I might finally have my first infection....

[TasunkaWitko]

Okay - first, I know that it is not necessary to panic; however, I might have my first infection.

I brewed my Chestnut Brown Ale mix, from Brooklyn Brew Shop. Details are here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=570737

This morning, I saw a few white goopy-looking hings floating on the top of the beer. I assume this is some sort of infection. I know that the beer is not necessarily ruined, but my question is, where do I go from here?

 

[freisste]

Confirm that it is infected. Beer looks absolutely disgusting (one man's opinion) during fermentation.

That being said, if it IS infected...
Store that bucket for a LONG time to mellow. Then treat it like any other beer. Don't use the bucket for any beers you don't want sour. Treat that beer and any equipment used on it like any other infected friend...quarantine.

Pictures?

 

[antony]

don't bet on infection just yet. I've had creepy looking yeast rafts, a never dropping krausen, mold once, & an infection...give it some time to really see what's going on. if a 'skin' starts to form, then I'd start thinking more about an infection. My bet at this stage is that it's just yeast.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Say, guys - thanks for the replies so far.

I'll try to get a photo posted tonight or tomorrow.

The main thing with this one is that fermentation never really took off like it has with past brews. It never did develop a krausen, and the slow fermentation that I did have seemed to be finished after about 4 days. For the first 10 minutes of the mash, I was 8 to 10 degrees high, but other than that, all was normal as far as I can tell.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I apologise - I never did get a photo, but whatever it is, the same thing happened to my Summer Wheat beer. I the beer itself tasted fine, so I bottle both beers over the weekend, straining them as best as I could and keeping everything as sanitary as possible - to the point of dipping all of my bottles in boiling water for 30 seconds prior to bottling.


My Chestnut brown ale looks fine in the bottles, but my bottles of Summer wheat all have some white floaties on the top - enough to almost make a "plug" on the top of the beer. I don't really think it is anything serious or dangerous, but it sure looks funky. It might also be some sort of lacto thing - just a hunch, but nothing that I can say for sure. The beer tasted great prior to bottling, so I'll wait it out and see how it goes. I'll do my first tasting in about 3 weeks, and will know more at that time.


My wife is a "cat person" and we have a lot of cats running around the house who think they run the show, so anything is possible. I'll be sanitising all of my brewing equipment before my next brew, washing in oxi-clean, dipping everything into a bleach solution and storing it in a new, sanitized bin.


I'll report on results when I sample the beer - probably in about 3 weeks. I am positive that everything will TASTE fine, just not sure how it will look!

 

[lolcats]

I'm sure it looked something like this:

Which is absolutely normal when Krausen drops.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

That's pretty much identical, indeed!


This was the first time out of over half a dozen brews that this has happened, so it was new - but considering the temperature fluctuations during fermentation, it makes sense.


Thanks!

 

[lolcats]

That's pretty much identical, indeed!


This was the first time out of over half a dozen brews that this has happened, so it was new - but considering the temperature fluctuations during fermentation, it makes sense.


Thanks!

Not all yeast strains will produce this pattern, so you might not have experienced it before.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Small update - I bottled this beer a little over 2 weeks ago. I don't know if it was necessary, but I did my best to strain the stuff out before bottling. I ahd a little bit of leftover beer after bottling, and it tasted great ~


A couple of days after bottling, there were floaties galore on top, along with the usual beginnings of sediment on the bottom. By the time two weeks had past, nearly all bottles were free and clear, and the floaties had settled down. One or two still had them, but I am guessing that conditioning in the refrigerator a few days will take care of that.


I am due to test the finished beer this weekend, and we'll see how things go then.


Thanks to all for the advice - the main takeaway from this is that it is pretty darned hard for beer to be flat-out ruined. You might encounter a surprise o two along the way, but the important thing is to not give up, and to learn from the experience.

 

[MaryB]

I just taste tested a bottle of NB Block Party Ale, couple little white floaters I am guessing are yeast that haven't dropped out yet(only at day 6 in the bottle) in the glass. Nothing unusual flavor wise and this is a very refreshing well carbonated beer for being so young! Will see if they drop out in 8 more days... And I need to see if I kept the recipe sheet for this because it is a very tasty summer beer!