Help! Can I save my beer from mold in the secondary?

[chris899]

I just racked to secondary yesterday, and when I went to check on my beer tonight I noticed a layer of mold growing on the top of my barleywine. I was very careful about sanitation, but there is a lot of headroom in the secondary.

Is there any way to save my beer? I was hoping to age this one for a couple of months.

Thanks!

 

[Brettomomyces]

Are you sure it's mold? Post a pic if you can. Some yeast strains can leave some floaties and other stuff floatin around

 

[chris899]

Sorry, the image was supposed to embed. Here is a second shot:

http://imgur.com/81oFd0d

 

[Brettomomyces]

That looks more like yeastie stuff to me, during racking you might have stirred something up. I wouldn't worry about it. What strain did you use?

 

[chris899]

I used the classic American Ale yeast (1056 smack pack + Safale 05).

I'm mostly concerned because the primary had a clean top after the krausen died off, with just a solid yeast/protein cake at the bottom.

 

[chris899]

Here's another photo, in better focus: http://imgur.com/D8CvCnr

Thanks for the help! I was freaking out when I saw white things in spots across the top.

 

[Yooper]

It does look like mold, and it is WAY too much headspace.

Mold only grows in the presence of oxygen. That much headspace would definitely allow mold growth, although it came pretty fast if you only racked yesterday.

 

[Brettomomyces]

The quick turnaround is what had me thinking it wasn't mold...tried it yet?

 

[chris899]

I think I just have a case of yeast here. I'm planning on aging this barleywine for about ~2 months so I'm not too keen on opening it up, especially with the amount of headroom I have.

From what I can tell, the white stuff is partially submerged, as compared to normal mold which grows on the surface. Additionally, I don't think it's very fuzzy. I've been brewing in opaque buckets for years now, but this is the first time I've seen all the weird stuff which happens while fermenting. I guess we'll see in 2 months how this beer turns out, but it definitely smelled good going into the secondary!

 

[vensik]

If it was really overnight, I would point more at the yeast. I would be very surprised to see mold grow that quickly on top of the amount of abv in a secondary of a barley wine.