Help! Had a mare on brew day

[Jamie Pow]

Hi,

Basically I had a shocker this brew day I have done a few with reasonable success this time around I am 7 days in and have no change in specific gravity. I went to re pitch my yeast and this is what I am greeted by (see pic) is this an infection? It tastes and smells terrible or is it still worth re pitching? Thanks for the help

 

[RPh_Guy]

The photo shows an active yeast fermentation. The foam is called "krausen".
It's hard to believe there's no change in specific gravity at this point.

It tastes and smells terrible

How so?

I would not add yeast to it at this point. I would let it ride with whatever is currently fermenting it and see how it does.

Good luck, and welcome to HBT!

BTW a "mare" is a female horse. I'm not sure what you meant. Nightmare?

 

[Jamie Pow]

Hey,

It tastes Sour I didn’t hang around long enough to get give a decent opinion on the smell but it’s not great. I will give it another week and keep an eye out for any change in specific gravity.

I did think it could be Krausen but haven’t seen it to this extent before but I am a novice so will stick with it.

I was using it as slang for “nightmare” must be a New Zealand thing

 

[Jamie Pow]

Hey,

It tastes Sour I didn’t hang around long enough to get give a decent opinion on the smell but it’s not great. I will give it another week and keep an eye out for any change in specific gravity.

I did think it could be Krausen but haven’t seen it to this extent before but I am a novice so will stick with it.

Also just thought would be worth adding I have kept and eye on the airlock and there has been no action

I was using it as slang for “nightmare” must be a New Zealand thing

 

[RPh_Guy]

It tastes Sour I didn’t hang around long enough to get give a decent opinion on the smell but it’s not great.

It's too soon to judge.

I did think it could be Krausen but haven’t seen it to this extent before but I am a novice so will stick with it.

Perhaps you haven't previously looked into the fermenter during active fermentation. The photo looks like a totally normal fermentation during the first few days.

Also just thought would be worth adding I have kept and eye on the airlock and there has been no action

Airlock activity isn't a good indicator of fermentation because of the potential for leaks.

If it doesn't start dropping the specific gravity in the next couple days, I'd probably dump that batch.

 

[Sadu]

Kia ora bro,

I'd agree completely with Rph_Guy - this looks normal to me. Infections wouldn't normally present themselves at this stage in the process anyway and it's also fairly normal for the beer to taste like crap when it's warm, uncarbonated and unfinished.

I'm also surprised that your gravity reading hasn't changed - that is a healthy looking krauesen which means fermentation is in progress. I'd say it's far more likely that you are reading the hydrometer wrong vs the brew having the same gravity as when you started.

Give this more time. Wait for that krauesen to drop out. Bottle / keg it as normal. It doesn't look infected to me, but even if it is there's not much you can do at this point so you should proceed as per the plan.

 

[RM-MN]

Not all yeasts put out the best smell during fermentation. There is a term used to describe some of them, "rhino farts", and your yeast strain might be one of those. Given time the beer turns out fine.

 

[Dland]

It could be an infection if it tastes that bad. I had some batches that had normal looking krausen and were undrinkable. I think it was some sort of acid producing bacteria(not a good kind) that got going early in fermentation. If it is the same infection I had, it will taste so bad and acidic it ruined sense of taste for a day or so.

If you have this infection a very thorough cleaning is in order, and I certainly would not bother to bottle or keg.