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Hey y'all, this is my first time posting. I've been lurking for months using all the useful information on this forum. I've been brewing for almost a year and have several batches under my belt that all have turned out well. This is my first infection I think. It's a pale ale that's been fermenting for a week. I was about to dry hop it when I opened the bucket and to my surprise saw this. It smells good still but I haven't tasted it. Should I dump this batch or is it salvageable? View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1472168700.307459.jpg
 
this is a strangely compelling thread.... It's a bit like the large pimple / boil popping videos you find on Youtube. It's gross and ugly, but once you start, you can't stop looking.
 
Hey y'all, this is my first time posting. I've been lurking for months using all the useful information on this forum. I've been brewing for almost a year and have several batches under my belt that all have turned out well. This is my first infection I think. It's a pale ale that's been fermenting for a week. I was about to dry hop it when I opened the bucket and to my surprise saw this. It smells good still but I haven't tasted it. Should I dump this batch or is it salvageable? View attachment 367755
Pump yer brakes - it is just not done. A week is a bit early to dry hop in any case.
 
Hey y'all, this is my first time posting. I've been lurking for months using all the useful information on this forum. I've been brewing for almost a year and have several batches under my belt that all have turned out well. This is my first infection I think. It's a pale ale that's been fermenting for a week. I was about to dry hop it when I opened the bucket and to my surprise saw this. It smells good still but I haven't tasted it. Should I dump this batch or is it salvageable? View attachment 367755


That looks like plain ol' krausen to me.
 
Looks like krausen with yeast floaters layered on top. No slimy white bubbles, broken ice pack or spider web lines. no worries.
 
That's a relief to hear! It's at FG of 1.014 according to the recipe specs. Will in eventually drop back in or will it stay as a film over the top? I've never had one look as this one does or take this long to drop.
 
Some krausen from certain yeasts can be stubborn like that. Jostling it a bit can cause it to sink. Just be sure it's at a stable FG.
 
Good morning everyone, this is my second batch of beer i made its a pale ale. First batch came out perfect. however within hours of moving this batch to the 2nd fermenter i noticed this white layer spotted on the top of my beer. Not sure if its minor krausen or an infection. Im praying its just krausen. Please advise.View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1472489981.158359.jpg
 
Good morning everyone, this is my second batch of beer i made its a pale ale. First batch came out perfect. however within hours of moving this batch to the 2nd fermenter i noticed this white layer spotted on the top of my beer. Not sure if its minor krausen or an infection. Im praying its just krausen. Please advise.View attachment 368208

Hmmm, sorry....but that doesn't look good :(
 
Good morning everyone, this is my second batch of beer i made its a pale ale. First batch came out perfect. however within hours of moving this batch to the 2nd fermenter i noticed this white layer spotted on the top of my beer. Not sure if its minor krausen or an infection. Im praying its just krausen. Please advise.View attachment 368208

how long was it in primary?
 
Doesn't look like an infection at all. Just krausen left-overs with some cold break or yeast floating around with it. No slimy bubbles or spiderweb-like lines.
 
I've heard guys on here say "not" to use a secondary unless you are adding fruit or some addition. Seems that by transferring to secondary exposes your beer to more germs. Anyways, good luck!

That's right, or for bulk aging. Increased oxidation is another factor to avoid secondaries in general.

Headspace in secondaries should be kept to a minimum, an inch or 2 max under the bung is best, right up to where the neck rises.

That foam is probably from offgassing. Those spots are not furry, right? If so, it would be mold, which is NOT good.
 
Brewbrew, hard to tell with such a blurry picture, could certainly be infected but impossible to tell if those are bubbles, rafts or foam clumps and the constistency of such given the quality. If you can give a better picture or an olfactory report that will make diagnosis easier
 
I will try to take another picture when i get home it looked foamy like bubbles last time i looked at it. But ill double check
 
Disaster averted, false alarm. When i got home today i looked at it and noticed that they were bublles that were really close so i gave it a slight shake and it spread out and looked like krausen. What do u guys think?
 
Shaking a secondary with that much headspace is a bad idea.
Lots of o2 in there. Hopefully semi purged by now. If you run into this again and have co2 at your disposal, maybe consider purging the headspace some.
Glad you brew is good.
 
I hope I'm just being paranoid, but I have a feeling my German Pils is infected. It's been lagering at about 4°C for a 3 weeks now, I cracked it open to batch prime and saw what looks like the broken ice pack and a suspicious looking bubble in the corner. I can't tell if this is just hops oils or not, though. Hydrometer reading hasn't changed since I lagered it and it tastes great, though (no sourness, acidity, or tartness at all), so I still have some hope. You guys haven't failed me yet, what do you all think?

