Post your infection

[Amadeo38]

Looks like a SCOBY in kombucha, which likely means it’s a mixture of bacteria and yeast and other nasties. I’m not even sure that’s something that would be totally safe to taste...

 

[newtobrew1981]

So, I’m a rather new homebrewer, but i’ve Been doing one gallon batches often enough to think this isn’t quite right... having said that, it’s a new style, and a yeast I haven’t used before. Any idea what this might be?

I'd say it's a dumper

 

[newtobrew1981]

Thanks! I looked around the internet about pellicle and found that I should be OK , I transferred off most of the beer and left of as much of the top layer/nasty as I could, but Im guessing their still in the beer, just the top is obvious, hopefully the cold will kill them. Thanks for your help! 18 batches and the first infection, will have to find the source, probably the siphon....

Cold wont kill it

 

[Chrispy92]

So this sneaky little pellicle? Appeared on a Belgian fruit ale (probably due to too much head space) a few months ago, I let it ride about 4 months and after tasting it’s actually quite good!Sour, tangy and dry. Just wondering if anyone has seen something similar and may be able to help narrow down exactly what type of beasty has caused this? Cheers!

 

[RPh_Guy]

So this sneaky little pellicle? Appeared on a Belgian fruit ale (probably due to too much head space) a few months ago, I let it ride about 4 months and after tasting it’s actually quite good!Sour, tangy and dry. Just wondering if anyone has seen something similar and may be able to help narrow down exactly what type of beasty has caused this? Cheers!

Definite pellicle.
Can't identify the organism by looking.
More info: http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Pellicle

Sounds tasty! Glad it worked out for you!

 

[Cartax]

Hi, after 4 weeks in conical ferm this is going on...
Can someone predict if its infected? Its been dryhoped 2 weeks ago.. Some funky bubbles and white film on surface..

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

C'mon, that's no pellicle. That's the Arctic!

 

[Cartax]

C'mon, that's no pellicle. That's the Arctic!

??

 

[RPh_Guy]

Hi, after 4 weeks in conical ferm this is going on...
Can someone predict if its infected? Its been dryhoped 2 weeks ago.. Some funky bubbles and white film on surface..

Yes, you probably have some wild microbes.

 

[Cartax]

Yes, you probably have some wild microbes.

I fu** it when try to mixed dryhop with sanitized spoon 6 days ago.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I fu** it when try to mixed dryhop with sanitized spoon 6 days ago.

Who knows? Yeast and bacteria float around in the air. Certainly could have been from the hops as well.
Even pro breweries get contaminations; it happens to everyone sooner or later. Hopefully your beer is still good. Don't give up on it yet.

 

[Cartax]

Who knows? Yeast and bacteria float around in the air. Certainly could have been from the hops as well.
Even pro breweries get contaminations; it happens to everyone sooner or later. Hopefully your beer is still good. Don't give up on it yet.

Ok, i will.
Previous picture rec yesterday, this one is taken 1 hour ago,today.

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

That's a pellicle for sure.

 

[ajbosley2015]

Hi, after 4 weeks in conical ferm this is going on...
Can someone predict if its infected? Its been dryhoped 2 weeks ago.. Some funky bubbles and white film on surface..

I'd say it's definitely a pellicle. Don't dump it, don't bottle it. Let that baby sit for a month or so longer, keep checking SG until it doesnt change,. then add another week. Do not bottle condition with sugar, only force carbonate. Might be the best beer youve ever tasted...might be funky as hell

 

[RPh_Guy]

Let that baby sit for a month or so longer, keep checking SG until it doesnt change,. then add another week. Do not bottle condition with sugar, only force carbonate.

Making sure FG is stable for a few weeks is a good idea.

Bottled priming is perfectly fine. The pitched yeast should still have a MUCH higher cell count and dominate conditioning. No worries there.

 

[Cartax]

Ok, yesterday still have hope, but today its seen from pict its spoiled. From now on, im thinking 25 l will go in fermentor for couple of weeks, maybe month...rest of 120 l will go downhill. Gonna bottle it, prime sugar, rest of let the nature take it on

 

[RPh_Guy]

today its seen from pict its spoiled.

It's ONLY spoiled if it smells or tastes bad!

 

[JDNCT]

Hello, I'm afraid I already know the answer, but I'm guessing this is infected?

 

[bigdawg86]

Hello, I'm afraid I already know the answer, but I'm guessing this is infected?
View attachment 587212

That is definately a pellicle... what fermenter are you using? That's how my last kettle sour looked right before the boil

 

[JDNCT]

It's a Chapman Steel Tank. I guess after almost ten years, it was bound to happen eventually. Thanks for the confirmation!

 

[ajbosley2015]

Making sure FG is stable for a few weeks is a good idea.

Bottled priming is perfectly fine. The pitched yeast should still have a MUCH higher cell count and dominate conditioning. No worries there.

