Is this mold?

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Shrimpboat

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This is white, about 1/4 inch thick, and has showed up within the last month. The beer is a flemish red so there are bugs in it. I have 2 other sours but neither one look like this. Also this is the only one with just tin foil instead of an airlock.

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Dude I ain't no expert, but 30 days in a carboy without an air lock this is to my opinion MOLD... You ran after it... Sory... Also I don't know what flemish red beer is suposed to be but WTF with the bugs...

You have to be kidding...

Allways remember one thing when you brew any kind of beer you are making FOOD or should I say a liquid that you drink... For F*** sakes dude don't ask if this is mold your gonna get trashed in here :(

Good luck with your beer !!
 
Meh.. It's fuzzy. I don't see a huge probem with no airlock though. Look at all the lambics made in open fermenters. The beers been sitting there for 6 months. Only since the last time I looked at it has this new growth occured. I'm not dumping it yet.
 
jesseroberge said:
Dude I ain't no expert, but 30 days in a carboy without an air lock this is to my opinion MOLD... You ran after it... Sory... Also I don't know what flemish red beer is suposed to be but WTF with the bugs...

You have to be kidding...

Allways remember one thing when you brew any kind of beer you are making FOOD or should I say a liquid that you drink... For F*** sakes dude don't ask if this is mold your gonna get trashed in here :(

Good luck with your beer !!
Click to expand...

Flemish red is a sour beer made by adding bacteria during fermentation. People call the bacteria "bugs". there is ussualy a film that developes called a pellicle, but this one looks funky to me.
 
I have no experience with open air fermentation, but it doesn't look like regular yeast rafts to me. It could be a normal thing for the style. It'd be interesting to know how it turns out.
 
It looks like the best new sour beer . . . . . .IN THE WORLD. Where are you fermenting it at?
 
passedpawn said:
Anything growing on top of a flanders red or other sour beer is a blessing. Let it rip. I would, though, use an airlock. Woudn't want to find fruit flies in there.

Look through the pellicle thread here and you'll see some otherworldly stuff.

What yeast/bugs did you use?
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Yeah I have no plans to dump it. Its been sitting in my family room for about half a year. I do have the opening of the carboy covered with tinfoil so its not completly open. As for yeast it has rosalaire and the wyeast lambic blend. Also the dregs of a couple other sours, so quite a few bugs.
 
Just skim it off if its mold. If you like the beer keep it,mold wont do anything to your beer as long as you just skimm it. Its a common occurance in things like fermenting sauerkraut which skimming is a common practice. I havent dumped anything yet and pretty shure a good few I had,had some kind of funky something, whether it was mold,brett,lactobacillis - I have no idea. They all turned out mostly to be pretty good. The only beers I dumped were undercarbed and unconditioned few and a super overcarbed oxidized one.

I dont think I quite understand oxidation,because if you dont use an airlock then air replaces the co2 but that seems common with the wild yeast brews to let oxygen in.
 
jesseroberge said:
Dude I ain't no expert, but 30 days in a carboy without an air lock this is to my opinion MOLD... You ran after it... Sory... Also I don't know what flemish red beer is suposed to be but WTF with the bugs...

You have to be kidding...

Allways remember one thing when you brew any kind of beer you are making FOOD or should I say a liquid that you drink... For F*** sakes dude don't ask if this is mold your gonna get trashed in here :(

Good luck with your beer !!
Click to expand...

Dude... its a sour, a pellicle forms on top. On top of that its still safe to drink
 
Actually that grey and black kinda looks like mold.Could be wrong,but in the right/wrong atmosphere its still possible to grow mold.Nothing to throw it out over. Its generally fuzzy and green though but who knows what mold spores take shape/color in? Ive seen some funky white stuff growing near a drain in my basement which looked similar to a few beers I made which I kept with a questionable good seal on my lid of fermenter. With late summer and furnace a/c going in the warmer basement that may have not been ideal brewing condtions for me,kinda why I skipped brewing this summer.
 
looks beautiful other than the green but should be ok.. personally I would airlock it for a while and then rack it before the pellicle tries to fall in.. :mug:
 
I would dump that asap. Too many variables.

If I was a brewer that knew that this gross stuff on top was and didn't have to ask and had the environment more controlled, then I might decide to invest time, energy, and space in it. But since this is an accident with mold on top.......
 
Ha, I think you posted this on the wrong thread based on the "eww gross" responses. You brewed it, it is in the fermenter, let it ride. What do you hasn't to lose, other than a possibly tasty flanders?
 
