Uh oh! Mould on outside rim of my fermenter!

[mok_z]

First off, I'd like to say I try to meticulous as I can with my sanitation. But I've just discovered a problem, when adding finings to my beer I'm due to bottle tomorrow...

I opened up the rim of the fermenter, which itself has been confined to a fastferment jacket, for the first time since brew day. I've not touched it. Normally I would put it into a secondary, but I was following a recipe which didn't specify to do so. So it's remained closed. Air-tight (I thought).

I took my last sample a week ago, before lagering (it's my first lager), and it tasted amazing...

But here's the issue, when popping open the lid of the fermenter to introduce the finings, I noticed black mould on the outside rim (underneath where the lid sits). The whole way round, but not on the inside. So, I have two questions:

• Is my beer likely infected?
• If it wasn't infected before, is it likely infected now that I've replaced the lid?

Can I get away with not going through the heart-breaking process of throwing away this beer, or is it necessary?

Thanks in advance.

 

[day_trippr]

Likely, your beer wasn't and isn't infected. I wouldn't dump it unless there is evident reason and so far it seems there isn't.
Sounds like the lid was put on wet and the moisture trapped between rim and lid grew some mildew.
If you were able to wipe the rim dry before putting the new (hopefully dry) lid in place the situation may remain benign...

Cheers!

 

[mok_z]

Likely, your beer wasn't and isn't infected. I wouldn't dump it unless there is evident reason and so far it seems there isn't.
Sounds like the lid was put on wet and the moisture trapped between rim and lid grew some mildew.
If you were able to wipe the rim dry before putting the new (hopefully dry) lid in place the situation may remain benign...

Cheers!

Phew! Thanks very much!

 

[lumpher]

I would CAREFULLY wipe the mold off using a rag and a strong cleaner (eg rubbing alcohol or star-san) using down strokes to make sure you don't wipe the mold into the beer. I'd agree with day_trippr on it most likely being good still.

 

[bellhp]

RDWHAHB

 

[Brushwood Brewing]

Agree with the above. At this point your beer has both hops and alcohol to ward off foreign mold growth. It's probably fine, but it wouldn't hurt to store all the bottles cold if you can.

 

[wepeeler]

It's most likely not mold, but yeast and hop debris from fermentation. The usual light tan yeast can sometimes turn brown/black and look awful, but sounds like your meticulous in cleaning and sanitizing. Just make sure you thoroughly clean/sanitize everything again after bottling.

 

[day_trippr]

Seems unlikely to be the case, given the substance was found only on the outside of the fermentor...

But here's the issue, when popping open the lid of the fermenter to introduce the finings, I noticed black mould on the outside rim (underneath where the lid sits). The whole way round, but not on the inside.

Cheers!