Is the a bad infection?

[Bmm134]

First time posting so I hope this is in the right place. I decided to brew a sour for the first time and when I opened up the fermenter for bottling it looked like it was infected. I used Wyeast 5112 so this could be natural but I’m just trying to be cautious. I sanitize everything numerous times with Star San. (I racked the beer from underneath it and transferred which is why it looks very low in the fermenter)

 

[user 338926]

I would say yes. But definitely wait for some more opinions. I've never seen beer do that. Not with any yeast.

 

[DonT]

Did you taste it?

 

[G_robertus]

I was put off by your floating hydrometer and for a while thought you had black mold in your fermenter. I'm not really familiar with the yellow bits, but that might be due to racking. This yeast can form a pellicle so I'm inclined to say you're just fine.

 

[Bmm134]

I was put off by your floating hydrometer and for a while thought you had black mold in your fermenter. I'm not really familiar with the yellow bits, but that might be due to racking. This yeast can form a pellicle so I'm inclined to say you're just fine.

Yeah invested in the floating hydrometer pretty early on to prevent opening the fermenter frequently. The yellow bits are where my siphon dripped as I was pulling it out.

 

[Bmm134]

Did you taste it?

Took a small sample about a week ago and it tasted how I would expect a sour to taste but the funky taste of a sour can hide some other off flavors.

 

[ba-brewer]

I have not used Wyeast 5112 but I use to make beer with some brett from bottle dregs that had a similar looking powder pellicle.

 

[Miraculix]

Racking from underneath does nothing except from wasting beer and introducing oxygen.

 

[mashpaddled]

First time posting so I hope this is in the right place. I decided to brew a sour for the first time and when I opened up the fermenter for bottling it looked like it was infected. I used Wyeast 5112 so this could be natural but I’m just trying to be cautious. I sanitize everything numerous times with Star San. (I racked the beer from underneath it and transferred which is why it looks very low in the fermenter)

What you see is a pellicle which is fairly common to brett and sour beers. Nothing to worry about. If you rack out from under it, you'll see a new one form.

If you only pitched WY5112, the only way you will make a sour beer with brett alone is if you have an excess of oxygen exposure. Brett will make acetic acid in the presence of too much air exposure but under normal brewing conditions you're not getting what you think of as a sour beer (primarily lactic acid).

 

[Bmm134]

What you see is a pellicle which is fairly common to brett and sour beers. Nothing to worry about. If you rack out from under it, you'll see a new one form.

If you only pitched WY5112, the only way you will make a sour beer with brett alone is if you have an excess of oxygen exposure. Brett will make acetic acid in the presence of too much air exposure but under normal brewing conditions you're not getting what you think of as a sour beer (primarily lactic acid).

Very helpful thank you! I mentioned the WY5112 as I figured it was the cause for what is shown in the picture. I did a kettle sour using Wyeast Lacto blend, boiled it off and pitched both WY5112 and WLP001. I finally opened it up for bottling and noticed this so my racking was only to transfer to my bottling setup. (This is new for me, I typically brew wheat beers/lagers)