Post your infection

[wstehling]

This appeared on top of my English Porter after 1 week in secondary ferm. Color is greenish-blue, not as white as the pic makes it appear. Anybody know what this is or if it's harmful? I racked from underneath it to keg and the hydro sample tastes fine and it doesn't smell bad either.

 

[dwhite60]

Quite the interesting landscape.

Surely an infection of some type. What bacteria it
is would take a lab.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[jojacques]

So I guess this is it. My first infection after 15 batches. Am I paranoid?

It seemed fine until a couple of days ago, about 4 days after dryhop.

I had a problem with my bucket fermenter with a spigot... when I was handling it, the spigot simply fell and I had to use my unsanitized hand and duct tape to temporarily cover the hole, and quickly transfer fermenter. This hapenned 2.5 week ago, and probably how it got infected.

So I am sceduled to bottle on tuesday of this week. It smells good and I will taste it, and if its good, I'll bottle. Oh and I started to cold crash 20minutes ago as soon as I noticed the possible infection.

Can anybody tell me if its infected or not? Thanks.

 

[IslandLizard]

Can anybody tell me if its infected or not? Thanks.

If you've got this amount of krausen 2.5 weeks after your dry hop and "fixing" the leaky fermentor, something is going on. It looks a bit slimy, with those glassy bubbles underneath the greenish krausen. Very possible it's an infection.

Cold crashing is not going to fix this. It may slow it down, but bottling something that's still fermenting is asking for more trouble (bottle bombs). I would definitely taste this and take it from there. Keep us posted on your findings. Curious.

BTW, you must be quite a magician holding your hand over the spigot hole while fetching a carboy and what not with the other. Was all that equipment sanitized by any chance?

 

[jojacques]

Thanks for your reply Lizard.
This is not krausen, but floating pellets after dry hop Gravity readings were stable, so I'm pretty sure fermentation was over when I dry hopped. Yesterday PM I shook the fermenter a bit and the top layer started to fall to the bottom of the fermenter. This morning, the top layer had not reappear.

But yes, I used a bit of magic to fix the leaky fermenting bucket. Kept my hand on the hole while fetching duct tape with my other hand. Then I applied the tape with my free hand, losing a bit of liquid. I then quickly grabbed a clean carboy I had laying around and transferred using my auto-siphon. I made sure to sanitize all the equipment, but was in a rush so maybe it wasn't sanitized properly.

 

[ncbrewer]

But yes, I used a bit of magic to fix the leaky fermenting bucket. Kept my hand on the hole while fetching duct tape with my other hand. Then I applied the tape with my free hand, losing a bit of liquid. I then quickly grabbed a clean carboy I had laying around and transferred using my auto-siphon. I made sure to sanitize all the equipment, but was in a rush so maybe it wasn't sanitized properly.

It's a shame you don't have that on video.

 

[Stephen_mc]

This is a porter sitting in secondary for about a month. Used safale 05 on itView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1484189934.022909.jpg

Thoughts on this? Smells ok.

 

[jojacques]

^^ Taste it! If it taste good, I would bottle!

 

[Hayden512]

Edit

 

[Buckeye_Brewer1]

I think I have my first infected batch.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1484998831.191945.jpg

 

[MagicMatt]

This is a porter sitting in secondary for about a month. Used safale 05 on itView attachment 384219

Thoughts on this? Smells ok.

That's just yeast rafts and CO2 bubbles. Nothing to worry about.

 

[Pyg]

Racked a few gallons of hard cider.
Ended up having to use 2 beer bottles for overflow.
Both beer bottles have a white film across the top.
The rest of the cider is fine.
Guessing it is the bottles not the batch?
Would you bottle or dump?View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1485543685.614956.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1485543699.953354.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1485543712.674672.jpg

 

[Shock29]

^ Those 2 bottles are infected for sure. As long as no liquid from them went into your batch, you'll likely be fine.

 

[Pyg]

^ Those 2 bottles are infected for sure. As long as no liquid from them went into your batch, you'll likely be fine.

Thanks!

 

[OzzyCoop]

Ok so I don't mean to beat a dead horse but here is a porter (I think) with a nice film on top.
The story behind this one is I racked it into secondary almost 2 years ago. I was about to bottle but wasnt feeling well so I decided to put it off. As luck would have it my pneumonia was actually cancer so my beer took a back burner while I dealt with that for the last two years. I popped the airlock off (which went dry) and to my surprise the beer smells really good and has quite the alcohol aroma. It smells like all of my other fantastic ferments.

Normally I would just bottle it and take a gamble but 2 years seems like a long time in a secondary to be ignored. My apartment was pretty well maintained temperature wise but there may have been a bit where it touched 80f. What do you ladies and gentlemen think?