I vehemently disagree. I bottled a pecan pie stout that had pellicle, SG was completely stable for 2.5 weeks, bottle conditioned and though I didn’t make bottle bombs per se, that drastically over carbonated and made the beer undrinkable

 

[RPh_Guy]

I vehemently disagree. I bottled a pecan pie stout that had pellicle, SG was completely stable for 2.5 weeks, bottle conditioned and though I didn’t make bottle bombs per se, that drastically over carbonated and made the beer undrinkable

Fair point.
Anywhere you draw the line is arbitrary. 3 weeks, 3 months, 3 years... It may still attenuate lower depending on the conditions. The longer you wait the safer it is, but even beer that's been aging for years isn't guaranteed to be at FG. That's why traditional sours are frequently corked and caged or pasteurized/filtered.

It's smart to keep an eye on the bottles so they don't over-carb. If they do, you can simply put them in the fridge to stop or drastically slow additional fermentation.
If you'd monitored yours then perhaps you would have been able to save them.
For a contaminated beer, it's arguably better to bottle, carbonate, chill, and drink faster so that there's less chance for the contaminants to contribute flavor.
Plus, by the time you finish 2-3 months of additional aging you could have already finished drinking all the beer. If you want to age longer than that, maybe it'd be better to brew a batch that's not contaminated.

Waiting a reasonable amount of time (a few weeks at stable FG), good hydrometer reading skills (correcting for temperature, ideally using a higher resolution FG hydrometer), and most importantly, paying attention to carbonation level after bottling means you'll be totally safe.

 

[ajbosley2015]

Fair point.
Anywhere you draw the line is arbitrary. 3 weeks, 3 months, 3 years... It may still attenuate lower depending on the conditions. The longer you wait the safer it is, but even beer that's been aging for years isn't guaranteed to be at FG. That's why traditional sours are frequently corked and caged or pasteurized/filtered.

It's smart to keep an eye on the bottles so they don't over-carb. If they do, you can simply put them in the fridge to stop or drastically slow additional fermentation.
If you'd monitored yours then perhaps you would have been able to save them.
For a contaminated beer, it's arguably better to bottle, carbonate, chill, and drink faster so that there's less chance for the contaminants to contribute flavor.
Plus, by the time you finish 2-3 months of additional aging you could have already finished drinking all the beer. If you want to age longer than that, maybe it'd be better to brew a batch that's not contaminated.

Waiting a reasonable amount of time (a few weeks at stable FG), good hydrometer reading skills (correcting for temperature, ideally using a higher resolution FG hydrometer), and most importantly, paying attention to carbonation level after bottling means you'll be totally safe.

Don’t want to argue, but here’s the deal, you are assuming things. My system is full turn-key from water addition to bottling. My gravity readings don’t use a hydrometer, they use a density meter and spectrometer with a resolution of 0.0001 g/cm^3

As far as keeping an eye on bottles goes, well with heatshrink black labels over my bottles, up to the rim, the only way to “monitor” is to open.

But yeah, you make good points, you just also make undue assumptions

 

[RPh_Guy]

the only way to “monitor” is to open.

Yup, I did assume a homebrewer can open his bottles.
Didn't mean to offend!

 

[BBQB]

Ha ha, and the winner goes to rph_guy !

 

[ajbosley2015]

Yup, I did assume a homebrewer can open his bottles.
Didn't mean to offend!

Or patronize for that matter?

Brew a small batch and by the time you open a bottle to test every 3 days...you have no product...especially when your small batches sell for 12-18 dollars a bottle locally. It’s just a risk you don’t take when your specialty small batches only put out a case tops.

There’s a lot more at play and my situation was a rare one that came with good advice for others that you undermined with undue criticism and assumptions.

-out

 

[RPh_Guy]

Who sells obviously contaminated beer?

Dude, where do I sign up? I would be happy to legally sell beer for stupidly high prices where I just turn a key on a system and don't need to worry about any kind of quality assurance.

 

[ajbosley2015]

Every single manufacturer of sours sells contaminated beer???

I don’t set the prices, demand does brother, and QA? Why are we still arguing about this

 

[RPh_Guy]

Not sure an accidental contamination really compares to a beer intentionally pitched with a mixed house culture of microbes selected to produce good flavor, fermented to a low gravity over a period of around a year, and then usually pasteurized and/or corked & caged in a thick bottle (or kegged).

A legal brewery in a developed country wouldn't sell an unintentionally contaminated beer for the exact reason you experienced that made yours undrinkable -- unpredictable attenuation and potential for gushing or explosion (lack of shelf stability).

Seems obvious to me. Sorry you learned that the hard way!

Cheers

 

[ajbosley2015]

You see, you again are making assumptions. My pellicle was self-induced but my I should have force carbonated instead of bottle conditioned.

Did I ever once say it was an accidental infection? I simply said pellicle.

Whatever the case may be, I learned one thing, and 5-6 liters is not learning the hard way, and 6 months later my customers received their pre-ordered product.

Also, you throw around “legal” as if I don’t have a farm brewers license putting out 100-300 bbl annually that I grew from 5 gallon batches in December go big or go home?