this - and to be honest - its a bit of a shock.

Thought I'd sterilised properly - but I guess I could be wrong.

Could someone with more experience of this, than me, cast an eye, and let me know your thoughts?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[IslandLizard]

Eh, picture isn't showing up.

Could it be hops?

 

[crookedibrews]

Sounds like hops I can't see the pic

 

[unionrdr]

Perhaps these Green Nasties are the decendents of the Blue Meanies? Seriously though,with no pic,it could be hop pellet residue.

 

[sethhelstrip]

Sorry guys - just updated with the pic url - not sure why it didn't show.

 

[flars]

The krausen looks different, but not highly unusual.
I hope you are not planning to use the typical Coopers' instructions. With the additional sugars, spraymalt, and reduced volume this one will take at least three weeks in the primary. I would personally look at four weeks.

 

[ProfessorWoland]

How long has it been fermenting for?

 

[sethhelstrip]

5 days now. I scooped the green stuff off last night, and this morning it smells like its working again.

I've just been given a load of empty bottles so think I'll bottle it.

flars - you talk about additional sugars - but actually, the sugars I included are less than the 1kg of sugar recommended in the kit instructions. The sprayed malt extract and brown sugar only equate to 800g in total - which I thought was 'about' proportional to the reduction in kit volume. Do you still think I should be leaving it for longer than a week? I'd planned to bottle on Wednesday evening.

 

[Zepth]

I've had a couple with the hops up on top of the krausen, and that picture wasn't close. It was more of a blue-grey nasties if you ask me. If you scooped it off, and it arrived after the krausen had formed it's possible - not guaranteed, but possible - that the krausen has saved the day.

May I ask on behalf of the forum what your process for sanitizing?

 

[sethhelstrip]

3 pints of boiling water + thin bleach (with no detergent) - washed with new cloth, then rinsed 3 times with cold tap water. Its not failed me before, and I've been brewing for about 7 years now.

 

[IslandLizard]

Do I have this right? You used 500gr of dry malt powder and 300gr of brown sugar in 32 pints (=4 gallons) of water to brew this? Apart from yeast, nothing else?

Did you add any hops or was the spray malt hopped?

Krausen forms naturally and doesn't hurt you beer, it actually helps to ferment it as it contains yeast and carbon dioxide which protects the beer underneath from oxidation. Krausen is normal and should be left alone. Although hops are green, the bluish-green patches could be from hop particles. Hopped malt is a strange concoction in that.

Whether the "beer" is done in a week is a different question. Yeast is not on a recipe's time schedule, it just does its work according to what you feed it. With the high percentage of simple sugars and uncontrolled fermentation temperature it will make a lot of fusel alcohols and other byproducts. I'd leave it alone for a few weeks, to clean up the byproducts, and not open that bucket too often. 7 years huh?

 

[brewkinger]

As far as the picture goes, it would appear that you had (have?) the start of a nice little pellicle forming.
Whether you scooped it off or not, my advice would be the same. Rack the good beer out and see what you end up with.

As far as sanitation goes: forget the bleach! Look up starsan or iodophor.
The flaw I see in your process is that you bleach sanitized THEN rinsed with water which could reintroduce an infection.
Starsan is a no rinse / wet sanitizer.

 

[sethhelstrip]

was just chatting to a friend about this, and he asked whether I rehydrated my yeast.

Interestingly, this is the first time I have, in a long time.

He mentioned he'd noticed in the past, that brews where the yeast is rehydrated are more prone to mould like infections.

Anyone have an idea why this is?

 

[Corey_SS]

I've not heard of the rehydration thing. I'm just thinking out loud I guess but since the infection seems to be on top of the krausen, is it possible there was a fruit fly or something?

 

[davekippen]

Looked normal to me. Krausen and fermenting beer almost always looks nasty and smells even worse. Search the infection thread that is somewhere on HBT for some real pics of infections! I never show any of my non brewer friends any beer in fermentation stage, or even when I rack from primary because it is normally fairly ugly and smelly!

 

[unionrdr]

Now that I see the pic,it looks like blue/grey mold with a white lellicle forming. Def get some Starsan sanitizer. It's no rinse & will work better. And as long as the water you rehydrate with is boiled & allowed to cool covered,it shouldn't allow nasties to get going in it.