IPA gone wrong-- I think it's got mold. Salvageable?

[yeasty]

It's your choice, but like I said, many people here have been surprised by the results of "chasing the aging dragon."

I and many of the other posters on here believe, that if you dump a beer too soon...the beer is a 100% failure....but if you decide to wait...I think the odds rise to 80-20 that your beer will turn out OK...or at the least 50-50....

If you do ever find a "gross" beer, which inevitably you will if you brew for a long time...consider sending it to the nearest "master" to where you live for proper enjoymen....er...I mean disposal.

im not arguing, just stating my opinion, and i got a few of those beers right now for anyone who wants them.

 

[7Enigma]

Well it appears no one has the guts to say it so I will bear that sword:

Beer causes cancer. Now please hand your beer over so that I may protect it, I mean you from the dangers.

 

[Revvy]

im not arguing, just stating my opinion, and i got a few of those beers right now for anyone who wants them.

It will be interesting to see in a few years if you still believe that, especially if you decide to brew a Sour Ale with Brett in it..I hear they look nasty for awhile.....:rockin:

Well it appears no one has the guts to say it so I will bear that sword:

Beer causes cancer. Now please hand your beer over so that I may protect it, I mean you from the dangers.

Don't forget Man-boobs from BPE in the water bottles many of us use to ferrment in....That's why I joined a gym.

Oh and my beergut.....I'm not pregnant, I'm a homebrewer,

 

[flyangler18]

i dont eat (or drink) gross things. ill leave the "experiments" to you master brewers. if i brew something that looks that evil its going in the toilet. id rather cash my chips in when that happens rather than spend even more time chasing that dragon. JMO.

Would you dump this?

Or this?

 

[yeasty]

so what is it. obviously its supposed to be that way or you wouldnt be trying to bait me.

 

[JoeMama]

It's your choice, but like I said, many people here have been surprised by the results of "chasing the aging dragon."

I and many of the other posters on here believe, that if you dump a beer too soon...the beer is a 100% failure....but if you decide to wait...I think the odds rise to 80-20 that your beer will turn out OK...or at the least 50-50....

If you do ever find a "gross" beer, which inevitably you will if you brew for a long time...consider sending it to the nearest "master" to where you live for proper enjoymen....er...I mean disposal.

I will add myself to this list of people who 'waited'.

I was looking back on some of my posts when I brewed a couple of batches that really really disappointed me. (I thought they were ruined, bad water, etc) The other day I kicked a keg of one of them and almost cried because it was so damn good. Ironically, these exact same brews were the ones that had BMC and craft brewers alike saying that they were some of the best beers they had ever tasted.

Like stated before, it will take a mere 30 more minutes of your life to bottle/keg this stuff and then move on to something else. (Totally forgetting about it) Thus allowing you to try it when you decide to remember later on down the road.

Besides, if that image on your beer scared you - dont get me started on what people EAT. (You like a GOOD steak dont you?)
-Me

 

[flyangler18]

so what is it. obviously its supposed to be that way or you wouldnt be trying to bait me.

I'm not trying to bait you at all - just pointing out through those images that fermentation can be an ugly and visually disturbing process.

The first picture is a lactobacillus pellicle on a Berliner Weisse, a sour ale. That is a purposeful infection.

The second is a 'yeast raft' on an ESB using an English yeast strain (West Yorkshire) that looks an awful lot like Bisquick. This strain is one of several that I use that has some unusual characteristics like that shown in the picture.

 

[7Enigma]

so what is it. obviously its supposed to be that way or you wouldnt be trying to bait me.

Probably pictures from the "is it ruined" thread posted earlier. And most llikely they turned out good. I've had a batch or two that looked similar to the second picture and I'm still kicking...but this weird 6th toe on my right foot...

 

[yeasty]

guys i am really just being the devils advocate on this. it seems none of the experienced brewers here will readily admit that sometimes the stuff needs to go down the drain. sure folks have been brewing for centuries but that doesnt mean it always tastes good. there are plenty of commercial bears i dont like as well...i dont drink those either just because they are beer (victory golden monkey comes to mind). if you got the time and resources to hold on to it for months or years then by all means do it. i cant imagine why someone would listen to my noob opinion anyway....figure it out for yourself. the 30-50 bucks invested in a batch is not all that much money to me so if i got somethin nasty in a bucket i have no fear dumping it and not looking back. thats just what works for me. we all need to find our own way and tolerances for the results. the OP had some nasty stuff going on there and most will at least admit that result is rare....i will not change my OPINION that is needs to be aborted. i wont use my friends and family as guinea pigs or my basement as a experimental lab. maybe someday when i get bored of how easy quality results can be ill find it fun to try weird stuff but i doubt it. im pretty picky about my food too !!!!

