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Yep it had something...I let it sit until today on it. I sampled and it was not bad. I have 7.5 gallons on gas and 5.5 more with some toasted coconut flakes, now. I fear I have accidentially created a great beverage that I will never be able to replicate.

While not my personal favorite I am sure to give it a run at the Luau Party next Saturday night. I will have tons of free feedback...lol.
 
I am getting some crazy activity with a batch of Apfelwein I just put on... In previous batches with the same yeast, all I got was a very thin layer of bubbles. I pitched the dry 1118 about 24 hours ago, but I started seeing this crazy stuff within 12 hours or so. Is this an infection? I have not seen anything like this in any of my previous fermentations.

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Active fermentation and high krausen. Doing FINE. Let her be.

M_C
I am getting some crazy activity with a batch of Apfelwein I just put on... In previous batches with the same yeast, all I got was a very thin layer of bubbles. I pitched the dry 1118 about 24 hours ago, but I started seeing this crazy stuff within 12 hours or so. Is this an infection? I have not seen anything like this in any of my previous fermentations.

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Active fermentation and high krausen. Doing FINE. Let her be.

M_C

Wow, that takes a load off my mind... I was under the impression that only grain had the enzymes to produce this sort of mess on the surface. I am used to seeing this sort of stuff with hops and such using grain and ale yeast, but I was very concerned with the Apple and champagne yeast! :eek: I also got a wee bit of suck back from my airlock after pitching, so I was ultra sensitive. Haha.
 
Super newb question on my first batch of beer. Better safe than sorry. Racked to secondary and these appeared 18 hours later, are these just bubbles? Airlock has a release every 90 seconds or so. American yeast US-05 and 7 days in primary if that helps?

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kegtoe said:
looks like bacteria/mold to me. id rack the beer from the bottom sooner rater than later.

Where do I rack it, keg, until drink? I was thinking of racking to keg and then back after I clean out the carboy again. Would that oxidize the beer too much? I auto-siphon carefully!

Here's a few more pics, thoughts welcome:

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Why do so many of you keep beer in your pails or carboys for 2+ months? It doesn't make any sense to me when the majority of beers are ready to bottle in a months time. One of these post was an Irish Red that was in a bucket for 2 months. I'm starting an Irish Red this week and I plan to go 3 weeks tops before I bottle depending on FG readings.

So far I have brewed a Pale Ale, sat for 7 weeks in primary due to it not being my just my beer and not wanting to intrude on my friends brew. Finally I just bottled it when he wasn't home. There are tastes in it that are off, yet still drinkable for the most part.

Next batch was a Hefe, in carboy for 3 weeks hit, FG bottled for 1 1/2 weeks TASTED GREAT. Now at 3 weeks tastes a bit off.

Next batch was Irish Stout. In carboy for 2 weeks, hit just below FG at just 1 week in, but let it sit. Bottled it 15 days ago and tried two of them tonight. I think its the best beer I brewed so far. Still young to tell, but very smooth and tasty and not heavy.

So why 2 months in primary!!!!!!!!

God help me when I get an infection like the few posted (most looked like the normal process of fermenting) as I don't know if I will be able to taste it when I see that shyt in my carboy. :confused:

I also want to know how many kids under 21 are on here that the cursing filter needs to be enabled!?
 
Actually that looks like CO2 bubbles at the top. Give it a small shake and see if the bubbles dissolve. I've seen this in some of my beers, and it was just CO2 bubbles.

M_C
Where do I rack it, keg, until drink? I was thinking of racking to keg and then back after I clean out the carboy again. Would that oxidize the beer too much? I auto-siphon carefully!

Here's a few more pics, thoughts welcome:
 
Misplaced_Canuck said:
Actually that looks like CO2 bubbles at the top. Give it a small shake and see if the bubbles dissolve. I've seen this in some of my beers, and it was just CO2 bubbles.

M_C

I second this. My latest brew appeared to be showing small white islands that I mistakenly took for infection until I saw the CO2 bubbles rise from the yeast bed and stick in those islands.