 

[BrettCo124]

Hey all. Is this an infection? I brewed a grapefruit Bavarian weizen. It stayed in the fermenter for almost 3 weeks. When I opened the lid, it had that stuff floating on the top. Could just be from the sides of the fermenter, but I donno because I am pretty new to all of this.

It tasted and smelled amazing. I tested it when I took a hydrometer reading. I bottled them anyways. If it is an infection, do I need to toss it? Is there health risks involved with infections?

Thanks all. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1486228759.496431.jpg

 

[OzzyCoop]

Looks good to me. I have had my beers look like that and all was well. Just floaters Im betting. Also since you said you tasted it already Im guessing you are ok.

 

[yourlastchance89]

Ok so I don't mean to beat a dead horse but here is a porter (I think) with a nice film on top.
The story behind this one is I racked it into secondary almost 2 years ago. I was about to bottle but wasnt feeling well so I decided to put it off. As luck would have it my pneumonia was actually cancer so my beer took a back burner while I dealt with that for the last two years. I popped the airlock off (which went dry) and to my surprise the beer smells really good and has quite the alcohol aroma. It smells like all of my other fantastic ferments.

Normally I would just bottle it and take a gamble but 2 years seems like a long time in a secondary to be ignored. My apartment was pretty well maintained temperature wise but there may have been a bit where it touched 80f. What do you ladies and gentlemen think?

Did you taste it? My concern would be oxidation from the exposure to the air

 

[jschein]

Hey all. Is this an infection? I brewed a grapefruit Bavarian weizen. It stayed in the fermenter for almost 3 weeks. When I opened the lid, it had that stuff floating on the top. Could just be from the sides of the fermenter, but I donno because I am pretty new to all of this.

It tasted and smelled amazing. I tested it when I took a hydrometer reading. I bottled them anyways. If it is an infection, do I need to toss it? Is there health risks involved with infections?

Thanks all. View attachment 387555

You will not die from it!

 

[ncbrewer]

It tasted and smelled amazing. I tested it when I took a hydrometer reading. I bottled them anyways. If it is an infection, do I need to toss it? Is there health risks involved with infections?
View attachment 387555

It looks normal to me. But to answer your question, if you bottle an infection, you could get bombs as the infection continues to eat the sugar. That could be a health (safety) risk.

 

[BrettCo124]

Thanks all for the advice. Much appreciate as always

 

[Jotunheim]

I tried finding something similar here but nothing was quite the same. This is a bourbon barrel Porter after two weeks in secondary (almost two months in all). I introduced the whiskey and soaked cubes after having them soak for 48hrs then, slowly, this white film began to grow.

Now there are bubbles growing. :\ Is this something I can combat with filtration? Is it actually an infection or just some kind of weird reaction to the cubes?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

View attachment 1488051216836.jpg

 

[beergolf]

It is infected. Here is a pic of an infection that looks similar. (it was intentional. I brew sours)

Filteration will do nothing to stop it. At this point all you can do is let it ride for a while and then taste it. It may taste good and then you can bottle it up. But only after a few months to make sure that the infection has stopped dropping the gravity.

 

[OzzyCoop]

Since my post on the last page I have also developed those sphere like growths on my beer. Don't mind the condensation on my carboy. With these 70F temperatures in February here in PA, the thermostats in my apartment are going haywire. I just wanted to post a refrence picture for the previous posts. My beer still smells wonderful though. I haven't tasted it.

 

[Jotunheim]

Thanks for the insight, beergolf. Even though it was a bit depressing. 😅 I've heard that the infection can takes months to run its course...will warming it up gain me any benefits or should I let it sit and wait?

 

[Txcheddar]

I am new to brewing and searched most of the pics in here. This is a IPA (second batch) it reached FG in about a week 1.016. I transferred to secondary due to a hop addition I need to make. Within an hour these foam like spots appeared and increased first and second day. Has since stopped growing. Pic taken today three days after transfer. I am a freak about sanitizing everything but the lid was off the fermentor longer than usual. I think this is CO2 since the air lock showed slight activity after transfer or starsan foam but not sure and would value your opinion.

 

[OzzyCoop]

I think yours looks like bubbles making a cap where they broke the surface.

 

[Txcheddar]

Yes, False Alarm. The stuff has started to move to the edge and dissipate.

 

[Pyg]

First time doing secondary fermentation, with Brett. @ 70 f
Not sure if this is krausen or infection.
Has stuck around for3 weeks and has not dropped.View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1490327482.423026.jpglongest lasting kruasen I have ever had!

 

[mangotown]

Hi there first time posting so obviously very new to brewing. Am concerned based on past posts that my brew is infected. Any ideas? Its two weeks into secondary and is giving off an acetone smell. Tasted some and it seemed okay although had flakes of white in it.