 

[flyangler18]

guys i am really just being the devils advocate on this. it seems none of the experienced brewers here will readily admit that sometimes the stuff needs to go down the drain. sure folks have been brewing for centuries but that doesnt mean it always tastes good. there are plenty of commercial bears i dont like as well...i dont drink those either just because they are beer (victory golden monkey comes to mind). if you got the time and resources to hold on to it for months or years then by all means do it. i cant imagine why someone would listen to my noob opinion anyway....figure it out for yourself. the 30-50 bucks invested in a batch is not all that much money to me so if i got somethin nasty in a bucket i have no fear dumping it and not looking back. thats just what works for me. we all need to find our own way and tolerances for the results. the OP had some nasty stuff going on there and most will at least admit that result is rare....i will not change my OPINION that is needs to be aborted. i wont use my friends and family as guinea pigs or my basement as a experimental lab. maybe someday when i get bored of how easy quality results can be ill find it fun to try weird stuff but i doubt it. im pretty picky about my food too !!!!

Fair enough. That's some serious mold going on in the OP which tells me that there was a breakdown in sanitation somewhere. My very first AG developed an infection in the bottle and I wrote off most of the batch. It was thin, acrid and not very good. However, I did cellar a 6 pack just to see how it would develop. Might need to crack one this evening just to satiate my curiosity.

But if we all rushed to dump just because something looked funky without bottling and conditioning before passing judgement, there'd be plenty of good beer that would water the lawn instead of quenching my thirst. There are times when dumping is a legitimate course of action.

I have only dumped one batch of beer (I believe it was my second AG batch) - a cherry wheat that SWMBO requested. The ferment went as expected, conditions were right. I screwed up in packaging. I used far too much cherry extract and it wasn't enjoyable at all. Chalked it up to experience and moved on. 48 batches later, I haven't had a reason to worry. I was happy to dump it.

 

[Revvy]

guys i am really just being the devils advocate on this. it seems none of the experienced brewers here will readily admit that sometimes the stuff needs to go down the drain. sure folks have been brewing for centuries but that doesnt mean it always tastes good. there are plenty of commercial bears i dont like as well...i dont drink those either just because they are beer (victory golden monkey comes to mind). if you got the time and resources to hold on to it for months or years then by all means do it. i cant imagine why someone would listen to my noob opinion anyway....figure it out for yourself. the 30-50 bucks invested in a batch is not all that much money to me so if i got somethin nasty in a bucket i have no fear dumping it and not looking back. thats just what works for me. we all need to find our own way and tolerances for the results. the OP had some nasty stuff going on there and most will at least admit that result is rare....i will not change my OPINION that is needs to be aborted. i wont use my friends and family as guinea pigs or my basement as a experimental lab. maybe someday when i get bored of how easy quality results can be ill find it fun to try weird stuff but i doubt it. im pretty picky about my food too !!!!

Dude, honestly, In all the batches I've brewed I have yet to have had to dump one, even the "questionable ones." What we're trying to get at with you is simply not to throw it away immediately.

To see a beer through the process and stick it away, because honestly, the majority of the time it ends up being ok....

We're not trying to fight with you..we're just trying to get you to understand that you have to at least try first...SO many new brewers panic and dump the beer, and never know if it turns out ok.

There is so much "magic" that can happen, the Yeasties are very very resiliant in their ability to fix stuff...Take those delicious sour beers that some (I haven't arrived there yet) love.....they turn sour, but the develop some nice complexities and flavors....

Worse case scenarios happen, but it is very very rare....

This is from my thread, on never dumping a beer, have you actually read the stories in there?

Alright guys. I have a beer that is just not... good. It is not a horrible beer, not infected... It is a year old now (been in a keg in the fridge). Oatmeal stout 5% ABV or so. What should I do with it? I don't have any parties where people drink a lot (hardly any at all) and I only have one drink a day (3 on weekend days) and I always want those to be something tasty.

