I've had a Belgian Tripel in secondary for 2 months. I only noticed this yesterday, but something has developed along one edge of the surface that has me worried it might be an infection. Attached are images. Feedback would be appreciated.
Post your infection
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daggers_nz
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I get that all the time. Not sure why so long in secondary for an ale though?
I guess no-one really knows the answer
How does it look today? Any different? Infections like lacto can spread quickly. Brett takes its time. Is there anything in that beer that could cause that?Not that it should make a difference but yeah, why the long time in the fermentor? Are you long time conditioning/aging?
When I harvest yeast and let the slurry settle in a large jar, after 2 weeks I sometimes see some small whitish deposits along the side. Not as much as yours, though. Maybe it's from the yeast.
Just an observation, that beer looks very dark for a tripel.
The two months time in secondary was per the instructions of the kit. Bulk conditioning. It does look quite dark there -- lightens up in a smaller vessel though.
I don't think it has grown in the three days I've been aware of it so hopefully that's a good sign..
I don't think it has grown in the three days I've been aware of it so hopefully that's a good sign..
When I use a blow off I get a white sticky residue on the outside of the tube where it enters the Starsan filled container. Maybe they are coagulated proteins coming out of the beer?
![Craft A Brew - Safale BE-256 Yeast - Fermentis - Belgian Ale Dry Yeast - For Belgian & Strong Ales - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [3 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51bcKEwQmWL._SL500_.jpg)
casesensative
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Just an update on this one, I bottled it anyways, and kept it cool. It only got worse and was completely undrinkable. I won't bother wasting my time with infected batches anymore, I'll dump them outright.
kevy_kev
Well-Known Member
Friday was a sad day for me. I took the lid off my conical and saw the following. It had a bitter taste to it but I kegged it anyway leaving the top gallon behind. Hopefully it settles down and is drinkable.. Its a pumpkin porter and I think it caught something when my immersion chiller sprung a leak and dripped nasty hose water into my kettle.
Ewwwww....no bueno. The dreaded "broken ice pack..." look. Tough luck, sucks had to be the seasonal beer.
I'm not sure if I have an infection or not. This is an Arrogant Bastard Clone. It was in primary for two weeks, secondary for two weeks. My final gravity was supposed to come in at 1.018, but I'm at 1.010. I may have mashed a little on the cool side for a little longer than I was supposed to. I don't recall exactly through. The stuff on the top on the low FG has me concerned.
Do I have an infection, or am I just paranoid? (Smell and taste seem ok)
Do I have an infection, or am I just paranoid? (Smell and taste seem ok)
Shakybones
Well-Known Member
Those are just CO2 bubbles.
Why is there a krausen ring in your secondary? Why do you secondary in a bucket with so much headspace?
Actually, now that I think about it, I may have forgotten to move it to a secondary. I sometimes secondary in a bucket if I am going to bulk condition it for a while or if I just want to have a cleaner product going into my bottling bucket. So why did my FG come in so low??
kombat
Well-Known Member
Not infected, although if you keep taking the lid off like that with so much head space, you'll risk oxidizing it.
Could be a number of things. As you mentioned, you may have mashed too low, producing a more fermentable wort than intended. Maybe you fermented too warm, causing your yeast to be a little too enthusiastic. Maybe you used a particularly high-attenuating yeast strain. I wouldn't worry about infection unless a) there were obvious visual cues, or b) the gravity gets down below 1.005 and keeps dropping.
Could be a number of things. As you mentioned, you may have mashed too low, producing a more fermentable wort than intended. Maybe you fermented too warm, causing your yeast to be a little too enthusiastic. Maybe you used a particularly high-attenuating yeast strain. I wouldn't worry about infection unless a) there were obvious visual cues, or b) the gravity gets down below 1.005 and keeps dropping.
Figured I'd add one. It's a red ale. been in fermenter for 12 days and went for a gravity reading. It looks normal to me except for a slight whitish layer on it. Smells totally normal and took a taste and it tastes like beer but seemed to dry my mouth out but that may have just been in my head :cross:
Shred
Former Microbrewery Founder & Pro Brewer
Yep. Looks like lacto. Toss that badboy in a glass carboy and let it ride. You may end up with a nice sour in a year or so.
I used iodophor but Im gonna bottle this weekend anyway and I'm sure it will be good to go.
