Strange Looking Stuff

[dwessell]

Hey all.

Well, I pulled the Stout out of the secondary fermenter, and bottled it.. I'm on pins and needles until it gets done (First batch)..

However, I siphoned my Wheat beer from the primary into the secondary.. And it had a weird material on top that I didn't recognize.. Am I ruined? Is it happy making, good smelling stuff?

Thanks
David

 

[G. Cretin]

I've never seen anything like that. I'm gonna need a C&S +micros.

 

[Glibbidy]

what kind of yeast did you use? Does it smell foul? taste funny?
I get freaky flocculation with Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale yeast

 

[dwessell]

It was a White Labs Hefeweizen Yeast, that I got from the local brewers store.... I siphoned into the secondary, and there's very little of the off stuff (a small flake or two) that made it into the secondary... Sure does smell good though..

dw

 

[G. Cretin]

It kind of looks like lard cooled on top of water. I recently used WL american hefe I had nothing like that. What was yer recipe and what was the fermentation temp?

 

[dwessell]

My temp was around 75F... I was following the standard recipe that I got from the store where I purchased the kit (Obviosuly first time brewer). I'll see if I can't hunt down the recipe.. Thanks for any thoughts...

dw

 

[tockeyhockey]

holy crap dude. that does not look good. i would say take some of the flakey stuff off the top and do some analysis. what does it smell like, look like, feel like etc?

is it soapy?

 

[EdWort]

Cheese and Crackers! I have no idea, but I hope someone has seen this. I normally don't pull the lid on my primary till after I have racked to the secondary.

Great Photography though! I wish I could do so well with my digital camera!

 

[ruppe]

And people are sacred because their beer is cloudy?

 

[dwessell]

Hey guys/gals.. Thanks for all the info.. I broke open the lid on the secondary fermenter today and took a peek... Below is the picture for what I found.. It looks almost fibrous, but when i touched it, it was pretty smooth and silky, and came off the top of the beer in a layer..

The beer still smells quite fine... What do you think? Is this beer going to be saveable?

dw

 

[homebrewer_99]

I've been brewing HWs for 13 years and I ain't ever seen anything like that before...in either picture.

Unfortunately, I don't have any intelligent answer to give you hope.

With that said, have you sampled any of it? Does it smell and taste good? If it's within gravity I'd bottle it and see what happens.

Could be some airborne yeast got into it, but if it tastes good no harm no foul.

Keep us informed.

 

[dwessell]

What should SG be for a wheat beer? That informatino didn't come with the recipe that I was using..

The only thing that was strange about this brew (My wife just reminded me, I forgot about it), was there was some carbon in the bottom of the wort kettle that flaked off during boiling.. I got most of it out, but not all.. Otherwise it seemed a normal process to me..

I'll check the SG tonight, and taste it too.. Then I'll report back on my findings..

dw

 

[homebrewer_99]

I usually like to get mine down to 1.008 (I think the drier flavor adds to the slight overall tartness of the brew), but they can be higher like 1.012.

What was your OG?

 

[alemonkey]

personally, I think it looks like an infection of some sort. But, I would taste it and make sure it's ok before passing judgement.

One thing to keep in mind - if it is wild yeast, they are often way more attenuative than regular brewing yeast. So, be careful if you bottle - it could keep fermenting beyond what's normal and you could end up with bottle bombs.

 

[G. Cretin]

I'm tellig you dude go to a Dr. and ask for culture tube.

 

[simzy]

Yeah dude, I agree with Cretin, culture that stuff and take it to a lab. Kinda looks like penicillin...hey you never know maybe you just found the cure to the bird flu or something?

 

[homebrewer_99]

Yeah dude, I agree with Cretin, culture that stuff and take it to a lab. Kinda looks like penicillin...hey you never know maybe you just found the cure to the bird flu or something?

That would surely piss off Rumsfeld since he has $25 MILLION worth of Tamiflu stock!

 

[boo boo]

I have never had an infection but to me that looks like one.

 

[dwessell]

I've got a friend that works in a lab, and I'm going to have her look at it..

If it is an infection, is this batch lost?

dw

 

[Orpheus]

I hate to say it, but when your beer is growing shag carpeting, you might be in trouble.

I honestly hope that it's benign and doesn't alter the flavor of your beer too much. The good news is, it can't kill you!

 

[G. Cretin]

I hate to say it, but when your beer is growing shag carpeting, you might be in trouble.

I honestly hope that it's benign and doesn't alter the flavor of your beer too much. The good news is, it can't kill you!

Unless yer allergic to PCN.

 

[Orpheus]

Unless yer allergic to PCN.

That's true. But what a concept! A beverage that gets you drunk in a bar and makes you immune to catching nasty STDs from the other drunkards in the bar!

The perfect party potion!

"Man I got so drunk last night, I woke up and my chlamydia had cleared up!"

 

[Mr Bigins]

So you've been doing this this long and you still use plastic fermentors? Plastic is very poruss(sp?), to the point of where you can stain it perminantly. I know this because I use to use color dye to dye Frisbee Golf Discs. And I've had other expierience's.

Use glass whenever possible people, in fermenting and secondary. The idea to use 5gal kegs in secondary isn't a bad idea.

 

[G. Cretin]

That's true. But what a concept! A beverage that gets you drunk in a bar and makes you immune to catching nasty STDs from the other drunkards in the bar!

The perfect party potion!

"Man I got so drunk last night, I woke up and my chlamydia had cleared up!"

:rockin:I got a bottle of HPV IPA.

 

[denimglen]

Ahh, I've had three brews do this, one of them is in the secondary as I type.

I want to know what it is, I haven't drunk much of the beer in the last couple of batches, but what I have drunk seems to taste fine.

So yeah, I would really appreciate it if you could let me know what it is when you find out, and if it's dangerous or not,

Cheers,

denimglen.

 

[the_bird]

So you've been doing this this long and you still use plastic fermentors? Plastic is very poruss(sp?), to the point of where you can stain it perminantly. I know this because I use to use color dye to dye Frisbee Golf Discs. And I've had other expierience's.

Use glass whenever possible people, in fermenting and secondary. The idea to use 5gal kegs in secondary isn't a bad idea.

Plastic's O2 permeability over the relatively short period of primary fermenation is very minor. While I would not do any long-term aging in a standard bucket, neither I nor I suspect the substantial majority of bucket-primary-using'-homebrewers have had any problems that could be specifically attibuted to using buckets, assuming proper sanitation. As to the staining - I've had stains in the primary and they are gone with a little bleach and rinsing (great application for bleach).

For longer-term storage, I go glass, but would also consider the PET Better Bottles; even less O2 transfer, virtually nil.

 

[dwessell]

denimglen,

What kind of water are you on? Well, city?

dw

 

[denimglen]

Just normal tap water.

I'm in Auckland, new Zealand if that helps or makes any difference.

 

[dwessell]

I'm on well water. I've recently come to realize that I have some sort of bacteria in my hot water tank.. It causes a bit of a sulfur smell, and I'm not sure yet what causes it.. I've flushed the tank, and am going to clean ith with a bleach solution next..

I haven't been able to get this to the lab yet..

What about dropping the temp on the beer before bottling? Wouldn't that kill anything, and not hurt the taste to much?

Assuming the taste is still ok..

dw

 

[Exo]

I just don't think that dropping your temp down would do anything to harm or kill whatever this is.

The second photo looks like mold to me.