If I Drink this Weird Cyser…

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HeyGuero!

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Long time lurker first time poster. If this post belongs somewhere else or has been done to death, well… I’m sorry … I’m… I’m fat.

Is this infected? Will I die or get kidney failure if I drink it (dealbreaker) OR will I just get the trots (kinda negotiable).

I made a cyser:
- 1 gallon store bought apple (treetop)
- yeast nutrient
- pectin enzyme
- 2 cups honey
- no og reading
- sanitized everything with Star San in a spray bottle
- temp control was an ice bath. Managed to keep it under 75 but i had to baby sit it.

red flags:
- what looks like a pelecile or yeast raft started to form towards the end of primary. Creamy colored, size of a 50 cent piece, 1 large bubble in the center. Dispersed when agitated but reformed hours later. No blue, black, green. Airlock smelled sweet and boozy. Smelled ok.

- cold crashed and forgot about it for 3 days. Yeast raft / possible pelecile gone. Noticed strange, clots with whisps that stirred up when moving the jug to my counter. Those have settled. Smells damn good.

So that’s all the info I can recall.
I’ve read a lot of internets and YouTube’s that say there’s infections that can really ruin your day and I’m super green with mead and cider. This is my what, 8th gallon maybe?

Appreciate any and all help.

2 pics attached. One with the floater dead center under the stopper (crappy pic, sorry) and the other with the whisps.
 

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Is this infected? Will I die or get kidney failure if I drink it (dealbreaker) OR will I just get the trots (kinda negotiable).

1. Doesn't look infected, looks like yeasts rafts.

2. No, you won't die from drinking it. People drink sour beer all the time and live fruitful, long lives.

Good luck!
 
Long time lurker first time poster. If this post belongs somewhere else or has been done to death, well… I’m sorry … I’m… I’m fat.

Is this infected? Will I die or get kidney failure if I drink it (dealbreaker) OR will I just get the trots (kinda negotiable).

I made a cyser:
- 1 gallon store bought apple (treetop)
- yeast nutrient
- pectin enzyme
- 2 cups honey
- no og reading
- sanitized everything with Star San in a spray bottle
- temp control was an ice bath. Managed to keep it under 75 but i had to baby sit it.

red flags:
- what looks like a pelecile or yeast raft started to form towards the end of primary. Creamy colored, size of a 50 cent piece, 1 large bubble in the center. Dispersed when agitated but reformed hours later. No blue, black, green. Airlock smelled sweet and boozy. Smelled ok.

- cold crashed and forgot about it for 3 days. Yeast raft / possible pelecile gone. Noticed strange, clots with whisps that stirred up when moving the jug to my counter. Those have settled. Smells damn good.

So that’s all the info I can recall.
I’ve read a lot of internets and YouTube’s that say there’s infections that can really ruin your day and I’m super green with mead and cider. This is my what, 8th gallon maybe?

Appreciate any and all help.

2 pics attached. One with the floater dead center under the stopper (crappy pic, sorry) and the other with the whisps.
That looks like it could be ANY of the meads that I've made. Yeast rafts won't harm you. The whispy stuff should settle out, but, is harmless to consume.
It should be fine.
I hope this helps you.
Happy meading 😎
 
That looks like it could be ANY of the meads that I've made. Yeast rafts won't harm you. The whispy stuff should settle out, but, is harmless to consume.
It should be fine.
I hope this helps you.
Happy meading 😎
Appreciate the help. I racked it to secondary with some cracked corriander and a few bay leaves (trying to "hop" it without driving 45 min to my LHBS) and everythign seems A-OK. smells good, tastes harsh but that should age out hopefully.
 
Have you racked it yet or is this your primary?
pics are from primary - more specifically, 3-ish days in the fridge. moving it to the counter seemed to kick up some grody lookin' blobs but they settled out.

since I'm new to mead and cider I'm "barking" at every new thing I see. know what I mean? lol
 
I make all kinds of weird meads and ciders with mixed wild and commercial yeasts and see surface growth quite often. I siphon off from underneath the surface material and if it smells bad, I don't taste it. If it passes the smell test, I'll taste a small amount and its usually fine but occasionally I have to pour one out.
 
I make all kinds of weird meads and ciders with mixed wild and commercial yeasts and see surface growth quite often. I siphon off from underneath the surface material and if it smells bad, I don't taste it. If it passes the smell test, I'll taste a small amount and its usually fine but occasionally I have to pour one out.

Can you give me an example of one you ended up tossing? Smell, taste, what you think went wrong? Have you ever been legit sick off of a bad one?
 
Usually when I toss out a cider/wine it has turned acidic like vinegar. When beer goes bad it gets a sour taste and/or bad smell.
I've never gotten sick from anything I've fermented.
If it tastes weird, I don't drink it.
After 20+ years, I've dumped maybe 2 batches of wine, 1 batch of cider and maybe three beers that I couldn't stand. One beer got infected when I added Peanut Butter powder to secondary, another one was made with old LME and was just nasty tasting and another went sour somehow and its been sitting in a carboy for a while and needs to be dumped. Note I have a large inventory and likely have something funky that needs to be dumped, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.
 
Usually when I toss out a cider/wine it has turned acidic like vinegar. When beer goes bad it gets a sour taste and/or bad smell.
I've never gotten sick from anything I've fermented.
If it tastes weird, I don't drink it.
After 20+ years, I've dumped maybe 2 batches of wine, 1 batch of cider and maybe three beers that I couldn't stand. One beer got infected when I added Peanut Butter powder to secondary, another one was made with old LME and was just nasty tasting and another went sour somehow and its been sitting in a carboy for a while and needs to be dumped. Note I have a large inventory and likely have something funky that needs to be dumped, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience! My inventory goes almost as fast as I can make it! Granted, my capacity is only 5 1gallon jugs. lol.
 

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