Third day of fermentation for this stout with whitbread 1099....beautiful krausen for a day and a half then dropped, then these little islands startd showing. Haven't seen this in any of my brews. What does this look like to all of you? Thanks!
LoloMT7
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B33F
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Alright boys and girls!
I brewed up a solid DIPA on Sunday with an OG of 1.085 and pitched some yeast that I harvested from a bottle of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot. This was before I knew that SN uses readily available yeast strains for their beers... Anyway, it took about 24 hours for first activity which is unusual for me and then after about 40 hrs a horrendoes egg stench started coming from the airlock. Like so bad that I had to move the fermentor from my guest room to my storage room outside my apartment. I let it be and then checked it this morning about 2.5 days after pitching and there's no more activity in the airlock and it looks like this... I posted some nervous threads yesterday in here and in another brew forum. Someone suggested that since Bigfoot is bottle conditioned, they may use a separate lager yeast for bottling and that's what I may have pitched into a DIPA.
I brewed up a solid DIPA on Sunday with an OG of 1.085 and pitched some yeast that I harvested from a bottle of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot. This was before I knew that SN uses readily available yeast strains for their beers...
Anyway, it took about 24 hours for first activity which is unusual for me and then after about 40 hrs a horrendoes egg stench started coming from the airlock. Like so bad that I had to move the fermentor from my guest room to my storage room outside my apartment. I let it be and then checked it this morning about 2.5 days after pitching and there's no more activity in the airlock and it looks like this... I posted some nervous threads yesterday in here and in another brew forum. Someone suggested that since Bigfoot is bottle conditioned, they may use a separate lager yeast for bottling and that's what I may have pitched into a DIPA.
kombat
Well-Known Member
Perfectly normal. That's simply yeast.
It's extremely unlikely that you could develop an infection in only 2.5 days. They usually take much longer to reveal themselves (weeks/months) unless you've seriously contaminated your batch. That said, I have two comments:
First, stop taking the lid off! You're exposing your beer to outside contaminants (risking infection) and oxygen (risking oxidation). Leave the lid on and forget about it for at least 2 weeks.
Second, that beer looks pretty much finished. If it's only been 2.5 days, as you say, then I'm concerned it may have fermented too hot, which would result in some unpleasant off-flavours. In the future, make more of an effort to keep the beer's temperature (not the room's temperature) between 60-65° F.
It's extremely unlikely that you could develop an infection in only 2.5 days. They usually take much longer to reveal themselves (weeks/months) unless you've seriously contaminated your batch. That said, I have two comments:
First, stop taking the lid off! You're exposing your beer to outside contaminants (risking infection) and oxygen (risking oxidation). Leave the lid on and forget about it for at least 2 weeks.
Second, that beer looks pretty much finished. If it's only been 2.5 days, as you say, then I'm concerned it may have fermented too hot, which would result in some unpleasant off-flavours. In the future, make more of an effort to keep the beer's temperature (not the room's temperature) between 60-65° F.
B33F
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I only took it off once to get a look and took the pic. The other thing is I leave a thermometer in that guest room and it was pretty steady at 17 C which is roughly 62.5 F. I don't think there's any possibility that it got over 70 in there during that time. Why do you think it was giving off that smell?
kombat
Well-Known Member
A normal fermentation.
Fermentation produces all sorts of funky smells, including sulphur/rotten egg. It's normal, and nothing to be concerned about.
Your temperature sounds OK, just be aware that fermentation is an exothermic reaction, meaning it generates its own heat. During the peak of fermentation, the temperature in the wort can be up to 5-10° F warmer than the surrounding ambient air. It's crucial to keep that fermentation temperature in the low-to-mid 60's.
B33F
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A normal fermentation.
You're making me feel better already. I may have to RDWHAHB with one of my aged Barley Wines. Anyway, I'll update to let you know when it comes down to bottling how it's going. I was just so surprised by the smell because of the 20+ batches I've brewed, I've never had any that didn't smell delicious.
LoloMT7
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The other thing is you re-pitched yeast from a really high OG beer (bigfoot) I'm surprised it finished that quickly. In the future it might be a good idea to safe yeast from a lower ABV beer. I'm sure it will turn out ok and it will be beer!
autonomist3k
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Hahahahahaha!
