Post your infection

[Zamial]

Ok I have an update on mine. It tastes a little sour but since it is a lighter beer and has pineapple + orange in it, it does not taste horrid. I will be moving into buckets for gelatin and to adjust the gravity. Oddly it is to be paired at a party with a super sweet mixed drink, so it should all work out in the end.

Hooray for weird snowflake beer!

 

[MikeRoBrew1]

509inc any elaboration would be greatly appreciated.

 

[509inc]

I posted a picture of my infection looking very similar to yours. While I have been able to force myself to drink it. I always regret it and would not wish it on my enemies. I bottled mine and it has been sitting for quite some time. If I hold a bottle up to the light I can see the "snowflakes" in the bottle. I would bet that taste most foul very astringent and will only get worse over time.

 

[r_flagg]

That sounds like a quick way to end up with 4 bad batches of beer instead of just one.

Do you speak from experience and have some more worthwhile input on the situation? Do you like sour beer?

 

[BrookdaleBrew]

Do you speak from experience and have some more worthwhile input on the situation? Do you like sour beer?

If you want sours, then blend away my friend! It sounded like you were attempting to salvage the infected batch by blending it, which obviously would not work out so well.

 

[MikeRoBrew1]

509inc thanks for the additional information. I am trying to find your post but not having much luck right now. I will be sure to taste it if I'm really going to consider kegging it, but I don't think that is happening.. doesn't look tasty lol.

 

[r_flagg]

If you want sours, then blend away my friend! It sounded like you were attempting to salvage the infected batch by blending it, which obviously would not work out so well.

Yup love the sours! I'm trying to take a cue from Petrus for this one. I know they get their flavor and sourness from oak barrel aging, so maybe I'll throw in some bourbon soaked chips while I wait. I'm excited to see what kind of blends come out of this and I'll post results when I'm done.

 

[Haputanlas]

EDIT:

Nevermind. That pic disgusted me too much.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

If you want sours, then blend away my friend! It sounded like you were attempting to salvage the infected batch by blending it, which obviously would not work out so well.

+1. All you're going to do is infect everything else you add it to. Although I've only had one infection since I started brewing, I would bet that 99% of the time, your beer won't be infected by a good yeast.

It's worth saving things to see if they get better, but they probably won't. Don't risk ruining another few batches just to save one.

 

[MikeRoBrew1]

I posted links to my infection (here: http://s960.photobucket.com/albums/ae88/WakeMikey/Random/) and I wanted to update. I poured a mug from the bottom of the bucket. It smelled and tasted musty and made my living room smell the same. It's a toss-out for sure.

The bucket is a bottling bucket, I only use OneStep for cleaning & sanitization and I may have failed to OneStep the airlock after pulling it off another fermenter that was no longer in use (and dirty). So these are my suspected culprits. I think it was the airlock personally. The bottling buckets have only been used as fermenters maybe 3-4 times.

I have never used StarSan, but I was idly wondering, what would happen if you had a spray bottle of SSan and if you opened the bucket to check on the brew you could spray a couple squirts of SSan right into the bucket. Would that possibly help prevent any sort of contamination? Just a newb thought lol

 

[Stoutman82]

Really good post for new brewers. I have learned a lot that most books won't show or explain.

 

[FromZwolle]

SO I grabbed a carboy with tshirt out of the closet and carry to the table to prepare to bottle, and what do I find? My very first infection! Yippee!

Here is the photo - wish I had looked, I kinda broke it up....gonna let it settle/ float before I rack into bottle bucket. No off smell that I can detect.

i had a very similar looking infection. bottled it at 1.001 or 2. Weird thing was, there were no off flavors/aromas. The hops were a bit too firm because the low fg, but overall it turned out not so bad. not something i'd try and duplicate, but it far surpased what i expected when i yanked the lid off.

 

[kegtoe]

Looking for some help with this. Is it that Brett? Th beer smells awefully sour. Its darker in color. Poured a cup off from the spigot at the bottom. - its not horrible but its different. Anny one with suggestions. Worth saving?

 

[Smokeater233]

Bottle, condition, drink real quick...never had an infection, but that seems like the prevailing wisdom here...

 

[vitrael]

Thank you to all contributors for adequately terrifying me. I am going to go take a bath in StarSan now.

 

[Pivzavod]

Looking for some help with this. Is it that Brett? Th beer smells awefully sour. Its darker in color. Poured a cup off from the spigot at the bottom. - its not horrible but its different. Anny one with suggestions. Worth saving?

I had something similar with some of my plastic batches during summer. The last one of them was a Dubbel that I kept in a keg at room temperature for 3+ months thinking it would get better. Tried it over the weekend on the kegerator and its the definition of "nail polish" taste. Dumping it this weekend ;(

 

[Super64]

I just finished reading this whole thread.....

and I'm feeling a little woozy.....

