*Pic* Someone confirm lacto infection here?

[Ksosh]

Think I've traced my latest infection to a frigging turkey baster. Buying a wine-thief next week to fix the problem.

Anyway, does this look like a lacto infection? Started with just a little bit, and grew over the last couple days into this. Going to siphon from under and bottle (assuming gravity is ok) tomorrow.
*edit - gravity was 1.024, high, but bottle-able I think unless someone disagrees*

The good news is it tasted like crap before the infection, so it can't get much worse. Damn hippie store malted barley!

 

[bierhaus15]

The bubbles seem sorta normal (hard to tell from pic), though its that shiny film stuff that doesn't look good. It definitely has an infection, though probably in the early stages. How long has the beer been in the primary?

I wouldn't worry about it too much. I have had a few batches get that stuff and they all turned out fine after a month of aging. Actually, I recently had a batch of cream ale get a mild infection and instead of bottling it right away, I racked it to a secondary and then dry-hopped the hell out of it with some old hops. Interestingly, signs of the infection went away after a few days and the beer tastes pretty good.

 

[batfishdog37]

I was just going to say I had this (see below link) happen to a batch a while ago and just let it sit and it turned out alright.

DSCN0827 - HomeBrewTalk Gallery

 

[Nurmey]

Hard to say but I think it looks pretty normal. I don't think I would call it an infection and it's way too early to judge the taste.

 

[Ksosh]

The beer was in primary for about 3 weeks and in a secondary (with fennugreek seeds) for a couple more. It's now sitting in a tertiary for another day until I get time to bottle, and I think I left all/most of the gross stuff behind. It smells VERY VERY strong, even though it was only ~1.06 OG and now 1.024, so I'm hoping that will mask or mesh well with whatever weird tastes come from the (maybe) infection.

 

[Nurmey]

Fennugreek seeds could be the cause of the floaty patches. I assume there is a certain amount of oils in them. They could also be a the cause of the flavor issue but I'm not sure about that. I'm not familiar with using them in beer.

 

[Ksosh]

Apparently they give a maple flavor, which was what I was shooting for. It wasn't *too* much (2 Tbsp/5 gallon?), but I think they did provide some type of strong smell, though maybe not 100% responsible for what I'm smelling. I also used hippie store barley malt extract, which is lower quality than brewer's malt extract, which might be part of the cause as well.

 

[ThreeRatBastards]

I had something similar to that in a stout I have bottled. I added Lactose when I racked to the secondary and within a day a white film showed up. I then "racked underneath" it into a terciary several weeks later hoping the film would go away. Next day, more film :-( . I then racked underneath that into the bottling bucket and bottled the beer. All the beer bottles now have a white film at the top and have had it for two weeks now.


Sorry for the sad story, but I guess from my experience it seems that it isn't possible to rack underneath this kind of infection. When you put the siphon through the infection, some of that infection travels down into the beer with the siphon and will get moved along with the beer into its next vessel. Is there anyway to prevent that?

 

[mr_clean]

Taste it,Tell us.

 

[Arkador]

I think lacto would look more milky color.

 

[Ksosh]

Taste it,Tell us.

I'll let you know at bottling time
(Don't want to risk giving it another/different infection)

 

[mr_clean]

Thats understandable.

 

[rurounikitsune]

How did you sanitize the fenugreek? Vodka?

Lacto is hard to diagnose without a taste.

 

[Beerrific]

I would have to agree with others here. If a bug made it look like that (which it can), you will be able to taste it.

 

[Ksosh]

How did you sanitize the fenugreek? Vodka?

Lacto is hard to diagnose without a taste.

Good question
Maybe that was the source...

 

[bhatchable]

If it is infected then I would say let it run it's course... trying to bottle otherwise could just maybe lead to bottle bombs, as the infection will still be working in the bottles.

 

[PseudoChef]

You can't identify an organism by looking at a carboy.

That's what a microscope is for.

 

[Dauntless]

How strong of a microscope is necessary to do so?

 

[Ksosh]

You can't identify an organism by looking at a carboy.

That's what a microscope is for.

...I'm guessing you're a chemist?

 

[dantodd]

...I'm guessing you're a chemist?

More likely a biologist, the chemist would want to mass spectrometer or titrate it.

 

[Cheaton]

Or, like my wife, you could be a biochemist and be conflicted about what device to use!

 

[PseudoChef]

Yes, I am a biochemist.

 

[Ksosh]

Yes, I am a biochemist.

Kudos for making it thorough Organic Chem then! I hear that's what causes a lot of future chemists to become... well... not chemists.

 

[Ksosh]

Bottled yesterday evening. Smelled a little sour, but not horrible, beer was drinkable, even infected, warm, and uncarbed. While in the tertiary container the white gunk grew back over the top, so I racked from under and left a few cups on the bottom when transferring to the bottling bucket. I also primed with brown sugar because I figured why the hell not, and maybe it'll help balance out any residual sourness.

This is either going to be horrible or be awesome, and I'll know sometime between 3 weeks and 3 years...

 

[Ksosh]

Just a quick update. It's been about a year and 4 months since I bottled this batch. It has an interesting flavor, almost a sweet and sour maple flavor. It's hit or miss with people, they either hate it or absolutely love it. Brewing a simple pale ale this weekend, will use 2 TBSP of fennugreek again.

 

[jonmohno]

Just a quick update. It's been about a year and 4 months since I bottled this batch. It has an interesting flavor, almost a sweet and sour maple flavor. It's hit or miss with people, they either hate it or absolutely love it. Brewing a simple pale ale this weekend, will use 2 TBSP of fennugreek again.

What about maple syrup as a primer? Is fennugreek more mapely? I bet you the people that hate it are the fizzy yellow beer drinkers?

 

[Ksosh]

What about maple syrup as a primer? Is fennugreek more mapely? I bet you the people that hate it are the fizzy yellow beer drinkers?

Since Maple Syrup is a bajillion percent sugar, it seems that very little flavor remains after the yeast have had their say. I've primed with it before and not only did it produce crappy carbonation, I didn't taste it all that much.

I've read that fennugreek is more 'aunt jemima' than 'maple syrup', but since it's a spice and not a sugar, the flavor comes through pretty well.