Possible infection

[Cbusbrewing]

Hello everyone,

I brewed a beer about 6 weeks ago that I left in primary for 3 weeks and then transferred to secondary for another 3 weeks. I keep a blanket wrapped around my carbon to keep light out. I was planning on bottling it tomorrow so I unwrapped it and found these floaters on top of my beer. Is this mold? Or some sort of infection? Do I need to dump this?
These were the best photos that I could get

 

[Cbusbrewing]

Additional photos

 

[Stormcrow]

Very interesting looking floaters. My first thought was that they looked like "no big deal." But the more I zoomed, the more they looked hairy, like mold. I'm interested to hear others weigh in on this.

 

[Sammy86]

Yeah, that doesn't look good...my guess is mold as well. Time to deep clean that fermentor with some very hot water and PBW!

 

[RM-MN]

I agree that doesn't look good. Quit transferring to secondary and that problem isn't likely to reoccur. The infection organisms can't get through the airlock and the atmosphere in the primary fermenter prevents them from getting started even if they could get through. At the homebrew level there is no proven advantage to transferring to secondary and as you can see, there are disadvantages.

 

[Cbusbrewing]

Thank you for the insight everyone. I used a beer thief to take a hydrometer reading today and one of these came up with it on the outside of the beer thief. It was hairy and I think it was mold for sure.

I have read on other threads that the alcohol should kill any mold, and that as long as I skim it off, it should be ok.

can anyone confirm this? Or should I dump it?

 

[micraftbeer]

If the alcohol can kill any mold, how did they grow on there to begin with? It seems hard to reject your empirical evidence...

Willing to take a gamble with your gut? Everyone will think you have COVID and you'll get banned from parties for two weeks.

Not to mention, I'd be willing to guess those hairy guys don't have the best flavor profiles.

 

[IslandLizard]

there is no proven advantage to transferring to secondary and as you can see, there are disadvantages.

That! ^

Also when using a secondary, say for bulk aging or mixed fermentation sours, they need to be filled all the way to top, 1" under the bung as a rule of thumb. It's the excessive headspace that encourages other things to grow, such as molds, all they need is oxygen, and a damp environment.

Now I've read somewhere in the past, you could scoop those mold colonies off your beer. That wine/beer thief may well work to your advantage. Then try a sample, and if found good, bottle or keg the batch. There could (will) be some mold spores in the headspace or floating on the beer surface, so condition those bottles quickly, then keep chilled, to prevent any more growth.

 

[homiejomie]

Additional photos

i have had some pelicules form on some brews it could be that. Theycome with lots of appearances. If it has black or green then it’s mold. If it tastes ok.. I would rack it leaving a good inch behind on the top. Keg it and get it cold if you can. Mine have been good with a few weeks in bottle or keg. I’m not an expert on this matter.