Is this bad/infected?

[AmericanCobra]

Hello - I'm looking for some help on my 2nd batch of beer. There is some floating stuff (that I'm hoping isnt' mold on top) Here's what I did and a couple of photos are below. I used a Mr. Beer American Devil IPA cans of HME and made it per instructions. After a day in the fermentor, I noticed a leak coming from the spigot - so I racked it to a 6 gal fermentor with airlock. After another day, there was no activity in the airlock and figured that the yeast was bad per many other posts that I had read. So I added, some fresh Safale S-04 Dry Ale Yeast. Which kept my airlock going for over 2 weeks. Life got busy and the wort stayed in the fermentor for ~5weeks. When I took the lid off the bucket here's what I saw.


Fyi, no gravity readings were taken, when the lid was removed there was a heavy alcohal smell, however, I did taste it and other than being pretty "hoppy" it didn't taste "bad" - again this is only my second batch. Any thoughts on appearence?

 

[teddy4xp]

Just looks like yeast to me

 

[stvcoburn]

These are the most common threads by far (at least by new brewers, which I am). Chill out everyone you're all good.

 

[jman80]

Just looks like yeast to me

I agree just looks like yeast and when you first taste it you will know if it is affected or not

 

[AmericanCobra]

I agree just looks like yeast and when you first taste it you will know if it is affected or not

Any thoughts on leaving in the primary for ~5weeks?

 

[ChessRockwell]

I'm not trying to be the party crasher and I understand a lot of new brewers think everything is an infection, but those white spots really do look a little bit "mold-ish" to me, although it is hard to tell for sure in the pictures. Are they fuzzy like mold?

 

[ChessRockwell]

Any thoughts on leaving in the primary for ~5weeks?

Shouldn't be a problem at all!

 

[iambeer]

Looks like a beautiful krausen sludge! Congrats!

 

[ChessRockwell]

edit: nevermind, post was changed

 

[AmericanCobra]

No it didn't appear to be fuzzy. But had a scaley film appearence. I guess I'll find out in a week or so when I pop the first bottle from this batch.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

No it didn't appear to be fuzzy. But had a scaley film appearence. I guess I'll find out in a week or so when I pop the first bottle from this batch.

It's yeast boats. No worries. I have the same thing, only many many more, floating on top of an English bitter. Always makes me do a double take when I walk by, but I've seen this happen with s-04 before. What yeast strain did you use? Edit: never mind, saw you used s-04 too. Totally yeast boats.

 

[AmericanCobra]

Safale S-04 Dry Ale

 

[CBMbrewer]

Relax. Don't worry. Have a homebrew. Looks fine to me, if it tasted fine when you took a sample it should be good.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Safale S-04 Dry Ale

Yeah, I saw that after I posted. I have that same thing going on with a bitter I used 04 on, and I've seen 04 (or 1098) do this more times than not.

 

[davekippen]

Looks beautiful to me. And trust me, if you keep brewing you will see much worse than that floating in your beer (and it will still be OK!). I am often shocked and horrified when I open the bucket for the first time after fermentation but it always turns out great. Hooray beer!

 

[DPBISME]

From the picture it looks moldly to me but yor nose is probably the best tool to figure it out... followed by your tongue!

Continue forward, look at it before you bottle/keg for me everything has fallen back in by the time I am done fermenting with little or anything floating... My beer would still be young with the amount of stuff you have floating...

DPB

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

From the picture it looks moldly to me but yor nose is probably the best tool to figure it out... followed by your tongue!

It doesn't look moldy at all. Rafts that look like that are quite common with the strain of yeast the OP used, and in fact, the OP doesn't have nearly the amount of floaties on top as I regularly see with s-04. I'll see if I can get a decent pic later of the beer I have that looks very similar.

 

[Jmkunis]

Not to mention it's an IPA. Even with the extract kits, there is sometimes some hop particulate that makes its way into the cans. You may be seeing bits of that floating on top, too.