Well brother Con....You've done exactly WHAT this thread is about. You've given it time, you've waited it out...If you are still not happy with it, then dump it...Unless you can think of a place you can get rid of it at...like to another brewer who might like it, and will return the keg when he kicks it...or a communty event.. If there's no way to unload it, and you're not going to enjoy drining it...then there's really no course of action other than committing beer-icide.

Gang, Con exemplifies the spirit of this thread....trying....not jumping the gun and dumping right away....but giving some time to your beer...it doesn't mean it's always gonna turn out OK....that EVERY BEER is going to magically heal in time....BUT I and many of the other posters believe, that if you dump a beer too soon...the beer is a 100% failure....but if you decide to wait...I think the odds rise to 80-20 that your beer will turn out OK...

There's nothing inherently wrong with Con's beer, I betcha I or many of you would actually LOVE it. But he's given it it's chance, given it some time...so there's nothing wrong with after a year, realizing that it is just not going to be something you are going to enjoy...and dumping it...

Because you tried!



Go in peace, Oatmeal Stout!!!!

That's all we're talking about here, that the difference between a new brewer, and a more experienced brewer is that he is not going to be so quick to dump a batch, because they understand that most of the time what we think is "bad" may ultimately turn out ok....

We're not trying to pick on you (though I hate when people feel the need to play "devil's advocate" especially if they have never tried what they are advocating about anyway) we just want you to understand that it is typical for a new brewer like you to have those thoughts and feelings, we all did but as we got more experience and faced things like mold, we trusted what other's on here with more experience said, gave it a try, and were pleasantly surprised by the outcome.


Yeasty (or any lurkers here), if you ever care to explore that side of brewing, or at least want to learn more about it I would check out Michael Tonsmeire's Blog, he's sorta the John Palmer of funky a$$-ed Brewing....

Stuff like sticking a dowel in a bunghole (sounds dirty) to let the critters do their thing and make a lambic...like this.

Here's the url.....The Mad Fermentationist

I'm no-where near that level of confidence in brewing that stuff, yet, in fact I haven't tried enough to actually like those styles....but it is truly educational to read.....You start to realize that if people can do that on purpose to their beers, then just maybe our beer isn't as bad as we may think.

So we're not picking on you, ok.

 

[andre the giant]

I would be very suspect of any batch that got an opportunistic fungal infection. In spite of my earlier comment, I would probably see if it was salvageable first though. (taste it after getting rid of the crud.)

There were only two batches I dumped. The first one was because I bottled too early and bottle bombs started going off. Plus, the foam, I mean, beer tasted like cardboard. (it was an early batch, like batch #4.)

The second dumperbrau was a strong spiced english ale. I brewed it, pitched the yeast, and fought with a stuck fermentation for a couple months. I pitched several batches of yeast into that sucker and the SG never dropped below 1.030. I tasted it along the way and it was tooooooo sweet. After a couple months, I tasted it and was greeted by the wonderful taste of vinegar. The beer developed a serious Acetobacteria infection, and I don't care how sour you like your beer, this stuff was rancid.

 

[flyangler18]

The second dumperbrau was a strong spiced english ale. I brewed it, pitched the yeast, and fought with a stuck fermentation for a couple months. I pitched several batches of yeast into that sucker and the SG never dropped below 1.030. I tasted it along the way and it was tooooooo sweet. After a couple months, I tasted it and was greeted by the wonderful taste of vinegar. The beer developed a serious Acetobacteria infection, and I don't care how sour you like your beer, this stuff was rancid.

You know, this is a great example about how sour beers have to be balanced. The base beer style has to be complementary to either a lactic tang from Lactobacillus or a cherry pie tartness/barnyardy character from Brettanomyces. Michael Tonsmeire (who is on HBT as Oldsock, BTW) can speak more thoroughly on this point than I can, as I've only done a handful of sour beers myself. A stock ale can handle a touch of funk - where something like a blonde ale would be positively revolting.

