Ish! First time I see white spots in carboy.

[Grummore]

Greetings everyone!

It's been a while since I'm a registered user, but I am mostly a reader of your fantastic forums!

Today, I went to keg a beer that has been in carboys for at least 6 weeks. I didn't have the time to take care of it, but I happened to do this for at least 2 beers in the past and I never had any trouble with waiting such a long time to keg or bottle it.

It's a porter. The lids didn't seem to have any sort of leaking (the liquid did not evaporate enough to let oxygen enter, at least I don't think so). The carboys (I had two! of the same beer) were in my basement, away from everything and in total darkness. The temperature stayed around 19 C to 21 C. Technically, I am a cleaner/sanitizer freak.

Anybody know what this could be?
What would you do?
Is it down the drain?

Any sort of comment is welcome.

ps : sorry for my poor English, it's my second language

 

[Sammy86]

Hard to tell from the pics but looks like yeast rafts to me.

 

[IslandLizard]

Hard to tell from the pics but looks like yeast rafts to me.

Yeast rafts are beige in color, especially in dark beer. These look too white for yeast (rafts), IMO. Maybe the OP can verify the actual color.

Are those white blobs "furry" or smooth in texture?

Going by the 1/2" high, little white smears/deposits on the side of the carboy right above the beer line,* it could also be a sign of a pellicle starting to form. If that's so, a small infection could be trying to take hold. Since the (possible) infection looks very small, the beer should still be excellent, you may never get an off taste. Keeping the beer cold (kegs in kegerator/keezer) it should not deteriorate over 2-4 weeks or longer.

* I don't see any krausen line.
This may well be one of the cleanest fermentations I've ever seen. Are you sure it fermented?

BTW, your English is very good!

 

[Grummore]

One of the errors I could have made could be that I made a secondary fermentation (yes, it fermented) to get rid of the bottom deposit. It's why there are no krausen line.

Those white blobs are like snowflakes if that's what you mean by flurry. Smooth is better than flurry isn't?

What would be the step?

1- Open one of the carboy.
2- Smell 1 = drop it or smell 2 = taste it
3- If taste is bad = down the drain, else if test is "good"... what else?

And how to taste it?
How to transfer it correctly?
If there are above white spots, is it that the entire carboy is infected?

I'm a little clueless about what to do.

Thank you very much for your fast answer though.

 

[Grummore]

Yeast rafts are beige in color, especially in dark beer. These look too white for yeast (rafts), IMO. Maybe the OP can verify the actual color.
BTW, your English is very good!

What do you mean by "OP" ?

And thanks for the kinds words about my English

 

[day_trippr]

OP = "Original Poster"

 

[IslandLizard]

One of the errors I could have made could be that I made a secondary fermentation

Yeah, it being in a "secondary fermenter" explains the lack of fermentation traces in the carboy.
Secondaries are notorious for getting infections, even more so when leaving large headspaces, such as in your case.

Make note, secondaries are generally not needed or even advantageous, except in a few cases, well outside regular beers. Mixed fermentation sours and high ABV beers (9-10% and up) are often bulk aged, sometimes with some wood and/or spices added.

Most beer will clear by itself in the regular (first) fermenter, just give it enough time, 3-6 weeks in a cool or cold place, or cold crash in a fridge or temperature controlled freezer for a week (or longer). The yeast cake will be quite compacted by then, so you can rack/siphon from above it. Leave the trub/yeast layer (on the bottom) behind.

Those white blobs are like snowflakes if that's what you mean by flurry. Smooth is better than flurry isn't?

In the picture they look like little blobs.
A close-up look can reveal if they look "furry" like the surface of little cotton-wool balls (thin threads bound together in a tight ball) which some molds do.

Molds like to grow in damp and dark environments. The headspace above the beer in your carboy headspace is a perfect example of such an environment, very enticing for molds to grow.

Molds such those blobs typically do NOT grow inside the beer, from what I know. They just float on top, as yours do.

Siphon some beer out and taste it. It should taste just fine as you would expect your Porter to taste. If it has a weird or moldy smell or flavor ("blue cheese") then probably dump it.
Test both carboys, they could be different.

You can tie a small fine-mesh ("voile") bag around the bottom of the cane/siphon. Then simply rack/siphon the clear beer from underneath the surface into your bottling bucket or keg, leaving the little white blobs behind.

Without using the small voile bag just leave a few cm of beer behind and pull the siphon out before you start sucking up the little mold balls.
If a few of them come through, simply scoop em out.

 

[IslandLizard]

Looking at them again, maybe they are yeast rafts. I don't expect them to be so bright white, though. Maybe it's the lighting?
And they always float on the surface, never suspended in the beer.

Or it's the beginning of a pellicle due to a (small) infection, although I've never seen them as little white balls. Usually there's a hazy film floating on top with bubbles.

It's hard to see what they really are, and there seem to be so many of them.

I would definitely taste the beer first, before doing anything else. Please let us know how it tastes!

 

[day_trippr]

Keep an eye on the SG...