TristanLowery
Member
...but I haven't been able to find answers elsewhere that help my particular case. I've been brewing for two years now and haven't had much need to post here as I've been able to troubleshoot much on my own, but sometimes RDWHAHB just doesn't cut it and one craves further assurance.
Here's the situation. I brewed a porter back in late July, with cocoa powder at the end of the boil. After 14 days in primary, it began to develop a faint white film, which to me looked like white mold growing on what I believe was residual cocoa powder (or oils) floating on top of the wort. I racked it into secondary with the hope that would shake it. Nope. Came back in another week, though not as thick and ugly. By this point I'd hit the target FG so I racked it again, but this time onto some crushed Campden tablets. Everything looked - and tasted - fine for another week so, thinking I finally have this thing beat, I added some cacao nibs which I'd soaked in grain alcohol overnight. After another week, the film was back. I moved the carboy into a dark closet two days ago and - I think this is telling - the film doubled in size to become larger than ever. I just gave up on this mess tonight and sewered the whole batch but I still have a few questions.
Was it just mold? Or a pellicle indicative of something nastier? I regret not having an y photos to show. It didn't look unlike pellicles I've seen before, but it also looked like mold, and the fact that it seemed to grow in the absence of light seems to indicate something fungal. It really took off after just one day of darkness.
I do have two sours going now - a Flanders sour brown and a saison with Orval dregs but they've been laying untouched in secondary for months before I brewed this porter,and I keep two distinct sets of "clean" and "dirty" equipment (hoses, auto-siphons, airlocks, even carboys, etcetera). I don't think the contamination came from them. Also, those pellicles took months to form and when they did, the beers tasted funky. This porter had a film after two weeks, but tasted clean even after two months.
My only really worry was in having used my "clean" gear to rack this porter, and then having used that same equipment to bottle a Belgian golden strong ale and a braggot, and also in the brewing of a bitter. This all happened in the last month or so and I haven't noticed any problems in those beers - even if that porter was infected, could a dip in there with a racking cane followed by Star San ensure transmission for the other beers? Do I just go and buy some new plastic gear and cross my fingers? Or is the fact that nothing seems wrong yet a sign that I should just relax?
Cheers. I'm off to bleach that carboy like crazy. Thanks for any replies!
Here's the situation. I brewed a porter back in late July, with cocoa powder at the end of the boil. After 14 days in primary, it began to develop a faint white film, which to me looked like white mold growing on what I believe was residual cocoa powder (or oils) floating on top of the wort. I racked it into secondary with the hope that would shake it. Nope. Came back in another week, though not as thick and ugly. By this point I'd hit the target FG so I racked it again, but this time onto some crushed Campden tablets. Everything looked - and tasted - fine for another week so, thinking I finally have this thing beat, I added some cacao nibs which I'd soaked in grain alcohol overnight. After another week, the film was back. I moved the carboy into a dark closet two days ago and - I think this is telling - the film doubled in size to become larger than ever. I just gave up on this mess tonight and sewered the whole batch but I still have a few questions.
Was it just mold? Or a pellicle indicative of something nastier? I regret not having an y photos to show. It didn't look unlike pellicles I've seen before, but it also looked like mold, and the fact that it seemed to grow in the absence of light seems to indicate something fungal. It really took off after just one day of darkness.
I do have two sours going now - a Flanders sour brown and a saison with Orval dregs but they've been laying untouched in secondary for months before I brewed this porter,and I keep two distinct sets of "clean" and "dirty" equipment (hoses, auto-siphons, airlocks, even carboys, etcetera). I don't think the contamination came from them. Also, those pellicles took months to form and when they did, the beers tasted funky. This porter had a film after two weeks, but tasted clean even after two months.
My only really worry was in having used my "clean" gear to rack this porter, and then having used that same equipment to bottle a Belgian golden strong ale and a braggot, and also in the brewing of a bitter. This all happened in the last month or so and I haven't noticed any problems in those beers - even if that porter was infected, could a dip in there with a racking cane followed by Star San ensure transmission for the other beers? Do I just go and buy some new plastic gear and cross my fingers? Or is the fact that nothing seems wrong yet a sign that I should just relax?
Cheers. I'm off to bleach that carboy like crazy. Thanks for any replies!
