Is this contamination?

[Dallan seah]

Hi,

I see this floating on top of my wheat beer during primary.

Any idea what's going on? Beer still taste fine.

I've skimmed away the top and proceeded to secondary.

Thanks,
Dallan

 

[MHBT]

Looks like a yeast infection.
I think you are good wheat makes some funky lookin stuff

 

[BrewInspector]

Looks like normal krausen. How long had you been in primary when the photo was taken? Sometimes it is slow to fall but you may have transferred too early if active fermentation was still ongoing. You will still get beer regardless.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Looks fine. Lots more protein in wheat, can create some funky-lookin' krausen.

Doesn't look like an infection / pellicle.

 

[Dallan seah]

Looks like normal krausen. How long had you been in primary when the photo was taken? Sometimes it is slow to fall but you may have transferred too early if active fermentation was still ongoing. You will still get beer regardless.

9 days. Looks good after transferring into secondary.

 

[Dallan seah]

9 days. Looks good after transferring into secondary.

What about now? This is about 3-4 days into secondary.

 

[MHBT]

I would taste it..why did you secondary a wheat beer? There is no fruit or anything right? i would keg and drink it now its probably done

 

[Dallan seah]

I would taste it..why did you secondary a wheat beer? There is no fruit or anything right? i would keg and drink it now its probably done

I wanted clarity. Also don't have time to bottle until this weekend cos of work. Will have to wait a few more days until the jury is out I guess...

 

[MHBT]

I wanted clarity. Also don't have time to bottle until this weekend cos of work. Will have to wait a few more days until the jury is out I guess...

I would not worry about it, don't get me wrong im being a hypocrite cause i worry sometimes about my brew cause we work hard, wait awhile so we want it good or better yet great but at the end of the day we have to tell ourselves its just beer and if this batch is no good there is always the next batch..worst comes to worse its not the best beer in the world but its still beer you made..once carbed store in the fridge in case you did get some contamination, that will slow the progression..cheers bud good luck

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Always tough to tell from some of these pictures. For the most part, if it's contamination it's not obviously so. But I can only tell so much from a poorly-lit picture. Especially with a wheat beer, which has a higher protein content than straight barley beers, so things can sometimes look a little different.

The key is whether you start seeing an actual film covering the entire beer [a pellicle] and that film starts developing all sorts of weird-looking bubbles in it. Usually that's what's going to signify an actual infection. In the second picture, it ALMOST looks like a film on the top, and the very bottom middle portion of the picture *might* be showing bubbles. But it's not a good enough picture to tell for sure.

I'd start googling images of "beer pellicle" and compare what you see to that. I think you're probably fine and just need to RDWHAHB, but I can only see so much from that picture.

 

[Jwin]

If it breaks up like cracked ice, that's not good.
Also, the spider web looking growth at the bottom of the photo doesn't look good.
That's way too big of a vessel for a secondary for that amount of beer. That's why 6.5 and 5g carboys exist. Bigger for primary.
If you don't have a vessel that will be filled 90% or more, you should probably just keep it in primary until it's ready.
Infection and oxidation are common issues with an oversized secondary.
Hope it's just yeast

 

[MHBT]

I wanted clarity. Also don't have time to bottle until this weekend cos of work. Will have to wait a few more days until the jury is out I guess...

Im not saying do this or do that its your beer but next time my advice is leave it in the primary longer and it will clear, no need to rack to secondary

 

[Amadeo38]

Agreed with Matty - the fact that you said you skimmed off the Krausen and racked to secondary suggests you’re rushing things super fast. If you’ve got Krausen you’re in prime-time fermentation and you are now risking infection that didn’t exist by messing with it at that point. Not to mention killing your attenuation potential by possibly shocking the yeast. RDWHAHB

 

[IslandLizard]

If it breaks up like cracked ice, that's not good.
Also, the spider web looking growth at the bottom of the photo doesn't look good.
That's way too big of a vessel for a secondary for that amount of beer. That's why 6.5 and 5g carboys exist. Bigger for primary.
If you don't have a vessel that will be filled 90% or more, you should probably just keep it in primary until it's ready.
Infection and oxidation are common issues with an oversized secondary.
Hope it's just yeast

What he says.^

There's very little need for secondaries. The risks of infection and oxidation outweigh any benefits 1000:1.
It will clear in a primary as well as a secondary, give it enough time. Unless you're brewing a style accurate Krystal Weiss, some residual cloudiness in a wheat (or any other beer) is not an issue.

But that is one large fermentation vessel! I'm willing to bet that lid doesn't close very well either. Also, as soon as you remove the lid for inspection, the CO2-rich headspace fleets, being replaced by O2-rich air which will cause oxidation over time.

 

[Dallan seah]

I bottled yesterday and tasted a sample that I bottled while doing secondary. It taste like good beer, was even complete with the banana notes that I was shooting for. Thanks guys for your comments. Will be repeating this batch and will take your advise in future