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Looking for some help with this. Is it that Brett? Th beer smells awefully sour. Its darker in color. Poured a cup off from the spigot at the bottom. - its not horrible but its different. Anny one with suggestions. Worth saving?

If not brett then lacto. Maybe both.

The nail polish remover flavor may be from fermenting too warm. What temperature did you ferment this?

If it tastes terrible now it is unlikely it is going to start tasting delicious over time. You could ride it out for a while or dump it...

 

[kegtoe]

dumped it, double bleached the bucket.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

If not brett then lacto. Maybe both.

The nail polish remover flavor may be from fermenting too warm. What temperature did you ferment this?

If it tastes terrible now it is unlikely it is going to start tasting delicious over time. You could ride it out for a while or dump it...

I find it very hard to believe that this beer is infected with brett. Unless it's done intentionally, brett isn't usually something that most people will see...More likely lacto.

I second dumping this if it tastes terrible now. Otherwise drink it as fast as possible.

 

[COLObrewer]

. . . . brett isn't usually something that most people will see...

I'm curious about why you would say this, seems pretty broad to me. I believe in the wild brettanomyces lives on the skins of fruit and or wood? Why would it not be everywhere?

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

I'm curious about why you would say this, seems pretty broad to me. I believe in the wild brettanomyces lives on the skins of fruit and or wood? Why would it not be everywhere?

You're right, brett is on fruit. But...most of us are washing our fruit properly, or at least doing something to avoid contamination.

In my experience with brett, it takes at LEAST a few months for the pelicle to start to form. The above picture looked like a full blown infection to me... so unless it's been sitting around for 4 months in the secondary (which could be possible) then I highly doubt it's brett.

I could be wrong, I'm just going by personal experience with brewing wild beers.

 

[COLObrewer]

You're right, brett is on fruit. But...most of us are washing our fruit properly, or at least doing something to avoid contamination.

In my experience with brett, it takes at LEAST a few months for the pelicle to start to form. The above picture looked like a full blown infection to me... so unless it's been sitting around for 4 months in the secondary (which could be possible) then I highly doubt it's brett.

I could be wrong, I'm just going by personal experience with brewing wild beers.

Ah I see, hadn't even thought about the timing, Thanx.

 

[Sammy75]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49052497@N00/sets/72157624835029741/

Actually turned out pretty damned good! Just siphoned from underneath it. Glad I got that out of the way early in my brewing career.

 

[smellysell]

You're right, brett is on fruit. But...most of us are washing our fruit properly, or at least doing something to avoid contamination.

In my experience with brett, it takes at LEAST a few months for the pelicle to start to form. The above picture looked like a full blown infection to me... so unless it's been sitting around for 4 months in the secondary (which could be possible) then I highly doubt it's brett.

I could be wrong, I'm just going by personal experience with brewing wild beers.

Looks like lacto to me too.

 

[krazyboi]

hi guys, i brewed up a batch of chocolate milk stout about two weeks ago. the yeast i used was a nottingham dry yeast.
i looked into my fermenting container today and saw this:

is this an infection? i've only brewed twice before this and haven't seen anything like this in those past two brews...it has a very strong vinegar smell that almost burned my nose hairs off, but it tastes alright..
(not sure why the picture isn't loading, but here is the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/khrislee/5411575005/ )

 

[wyzazz]

That's just oils from the chocolate, no worries. Heck, bottle one up and ship it to me. If I don't email you back in a week then you can dump it.

 

[Black_Warrior_Brewing]

PLEASE HELP! Is my porter infected? It was fine in 2ndry for a week and then I added about 12 oz of maple syrup and 5 days later, bam, this: http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z356/blackwarriorbrewing/IMG_0391.jpg

Is this infection and if so should I rack it out to bottles now (I don't have a keg yet)? I was planning on adding bourbon soaked oak chips for 3 weeks starting soon, but should I change my plan because of this growth? Maybe rack to a different carboy and then add the oak?

 

[SKMO]

PLEASE HELP! Is my porter infected? It was fine in 2ndry for a week and then I added about 12 oz of maple syrup and 5 days later, bam, this: http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z356/blackwarriorbrewing/IMG_0391.jpg

Is this infection and if so should I rack it out to bottles now

Chill.

There's all sorts, shapes and colors of stuff that float around in fermenters.

If in fact you did have the "dreaded infection" how would bottling it be a solution ? Just curious as to what the thinking was here.

 

[Black_Warrior_Brewing]

Caffeine + not much sleep + the first development of this kind I've had = likely overreaction. I had read that some people had racked underneath where growths had formed, with good results, so I didn't know if that would have any bearing here. Not a whole lot of thinking, just anxiety about losing what was a very tasty porter! I'll chill now...