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The infection is all through the beer, not just on top. that's just where it manifests itself. Besides, I tried the Starsan spray once & it helped very little, if at all.

Thanks, now I know for future reference....hopefully I'll never see the film of death.
 
I've gotten both before. The rainbow, " oil on water" shimmer is from dry hop oils, usually. But that broken ice pack look is definitely an infection starting.
 
This one took me by surprise. This is a 9.5% Belgian strong ale that fermented down to around 1.002. I even purged the headspace with co2. It has been in the secondary for 2 months and this just started to form. I don't know what to make of it...

Did you use MJ M31 by any chance? Did a tripel with that that went to 1.002 and had those yeast rafts too.
 
yummy yummy lacto :D

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Sorry guys, I jumped the gun and started a new thread. Here's what I'm thinking is an infection. Festabrew wheat kit. Spent 3 weeks in primary, 3 days now in secondary and it looks like this. What am I looking at? Drinkable? Smells great.

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Definitely infected. Impossible to say with what. Smell and taste will be your guide as to whether you want to drink 5 gallons of it, but I wouldn't bottle that.
 
This is my gravity sample - it's in a 1 cup measuring cup. This was after 3 weeks in primary. It's a brown ale, and it tastes perfectly normal. The flash washed out the color of most of the floating patches. They're actually light brown like the ones on the upper left side of the picture. Any ideas?

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Just checked on my Oktoberfest that has been lagering for about 3 weeks now. It had a great krausen and I plan to let it lager for another week or so before bottle conditioning. I noticed some clear bubbles on the top and assumed it was co2 coming out of solution but wanted to make sure it's not an infection. It Looks more like gas bubbles to me but figured I would get others opinions.
 
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Just checked on my Oktoberfest that has been lagering for about 3 weeks now. It had a great krausen and I plan to let it lager for another week or so before bottle conditioning. I noticed some clear bubbles on the top and assumed it was co2 coming out of solution but wanted to make sure it's not an infection. It Looks more like gas bubbles to me but figured I would get others opinions.

Really hard to see but I think you're fine!
 
In the secondary a little over a week now. Is this just a little leftover yeast working, or infected? Really like to make something drinkable.


It looks OK. But...

1) There's no need for secondary unless you're adding fruit, wood, etc. or aging for a long time.

2) If you secondary, then do it in a carbon that doesn't leave so much headspace. That kind of space increases chances for oxidation and/or infection.
 
Thanks Brew G. This is what it looked like when I racked it to the secondary. I should have posted this too.

Just yeast rafts in primary. Off gassing in you secondary. Second comments on secondary. Cold crashing primary will clear the beer fine and reduce chance of infection and oxidation.
I'd you insist on secondary, do it as soon as primary fermentation is over (2-4 days) so there is enough co2 in solution to purge the headspace. If krausen hasn't fallen yet, give it a little swirl and come back in a couple hours.
Aging and additions are the only real reasons to secondary and many additions can still be done in primary unless you want to leave it on there for months.
 
Just yeast rafts in primary. Off gassing in you secondary. Second comments on secondary. Cold crashing primary will clear the beer fine and reduce chance of infection and oxidation.
I'd you insist on secondary, do it as soon as primary fermentation is over (2-4 days) so there is enough co2 in solution to purge the headspace. If krausen hasn't fallen yet, give it a little swirl and come back in a couple hours.
Aging and additions are the only real reasons to secondary and many additions can still be done in primary unless you want to leave it on there for months.

Thanks JWin. I am planning on picking up a 5 gallon carboy for secondary.
 
Quick question. I am still trying to figure out where the infection came in my process with my last brew until my wife reminded me that this batch was the one I was still outside brewing at midnight. I remember thinking as the wort was cooling and I was fighting of hordes of insects trying to dive bomb my kettle in pitch black darkness, "if ever the was going to be a blown batch, this would be it." This was the thought that made me pull the trigger on my induction burner so I would never be outside again fighting hordes of Georgia nighttime insects on brew day.

