blitzgp
Active Member
So After a year+ of homebrewing and using these forums, I've seen numerous threads of "how bad is my infection/can I recover?"
I finally had my first infection and just ditched it (it was only about 2 gallons, but it had completely crapped up pretty rapidly). A month or so later, a new 5 gallon batch that had been split in half (half drank and half continued to age) had started to get infected. The crap that gets stuck at the neck of my fermenter (malt and hop residue that likes to float and get stuck in the krausen) started to mold, or whatever yucky gets white and fuzzy. There was also a very light sheen on my beer, but nothing blatent like my first infected batch.
I guess my question is, at what point do I call it, and play taps for my otherwise delicious batch? It is a scotch ale, so it has a very sweet aroma, kind of like a light mildew. I went into crisis mode and as soon as it was detected, racked to a new, sanitary fermenter and added a few bonus shots of vodka to kill anything that survived!
If no little critters come back, should I consider it a success? I am looking for an honest assesment of a good aged beer, and not just something that is safe to drink because I will drink the hell out of any of my home brew that doesnt look back at me before I am going to drink it! :cross:
*edit* also, after a week theres no physical sign of re-infection, just the slight off smell, and also, this was a very strong scotch ale, so 9-10% abv, so Im slightly paranoid of critters that can grow in that kind of environment
I finally had my first infection and just ditched it (it was only about 2 gallons, but it had completely crapped up pretty rapidly). A month or so later, a new 5 gallon batch that had been split in half (half drank and half continued to age) had started to get infected. The crap that gets stuck at the neck of my fermenter (malt and hop residue that likes to float and get stuck in the krausen) started to mold, or whatever yucky gets white and fuzzy. There was also a very light sheen on my beer, but nothing blatent like my first infected batch.
I guess my question is, at what point do I call it, and play taps for my otherwise delicious batch? It is a scotch ale, so it has a very sweet aroma, kind of like a light mildew. I went into crisis mode and as soon as it was detected, racked to a new, sanitary fermenter and added a few bonus shots of vodka to kill anything that survived!
If no little critters come back, should I consider it a success? I am looking for an honest assesment of a good aged beer, and not just something that is safe to drink because I will drink the hell out of any of my home brew that doesnt look back at me before I am going to drink it! :cross:
*edit* also, after a week theres no physical sign of re-infection, just the slight off smell, and also, this was a very strong scotch ale, so 9-10% abv, so Im slightly paranoid of critters that can grow in that kind of environment
