Moldy film after secondary racking :-(

[Sean from New Hampshire]

Racked from bucket to carboy last Friday and I come to work and find this. Its been in a 70 degree office. Should I re rack and keep it somewhere cooler?!

Sean

 

[BierMuncher]

I want to say that looks normal. Some film and white bubble "zits" are normal in the secondary.

It's that crystalized white stuff on the wall of the carboy that has me wondering...

I'd say go ahead and rack carefully to another vessel. You'll probably want to sample as your racking to make sure you're not trying to preserve a dead cause.

BUT...don't confuse green, unfinished beer with infected beer.

 

[TexLaw]

I'm with BierMuncher. The film of bubbles on the beer surface probably is the result of your yeast finishing up its job. Often, fermentation doesn't quite finish in the primary, and racking rouses the yeast to finish up. I don't know what the ka-ka is on the side, though.

Your temperature was not a problem.


TL

 

[Sean from New Hampshire]

Thanks guy, I sanitized my cane and carboy and went ahead and racked it again. It tasted fine and had cleared quite a bit since the weekend. The gravity went done acouple points so it doesn't look like its a loss! Thank the yeast gods, since this is my first batch.

Thank you guys for the help!

Sean

 

[Sean from New Hampshire]

DAMN its BACK! Was fine since monday till this morning, I even checked it last night before I went home.

The recipe says I should clear for two weeks, which would give it all the time it needs to clear and get to FG. I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and bottle. I can't REALLY tell if its mold though. Still,

very thin layer of film, white spots on surface and carboy wall. Its not REALLY that white in real life:

And the airlock has gone down, it was up from the moment I shoved it in there till this morning.

Sean

 

[ohiobrewtus]

The white film on top of the beer is fairly normal, I do'nt know what the hell the deal was in that first pic that you posted. The only way to find out if it's any good or not is to bottle it, wait then taste it.

 

[INeedANewHobby]

I'm inclined to say that if whatever it is grew back after you racked to secondary, it's not good for you or your beer. You'd have had to try real hard to get that much traub from your primary into secondary and had a good bit of unfermented sugars hanging around for that to be a new krausen!

let is sit and rack again to a third clearing tank in a week or two, paying extra attention not to transfer more slurry....then see if it comes back in that. If it does, it's an infection for sure!

 

[zoebisch01]

Pretty strange.

I see all sorts of funky stuff go in the ferments *shrug*. I have to side with the idea of just waiting and seeing once you final rack and then condition. Question: How long from primary ferment before you racked to secondary?

Also the crystal looking stuff was really odd imo, but then again I have seen some bizzare looking things in the fermentor.

 

[Sean from New Hampshire]

It stayed in the primary bucket for 16 days, I probably opened it up more than I should have.

Sean

 

[BrewDey]

I had a layer of film develop in the secondary on a recent batch...kind of like your second pic. Ended up tasting fine.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

Give it a bit of time. I've had beer that has gone 'bad', with what looked like mold colonies (turned out it wasn't), but I was suspect the whole time. The batches turned out fine. Besides, if it is mold and you like sour beers, all the better.

 

[Boomerwadaska]

Racked from bucket to carboy last Friday and I come to work and find this. Its been in a 70 degree office. Should I re rack and keep it somewhere cooler?!

Sean

I just found the same thing using T-58 yeast. Is that what you used?

 

[IslandLizard]

I just found the same thing using T-58 yeast. Is that what you used?

Mind, you're replying to a thread from September 2007, and hasn't had any posts since. The OP hasn't been seen here since Feb 2011, 12 years ago.

From what it looks in the pictures, there's a pellicle floating on top of his beer, it's not mold. This points to an infection by some other microorganism that (probably unintentionally) entered when handling the beer, and took a hold.

Infections are typically not harmful to us, there not much that can grow in (fermented) beer that can make you sick. But the flavor can have changed, not often for the better, and oftentimes (some) sourness becomes present.

Over the past 10 years most homebrewers have stopped using secondaries anymore when fermenting clean beer, as there is no benefit, but only increased risks, such as infection and oxidation.
So we simply leave everything in the "primary" until ready to package. Only if there's a really good and compelling reason we use a secondary, with the right kind of handling, which is not beginning brewer's domain.

I'm sure it's not the yeast (T-58) that caused it.
Is your beer in a secondary perhaps?

I recommend you start your own thread, in our Beginners Beer Brewing Forum.
If you can, post a picture of your beer as it appears in the fermenter, best without opening it, showing the issue, and describe what you brewed and how you've handled it.