Is it infected?

[jaylakejr]

I am brewing a Scottish Ale and just racked to a secondary over some used oak staves that I got from Makers Mark distillery. I tried to steam clean the staves as much as possible. I dropped them in the secondary and racked over top of them. This morning I see this weird white stuff floating on top of my beer. Do you guys think its infected?

 

[DisturbdChemist]

It looks just like foam to me. The yeast might of found some sugars in the wood and reactivated.

 

[frankstoneline]

I would guess it's just some yeast, give it some time, if it starts to get a weird waxy texture building over the surface you can start worrying.

 

[TopherM]

I don't know of any infections that look like foam.

What do you clean/sanatize your carboy with? You probably just had a little extra unrinsed or undrained cleaner/sanatizer in the carboy or maybe even on the wood?

 

[jaylakejr]

I use Starsan to clean/sanitize my carboy. I did rack on some foam so that might be some of the bubbles. I was more concerned with the whitish creamy looking stuff. I am still a novice and this is only my second batch, I suppose I just need to relax and see what happens.

 

[Ultrazord]

Yeah, relax. It looks mostly like starsan foam and some yeast kicking up. I typically get a little bit of action upon racking to secondary. If you start seeing mold or weird brett style bubbles, then worry. Until then, keep calm and chive on.

 

[unionrdr]

It's just left over krausen with some yeast rafts that got stirred up off the bottom. No worries.

 

[daksin]

Looks fine- the staves are probably just acting as nucleation points for CO2 to come out of solution and bubble up to the top.

 

[jaylakejr]

Thanks guys!