Infected Irish Red ale?

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John Mertic

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Started seeing this around a month after being in the primary. First batch of BIAB.
 

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It doesn't look good. But, why primary so long? I know that many do long primaries, others transfer to secondary for weeks on end. Neither is necessary. Reach final gravity then a few days to be sure and allow the yeast to clean up off flavors (if any) then package. It might not help if the contamination was already done. But it lessens the risk.
 
That's a pellicle and it indicates the presence of wild yeast and/or bacteria.
It's not harmful and it doesn't need to be dumped. If it smells and tastes fine, it's OK to package.

If you bottle, closely monitor carbonation level to make sure it doesn't over-carbonate.

Clean your equipment thoroughly after this and try to improve cleaning/sanitation for the next batch.
 
You posted this on April 1:
Did an Irish Red ( first BIAB! ) and Irish Dry Stout extract kit. Active fermentation kicked in heavy today- blew the airlock out of my carboy doing the Dry Stout!
It's actually been in your primary for 6 weeks now. Is that picture how it looks right now at this moment?
Or did it become worse, more bubbles, haze on top, a white/off-white skin/pellicle?

It's definitely an infection, but it may still taste OK. Or not.
 
You posted this on April 1:

It's actually been in your primary for 6 weeks now. Is that picture how it looks right now at this moment?
Or did it become worse, more bubbles, haze on top, a white/off-white skin/pellicle?

It's definitely an infection, but it may still taste OK. Or not.

Good catch!

So that picture is as of today. I'd say that haze formed over the past 4-5 days. Time got away from me and was planning to bottle with my Irish Dry Stout ( which oddly blew out the airlock 24 hours into fermentation yet looks great ).
 
It doesn't look good. But, why primary so long? I know that many do long primaries, others transfer to secondary for weeks on end. Neither is necessary. Reach final gravity then a few days to be sure and allow the yeast to clean up off flavors (if any) then package. It might not help if the contamination was already done. But it lessens the risk.

Honestly - time got away from me. Was also looking to bottle this and the Irish Dry Stout next to it at the same time, which the latter I was letting go an extra week.
 
Honestly - time got away from me. Was also looking to bottle this and the Irish Dry Stout next to it at the same time, which the latter I was letting go an extra week.
We've all been there I think.
I would first taste it before spending time on bottling it, in case it's not good enough. It will be flat beer at that point, so you'll need to extrapolate some of the missing mouthfeel, flavor, and cold sensation.

Adhere to @RPh_Guy's notes above regarding bottling. Small infections aren't the end of our endeavors. It looks pretty innocent now, but could grow larger.

What sanitizer did/do you use?
 
We've all been there I think.
I would first taste it before spending time on bottling it, in case it's not good enough. It will be flat beer at that point, so you'll need to extrapolate some of the missing mouthfeel, flavor, and cold sensation.

Adhere to @RPh_Guy's notes above regarding bottling. Small infections aren't the end of our endeavors. It looks pretty innocent now, but could grow larger.

What sanitizer did/do you use?

Thanks :)

I clean with OxyClean and use Star San.
 
Something got in there, now you need to find the vector, to prevent it happening in future brews. Could have been something lurking in the carboy that the starsan couldn't reach, but the more likely culprit is in either a ball valve from the kettle or the equipment used to transfer from the kettle to the fermenter. Take apart everything you possibly can and clean them to a fair-thee-well, and give a good soak in starsan before your next brewday.
 
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