I would put an air lock on it though. Not got bugs, but o2. You want some acetic acid but not vinegar. Your are probably good by now
 
edecambra said:
Ha, I think you posted this on the wrong thread based on the "eww gross" responses. You brewed it, it is in the fermenter, let it ride. What do you hasn't to lose, other than a possibly tasty flanders?
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OG, you don't have to feel pressured that this is about whether your character is 'grossed out' by unknown bacteria and mold. You also have the power to cut your losses and not care to find out if this comes out remotely ok. I certainly would not care, especially if I had no idea what I was looking at.
 
To me it's not about being grossed out by bacteria; it's not knowing what bacteria grew. If you have means to get your beer analyzed for all the bacteria in the brew, I'd find out and keep it. If you can't , toss it. You have no idea what's growing.

That's simply my opinion. If you can't determine what micro-organism you're growing, you should ingest it. Could you be safe doing so? Probably. But, for me, it's not a risk I'm willing to take.
 
harrymanback92 said:
That's simply my opinion. If you can't determine what micro-organism you're growing, you should ingest it. Could you be safe doing so? Probably. But, for me, it's not a risk I'm willing to take.
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I'm fairly sure the pellicle was there before the mold so it's not in contact with the beer.. the pellicle membrane is there because the presence of o2 basically protecting the beer from oxygen.. racking under is perfectly fine.. how do you think open fermentation looks? I don't know everything but I know it was this way for thousands of years..
 
Where's revvy to say nothing can grow in beer that will hurt you. Once you bottle it send me one, i'll test it for you.
 
Right, I understand that. But we have the ability to control everything to a much greater degree currently than a thousand years ago. To me, and as I stated before this is strictly my opinion, an opinion I believe has merit, that to not know what you're dealing with is not a risk I'm willing to take.

As stated before, will the beverage be safe to drink? Yes, most likely. Would I drink it? I'm not so sure.

It has yet to even be proven if this growth is pellicle or mold.

At this instance, I gotta say I wouldn't drink it. Others would. Not a risk I'm willing to take until I know what bacteria/fungi OP is dealing with.
 
I should add, I've read the FDA article stating clearly that nothing growing and beer can kill you or make you terribly ill.

It's simply a matter of not knowing what you're dealing with. That makes me uncomfortable.

I'll state again, the beer is probably safe to drink. But I wouldn't drink it.
 
iambeer said:
I would dump that asap. Too many variables.

If I was a brewer that knew that this gross stuff on top was and didn't have to ask and had the environment more controlled, then I might decide to invest time, energy, and space in it. But since this is an accident with mold on top.......
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I'm not grossed out by it, and I've got enough fermenters to let it sit until I decide if it's good or bad. If I do end up tossing it, it's not the end of the world. I've already got 6 months on it, might as well see how it progresses. if anything ill just rack from under the funk, and see how that goes.
 
The bacteria that can thrive in that pH and alcohol most likely can't hurt you but the important thing is: will it taste good? Taste is everything. Health is meaningless ;)

It's hard enough to brew a good beer... seeing this bacteria and mold combo junk, I wouldn't even bother. A few dollars means nothing, but (gambled) time and space means a lot.

Sour beers shouldn't be 'happy accidents', they should be left to advanced brewing.
 
:off:
I find it hilarious that that all the folks who joined hbt post January say toss it, and all the older members say keep it. Not sure what that means, but I still think its funny.

If you're really curious an can safely send a sample, I can hand it off to a few biologist folks I work with. No guarantees, but maybe they can figure it out.

Hope that beer turns out awesome!
 
brewguyver said:
:off:
I find it hilarious that that all the folks who joined hbt post January say toss it, and all the older members say keep it. Not sure what that means, but I still think its funny.
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I think you do have an idea of what it means.. as in the older guys have more experience.

I find it more 'funny' (but without all the laughing involved in funny) that new brewers repeat what they read from 'older' brewers without imparting a shred of experience in their statement. Which is a rampant side effect of internet. Well, let's have some good beer and laugh, coz that's all there is.

Speaking for myself, a new brewer with three whole fermentors... I have no room from gambles. gambling isn't learning because you can't replicate it. And I'm happy enough to get through summer without too many off-tastes... this bacterian and moldy disaster on the other hand is a behemoth.
 
That or the longer you're around, the more likely you are to shrug at stuff that scares the $h!t out of normal people. Either way, it's fun (barring the occasional lost batch or equipment malfunction)
 
brewguyver said:
That or the longer you're around, the more likely you are to shrug at stuff that scares the $h!t out of normal people. Either way, it's fun (barring the occasional lost batch or equipment malfunction)
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Okay well I can't answer for the people that are scared but i wouldn't call them normal people unless you think you are above normal... ... mold and bacteria isn't scary.. it's a logical sign that the beer is probably ruined.
 
That's a Pellicle and mold IMO. And if that's the worst problem you have with beer than congrats man you probably have a solid beer in there. If your someone that's scared of that sight you should see my brewery haha. I haven't seen a "normal" beer in a couple years.

