Toss it or keep it

bemerritt · Sep 24, 2014

Well 2 years in and I still consider myself a beginner when it comes to infections.

Opened up my 20 gallon conical to drop in my spice tea for my pumpkin ale and it looked like this:

This is 3 weeks after brewing. Sample a week ago tasted normal. Thoughts?

Obviously letting it ride out is the best option, but I don't want to put infected beer into kegs and risk long term affects. Also, I was planning on serving this at thanksgiving, so if i need to move to plan b, the sooner i decide the better. Thanks!

giraffe · Sep 24, 2014

Taste often. If its souring and getting worse toss it. If you want to keep it, keg it asap and get it as close to freezing as possible. You can sanitize your equipment if you take your time.

Personally, I tend to toss if its off, I dont like to drink substandard homebrew, and for guests especially, I would have high standards.

unionrdr · Sep 24, 2014

That broken ice pack stuff is usually the start of a lacto infection. but it's pretty early on at this point. I'd keg it now to slow it down enough to be good in a couple weeks. You still have time to do another one if you do it now... :mug:

Yooper · Sep 24, 2014

Looks like lacto. You may find that it gets sour with time, so if you drink it fast you may be able to enjoy it a bit before it gets too bad. If you keep it cold, that will slow the souring, but I don't think it will make it to Thanksgiving even kept cold.

jrc64 · Sep 24, 2014

Could be the start of something bad. Get it to the keg ASAP. You may be able to save it.

passedpawn · Sep 24, 2014

Ruh Roh. I made a porter a year or two ago that looked just like that. Waxy surface, large persistent bubbles.

I wanted to like it, but some samples I took from the carboys were just "odd" tasting. I wasn't going to drink it. So I got crazy and pitched brettanamyces in there, thinking if you can't beat them, join them. Carbonated it in kegs, couldn't drink it, ended up dumping it.

Trials of frustration like that have taught me to dump right away and re-brew, rather than keep throwing my hopes and worries at a horse that will never win a race.