Any way, onto the quick question. Can insects getting into your chilled wort cause an infection?
 
Any way, onto the quick question. Can insects getting into your chilled wort cause an infection?

Oh yeah. No different than a fruit fly in your fermenter.

I use pizza pans for my lids.(cheap) I have two, one full and one notched for my chiller. I put the sanitized notched one on just before flameout and then wrap the notch with sanitized aluminum foil.
Overkill? Maybe. But no infections yet.

(Outside in TN, feel your pain)
 
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HELP I THINK IM FREAKING OUT WHAT IS HAPPENING?! nah im kidding, i'm pretty sure its just yeast rafts.. but i'd love a second or third opinion. this picture is while siphoning from primary fermenter to secondary. waited to transfer once my gravity dropped from 1.050 to 1.010. smells and tastes great. i know i don't need to rack to a secondary, but my primary fermenter doubles as my bottling bucket.

is it gonna make it? or massive alien infection?
 
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HELP I THINK IM FREAKING OUT WHAT IS HAPPENING?! nah im kidding, i'm pretty sure its just yeast rafts.. but i'd love a second or third opinion. this picture is while siphoning from primary fermenter to secondary. waited to transfer once my gravity dropped from 1.050 to 1.010. smells and tastes great. i know i don't need to rack to a secondary, but my primary fermenter doubles as my bottling bucket.

is it gonna make it? or massive alien infection?

Yeast rafts but you guys gotta quit with the secondary stuff after fermentation has ended. If the beers done, it shouldn't be moved to secondary. It's only a secondary *fermentor* if something is fermenting. You want at least some fermentation left to scrub some o2 from transfer and purge your headspace.
I'm all for each their own but sheesh. Get another bucket and stop making more work for yourself and increasing the chance of an actual infection. You will have moved this beer 4 times post chilling before it's all over.

And make sure you are pulling your spigot and cleaning it well between each use. (Another reason to get another bucket.)

Cheers!
 
Quick question. I am still trying to figure out where the infection came in my process with my last brew until my wife reminded me that this batch was the one I was still outside brewing at midnight. I remember thinking as the wort was cooling and I was fighting of hordes of insects trying to dive bomb my kettle in pitch black darkness, "if ever the was going to be a blown batch, this would be it." This was the thought that made me pull the trigger on my induction burner so I would never be outside again fighting hordes of Georgia nighttime insects on brew day.

Any way, onto the quick question. Can insects getting into your chilled wort cause an infection?

I did a brew last night (Vienna Lager) with a bunch of swarming insects--definitely got a few in my kettle. Fortunately, it was a no-chill batch, so I hope the wort was hot enough that there won't be any issues.
 
I did a brew last night (Vienna Lager) with a bunch of swarming insects--definitely got a few in my kettle. Fortunately, it was a no-chill batch, so I hope the wort was hot enough that there won't be any issues.

Frikin Nasty Beast. Amazing how they come out and swarm around your fresh wort at night. I hope it works out better for you then it did for me.
 
Looks lightly infected at this point, as if it's just getting started.
The weird thing is that pic was taken 3 days ago. Most of those bubbles are gone now. There are a couple of the hazy ones left but they are shrinking. Maybe there is still yeast in there that is competing with some bacteria and winning? I am thinking of going with it. Dry hop it and keg it up. See what happens.

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Huh. This pic looks a lot better, normal in fact?

yeah I am in new territory here. At first I was bummed out.
The beer is using Pilsner malt, white wheat, a hint of crystal 20 and a touch of munich. It's pretty heavily hopped and is on day 10 of fermentation.
I only noticed the bubbles when I was about to check gravity and went "oh oh". That was the first time I had opened the lid.
The OG was 1.057. It's at 1.006 now. It seems to taste ok. It's bitter but pilsnery (if you know what I mean) - but that's to be expected at 67 IBUs.
Edit: according to Brewer's friend, that is 89% attenuation. It must have had some sort of bug in there. I used 2 packets of S05 and I have never had that sort of attenuation before.
 
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