I think it is worth noting that beer spoilage organisms are everywhere. You known when you catch sight of dust in a sunbeam? That dust is covered with mold spores, bacteria, wild yeast, fungus, etc. If we were analyze commercial 'live' beers, I suspect we would find even low levels of organisms beyond Saccharomyces. Our fermentation spaces aren't sterile, only sanitary. Bugs get in despite our best efforts, but we have strong healthy yeast working on our sides. Brewer's yeast is voracious and will outcompete lots of hitchhikers.

To the OP and others: if you spoil a batch that tastes foul and unpleasant from obvious infection, don't try polishing a turd. If it's utter crap, dump it. If you have the space and time to see how it evolves, keep it - it'll be a learning experience. No shame in that if it gives you a reason to improve your process and technique.

 

[andre the giant]

Having to dump the strong spiced english ale really broke my heart. It may have been 4 months I held onto it, hoping for the best. And as I recall, I did bottle the thing eventually in hopes that the beer would heal itself. It didn't happen. So, I brewed it again. Same recipe, strong healthy yeast, fermentation went well, bottled it, aged it, turned out to be one of my best. But I'll always remember the sadness of having to let go of batch #36. <sniff, sniff>

 

[springer]

guys i am really just being the devils advocate on this. it seems none of the experienced brewers here will readily admit that sometimes the stuff needs to go down the drain. sure folks have been brewing for centuries but that doesnt mean it always tastes good. there are plenty of commercial bears i dont like as well...i dont drink those either just because they are beer (victory golden monkey comes to mind). if you got the time and resources to hold on to it for months or years then by all means do it. i cant imagine why someone would listen to my noob opinion anyway....figure it out for yourself. the 30-50 bucks invested in a batch is not all that much money to me so if i got somethin nasty in a bucket i have no fear dumping it and not looking back. thats just what works for me. we all need to find our own way and tolerances for the results. the OP had some nasty stuff going on there and most will at least admit that result is rare....i will not change my OPINION that is needs to be aborted. i wont use my friends and family as guinea pigs or my basement as a experimental lab. maybe someday when i get bored of how easy quality results can be ill find it fun to try weird stuff but i doubt it. im pretty picky about my food too !!!!

I think what everyone including myself are saying that without trying the beer and just dumping it would be ill advised. I agree there are some that turn out on the mediocre side but you will never know unless you tried it ..


look at a raw oyster or clam looks like something the dog coughed up don't it? But it taste great.

 

[RedIrocZ-28]

I find it funny that there are all these noobs in here telling the experienced brewers that they "just don't get it". Hey noobs, STFU and listen.

NO, there are not "just some times that a beer needs to be dumped because it has something nasty and ICKY on it in the fermenter." - If after 6 months in bottles, it tastes like vinegar, then you can dump it. If after 6 months in bottles, it just doesn't taste right, then dump it. At least you tried. If you don't want to even try, then there is a spot over there on the losers bench for you to sit.

Really its just based on inexperience and ignorance, that comments like that are made. For gods sake, stop mindlessly spewing conjecture around here. If you haven't done it, or tried it, don't offer up your "expert" opinion on subjects.

Again, OP, that will likely be the best beer you have ever or ever will brew. If you lived closer, I'd come rescu... er uh, get it from you and see it through properly.

 

[flyangler18]

I find it funny that there are all these noobs in here telling the experienced brewers that they "just don't get it". Hey noobs, STFU and listen.

NO, there are not "just some times that a beer needs to be dumped because it has something nasty and ICKY on it in the fermenter." - If after 6 months in bottles, it tastes like vinegar, then you can dump it. If after 6 months in bottles, it just doesn't taste right, then dump it. At least you tried. If you don't want to even try, then there is a spot over there on the losers bench for you to sit.

There is no reason to be rude. A little decorum, please.

 

[Weezknight]

I look at it this way. For what I pay for ingredients and the time I put into brewing, I would probably still try and salvage the beer. If I had what the OP showed, and it seemed to skim cleanly off the top of the beer, then I don't see the problem.

I'm a noob and I would forge on. Why dump what's underneath the mold if it looks and smells perfectly fine? Even if it didn't, I've read enough on here to let it rest and give it a try in a few months. I drink enough that I don't need the bottles free right away, so while those are sitting, I'd start the next batch!

 

[Yooper]

MMMMMkay. That's enough. We've debated it, expressed our opinions, provided links, discussed other infections, etc. There isn't much more to say that isn't going to be repetitious, or bordering on rude.

We are done here.