ILBMF
Well-Known Member
I did a 10 gallon batch of my IPA last Sunday and split it between two 6.5 gallon carboys. Today I uncovered them to rack them to secondaries and they had a broken up layer of what looked like pieces of semi solid, tan colored, wet felt or leather on top of the beer. The pieces looked kind of like yeast (1/16'' thick)or even mold (no hair) with slightly rounded peaks on the surface of the beer. Definitely semi solid, with folded or rounded, ribbon like folds that went below the surface of the beer in some spots.
I went ahead and racked both carboys and dry hopped the hell out of them as usual after getting a taste which seemed normal without any off flavors for a week old IPA straight from the primary. This was a ten gallon batch done with all grain and White Labs California ale yeast and a healthy, active starter. The only stupid thing I can think of that I did was top off the carboys with about a quart each with straight up tap water from my well water system (without a cleansing boil) If this is an infection I suspect that's why. We have had a lot of rain lately and I'm thinking the non boiled well water addition may have infected the beer.
Either way, this is the first time I've seen a broken up layer of semi-hard, tan weirdness on the top of any beer I've made. WHAT MY CHANCES OF DECENT BEER considering it's a 7.5% heavily hopped IPA and tastes ok at this point?
I'm considering getting a jump and doing another 10 gallons ASAP to keep the supply of conditioned beer on schedule.
I went ahead and racked both carboys and dry hopped the hell out of them as usual after getting a taste which seemed normal without any off flavors for a week old IPA straight from the primary. This was a ten gallon batch done with all grain and White Labs California ale yeast and a healthy, active starter. The only stupid thing I can think of that I did was top off the carboys with about a quart each with straight up tap water from my well water system (without a cleansing boil) If this is an infection I suspect that's why. We have had a lot of rain lately and I'm thinking the non boiled well water addition may have infected the beer.
Either way, this is the first time I've seen a broken up layer of semi-hard, tan weirdness on the top of any beer I've made. WHAT MY CHANCES OF DECENT BEER considering it's a 7.5% heavily hopped IPA and tastes ok at this point?
I'm considering getting a jump and doing another 10 gallons ASAP to keep the supply of conditioned beer on schedule.