-Aaron
 
Is my beer infected? Never had an infection before. Stuff is yellow/cream colored. looks thick. Beer smells fine (but all I smell are hops). see Pics below..

Story - Attempt to make a beer similar to Lagunitas A Little Sumpin Sumpin. using
WLP550 I went from 1.07 to 1.015 in 2 weeks in primary. then transferred to secondary. Beer tasted great at this point. 1 week later I added 2 ounces of hops and the zest of 1 grapefruit (zest was boiled for 2 minutes prior to adding). Still no sign of infection, very clear. When dry hopping I dropped the rubber stopper, picked it up quickly, rinsed it off with vodka (in hindsight this probably wasn't the best move). Now, 2 weeks later (3 total weeks in secondary) I see this stuff floating on top.

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If it's infected, what can I do? Can I drink it? I would hate to chuck this, it's over 8% ABV and has 7.5 ounces of hops! tasted great after primary!
 
That just looks like chunks of yeast to me. I could be wrong. If it tastes fine, just bottle/keg and see how it comes out.

edt: Sorry I just notice your first paragraph before the pictures. I couldn't tell you at this point if the primary was clear.
 
I wonder if someone might help me out by giving me their opinion on this one.

I brewed a barleywine in January, and racked to secondary in late Feb. (I know, probably a mistake -- next time I'll just leave it in primary...)

Took a gravity reading a couple weeks ago and it had it the proper FG. Didn't notice any problems at that point. But today I checked and there are now some very mysterious floating things in the secondary (Better Bottle).

They're white or off-white in color. Some are at/near the surface, but most are hanging out in the middle or bottom of the secondary. So I'm wondering if it's an infection. Can someone have a look at these pics and give me an opinion one way or another? Thanks in advance.

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Just bottled my beer, still a little weirded out by the huge floating yeast-like clusters, but it tasted absolutely fine. I guess I'll find out in a couple weeks. Thanks for the reply!

Dinklefwat - as for your barley wine I think it looks OK. Those look like they could be yeast clumps to me. Give it a taste if you're worried.
 
does this look like an infection to anyone? light colored spots spreading across the surface of my primary. they haven't receded and have been there for a good while.

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I love this thread. I just started brewing and this makes me relax about destroying my beer even more. Sounds like if you don't panic you can save most everything from being dumped!
 
does this look like an infection to anyone? light colored spots spreading across the surface of my primary. they haven't receded and have been there for a good while.

Had something similar in my last brew, came to the conclusion that it was just floaty yeast.

On a different note i ended up with more yeast in my bottles than the brew before, dont know if that was related to the floaties though.
 
PolishStout said:
does this look like an infection to anyone? light colored spots spreading across the surface of my primary. they haven't receded and have been there for a good while.

Those look normal. They are yeast particles brought to the surface by CO2 bubbles. "Yeast rafts" is the terminology that's been used before. RDWHAHB!
 
I freaked out the first time I saw yeast rafts, too. It was my first batch and I even posted pics asking for opinions. That first batch turned out awesome and it's still the best beer I've ever had.

---Chris
 
Here's what my Bourbon Barrel Porter (from Northern Brewer) looked like coming out of primary:

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Here's what it looks like right now after five days in secondary:

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I'm ridiculously careful with sanitation too, so I dunno how this could've happened. I racked very carefully from under the first "thing", being careful not to transfer any of it.

:mad:
 
that is beautiful!!!!

it's funny, I thought the first pic was just yeast rafts but upon closer inspection you can see the pellicle lines starting to form
 
This whole thread has made me paranoid. My photos are of my Leffe Blonde clone. It has been in the primary for a little over a week at about 70 degrees. This is my first Blonde recipe and I have never had any elements on the top of the beer when I am getting ready to secondary or bottle. It smells OK, somewhat sour but overall it still smells like beer. What do you guys think?

Thanks,

Bill

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