+1 to checking out the Pellicle photo thread in the sour beer section. Some really awesome photos of what wild beer is all about
 
jonmohno said:
Just skim it off if its mold. If you like the beer keep it,mold wont do anything to your beer as long as you just skimm it. Its a common occurance in things like fermenting sauerkraut which skimming is a common practice. I havent dumped anything yet and pretty shure a good few I had,had some kind of funky something, whether it was mold,brett,lactobacillis - I have no idea. They all turned out mostly to be pretty good.
Click to expand...

This.
It took me two days after jar-ing my sauerkraut to try it after seeing what grew on it. I didn't get sick or die, in fact it was tasty. I think the only worry here is if your beer is now vinegar or soon to be. If it taste remotely like beer drink it. It's a sour right? Supposed to be funky and questionable, otherwise it just regular.
 
When it comes down to it... if you have two cases of bottles and room for them to sit for six months to find out if this is garbage or not... Certainly go for it!

I unfortunately happen to be a slave to more traditional fresh and delicious beer.
 
iambeer said:
Okay well I can't answer for the people that are scared but i wouldn't call them normal people unless you think you are above normal... ... mold and bacteria isn't scary.. it's a logical sign that the beer is probably ruined.
Click to expand...

..I put the bacteria in there on purpose. I have 6 buckets/carboys with room for 12 in my fermentation chamber. Even if it is mold... It's just mold. I'm willing to try anything twice. If it turns out gross all I lost is a little bit of beer. But maby it will turn out fantastic. And after looking through the pellicle thread, it dont seem too fugly.
 
The beauty of wild beers is how different they are. They all seem to react a little different, and that's half the fun to me. Another plus is time will take care of a lot. Sours are some of the most traditional beers in the world, embrace the funk
 
iambeer said:
When it comes down to it... if you have two cases of bottles and room for them to sit for six months to find out if this is garbage or not... Certainly go for it!
Click to expand...

um, sours take at least a year before packaging.

Edit: I guess I should say most sours!
 
Shrimpboat said:
..I put the bacteria in there on purpose. I have 6 buckets/carboys with room for 12 in my fermentation chamber. Even if it is mold... It's just mold. I'm willing to try anything twice. If it turns out gross all I lost is a little bit of beer. But maby it will turn out fantastic. And after looking through the pellicle thread, it dont seem too fugly.
Click to expand...

If you looked through that thread then you know that your beer is the Jessica Alba of infections. They can get super gnarley, and when there are multicolored bubbles and veins and puffy crap covering your beer, man that's when you know you are onto something good.

I agree with some of the others, that if you were not intending to make a sour beer and it got infected, there's a good chance it'll be a tosser. But if you are working at it and you pitched a great blend of bugs and brewers yeast (and Roeselare is excellent) then no worries. I've made several flanders reds, a couple of oud bruins (had one tonight), and I'm sipping a berliner weisse right now (I've made a couple of those too). They all had some nasty carpet on the surface. The berliner even grew little pellicles in the bottle.

I would be concerned about too much O2. One of the bugs in Roeselare (pedio?) likes to make acetic acid when there's a too much O2. This will lead to a vinegary flavor in the beer when it's done. I had this in one of mine from too much "testing". :D I'd definitely get an airlock onto it. It's not too late to do that.

And, I'd stick a thief in there right now and give her a taste.
 
passedpawn said:
If you looked through that thread then you know that your beer is the Jessica Alba of infections. They can get super gnarley, and when there are multicolored bubbles and veins and puffy crap covering your beer, man that's when you know you are onto something good.

I agree with some of the others, that if you were not intending to make a sour beer and it got infected, there's a good chance it'll be a tosser. But if you are working at it and you pitched a great blend of bugs and brewers yeast (and Roeselare is excellent) then no worries. I've made several flanders reds, a couple of oud bruins (had one tonight), and I'm sipping a berliner weisse right now (I've made a couple of those too). They all had some nasty carpet on the surface. The berliner even grew little pellicles in the bottle.

I would be concerned about too much O2. One of the bugs inm Roeselare (pedio?) likes to make acetic acid when there's a too much O2. This will lead to a vinegary flavor in the beer when it's done. I had this in one of mine from too much "testing". :D I'd definitely get an airlock onto it. It's not too late to do that.

I'd stick a thief in there right now and give her a taste.
Click to expand...

I'm at work right now but when I get home I think I will sample it. And i'll toss an airlock on it also. I'd love to have jessica alba in a bottle :D
 
Yea I'm with passedpawn on this one. Only real risk you got is it becoming too vinegary. If it doesn't taste like vinegar now, toss the mold and slap an airlock on the thing and you should be good. Some of my best beers were the worst looking.

Roselare is awesome stuff, and don't be afraid if there's some diacytl, Pedio makes a bunch, but Brett loves to clean it up over time
 

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