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Here's a slightly tolerable infection--I'd love to hear thoughts on whether it's Brett or lacto or what. Made a basic pale ale with equal parts Citra and Galaxy. Ground water was so hot I couldn't get it below 90 in the kettle--outdoors in the evening so god knows what flew in. Over-chilled it in the cooler overnight by mistake to 58, so waited till it was 62 or so and pitched rehydrated US-05, a usual yeast for me, late the following morning and let it keep warming toward 68. There was no activity till almost 3 days after it went in the fermenter. After two weeks I went to rack it into smaller separate Little Big Mouth Bubblers on fruits for secondary and bottle the rest. Opened the fermenter: first thought was BODY ODOR. Then the fruity aroma kinda came through, but it was still like...freshly-washed-with-fruity-soap crotch of someone you would like to smell the crotch of. The primary fermenter had these massive floating islands of spongy looking crud that reminded me of brackish water marina algae in Florida (see first attachment), and my US-05 had always, always obediently flocculated into a nice cake. I'd never seen this before. But the internet said it could just be floating yeast cake. But still the SMELL. Since the surface flora wasn't stringy, I didn't think bacteria... And "horse blanket" came to mind. It definitely smelled barnyard. Musty. Funky stank. So I went ahead and racked it onto fruit. Two weeks after that, I still have tropical fruity sweaty horse blanket. My mango secondary has floating islands that look like a pan you left in the sink to soak after cooking bacon, with fat globules rafting (second/third attachment). Haven't looked in the grapefruit one yet. But it's still rather potable. A tiny bit sour, almost like a dry cider. Not very pleasant bitter aftertaste, almost chalky, like citrus pith. I drank the whole gravity sample (1.005 and rather dry even though I mashed at 151 for a little sweetness) and if I don't poop myself I'll totally serve this to the neighbors at the cookout as a "farmhouse ale." So not a total loss. I mean it ain't that terrible, but it's definitely not the magical tropical sweet delight my Galaxy pale ale was last year. Thoughts appreciated, hope this is helpful to other n00bs.

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Should I be buying new fermentation buckets or is this just CO2 bubbles with stuck yeast. I've had this before (all with US-05) and the beer was perfectly drinkable

 
I'm pretty convinced this is an early infection but second opinions are good. The islands were not there 4 weeks ago when I added the oak cubes. I soaked the oak cubes in bourbon for about 2 months, completely submerged. It tastes pretty good with the exception that it's a little young and the flavors still need to marry.

One pic with flash and one without.
If this is an infection should I bottle ASAP or let it sit for a decade? Thanks in advance.

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02.jpg
 
View attachment 366573

Is this saveable? My first infection, proud pop. I kegged it, left a few inches on top in the fermenter.

So I stopped by my LHBS and was talking with the owner and I showed him the picture of my infection on my Porter. He studied the picture for a few minutes and said, "That does not look like an infection to me. What's it taste like?" I replied, "Crap" He said, "That does not help" So he proceeded to tell me that what I had was some mold floating on top of my beer. He gave me a glass carboy and an airlock told me to go home, spray some co2 into the carboy and transfer the Porter into the carboy and keep an eye on it for a bit. If there is nothing growing on it, it should be fine.

Well just now, I got ready to do all that, cleaned and sanitized the carboy, degassed the key and opened it. Being the curious type, I got a flash light and picked it. Looked and smelled like a Porter. Ok, so I grabbed my wine thief, gave it the old starsan treatment and pulled a sample. No longer taste like crap, it actually tasted fantastic.

So cleaned and sanitized the keg cap and put it back on gas. :ban:
 
In the above pics, the broken ice pack-lookin' stuff is an infection. rather minor at the moment. so if it's ready to bottle now, do it. & try to limit airspace in secondary & you'll virtually eliminate this sort of thing.
 
Ok so no batch lost to this, but on straightening my brew closet I found this in my silicone hoses, I didn't break down the cam lock hose connections when I cleaned after my last brew day. This section in the picture was the very end where the house barb and clamp go. All black and won't scrape or scrub off.

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I'm pretty convinced this is an early infection but second opinions are good. The islands were not there 4 weeks ago when I added the oak cubes...

Okay, I bottled today. It smells and tastes great so I hope I can keep it that way until It's gone.

Follow-up question: How long should I let it carb without it turning foul?
I have a completely vacant fridge dedicated to beer in the basement. I figure once it's in there it should slow the infection.
 
In the above pics, the broken ice pack-lookin' stuff is an infection. rather minor at the moment. so if it's ready to bottle now, do it. & try to limit airspace in secondary & you'll virtually eliminate this sort of thing.

That is bad advice. Bottling something with an infection that is just starting is a recipe for good bottle bombs. Just because you bottle it, it does not stop the infection. It will continue to work and best case scenario is gushers. Worst case scenario is a bunch bottle bombs.

Since you bottled it already, put them someplace to contain the bottle bombs. Check them often and if they seem to be overcarbing. Drink them fast or dump them. Bottle bombs are nothing to mess around with.
 
That is bad advice. Bottling something with an infection that is just starting is a recipe for good bottle bombs. Just because you bottle it, it does not stop the infection. It will continue to work and best case scenario is gushers. Worst case scenario is a bunch bottle bombs.

Since you bottled it already, put them someplace to contain the bottle bombs. Check them often and if they seem to be overcarbing. Drink them fast or dump them. Bottle bombs are nothing to mess around with.

I put them in a cardboard box. When you say check them often I assume you mean open a bottle. When should I open the first bottle and how frequently after that?
 
I normally say leave them for at least three weeks before checking. But in this case, check them in 7-10 days. Monitor the carb level and if it starts getting over carbed. Have a party and drink them fast. This is not a beer to try to age. Too bad because you put this on oak so it probably would be a good beer to age.
 
... Too bad because you put this on oak so it probably would be a good beer to age.

Yep. I was originally going to crack the first one open on Christmas day. Oh well, I'll just have to tighten up my process from here out.
 
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