White forms on surface of beer

[Whatsgoodmiley]

I racked this Irish red ale from primary and noticed a white sludge on the inside of the tubing I used (I sanitize my equipment before and after each use and I used it recently). I now have this growth.

Reasons I suspect it is an infection:
- airlock solution hadn't moved during the 5 days in primary.
- it looks weird
- tube sludge

Reasons I suspect it may not be infected (I'm grasping at straws, I know)
- it smelled fine before the growth
- it fermented to a good FG
- maybe it is starsan foam residue (transferred about 16-18 hrs ago)

Has anyone seen this? Does anyone have an idea what this is or why it has to happen to me?

 

[standpoint]

Looks like an infection to me. If it's done fermenting I would chill it down in a secondary, keg and drink quickly

 

[Whatsgoodmiley]

I'll probably toss it and the tubing tomorrow. Kinda sucks when your $0.99 tube ruins a $35 kit

 

[MaryB]

Siphon out from under it. It is probably fine. Keg and chill, drink it first...

 

[Whatsgoodmiley]

The white film is on the siphoning tube I use to rack. My hands are tied until tomorrow when I can get another tubing from lowes. I'll be sure to post with the final results. It's kind of demoralizing to get my first infection. I suppose I just need to allow my equipment longer soaking times.

 

[JonM]

If it's an infection, it's due in large part to the large headspace in the secondary.

If you choose to secondary, make sure it's filled up to the neck. Bacteria love the oxygen that they can get from a large headspace.

ETA: An infection can come from bacteria in the room air. In that case, a longer soak/ new tubing won't prevent it if they have adequate O2 in the headspace.

 

[RM-MN]

Those spots look a lot like yeast rafts to me. It's too early to tell if it is an infection just from the picture. Leave it where it is for a few more days to see if it develops more or keg it and drink it.

 

[oceanic_brew]

Every time I rack to secondary in my brew space I get an infection.


Yours doesn't look infected yet to me.

So I only ever do secondary out of necessity now which is to provide myself with another fermentor.

I get the same infection every time for a count of 5 now. It's nearly heartbreaking to spend 5-6 hrs on a brew and probably weeks planning a recipe to have it ruined. It's interesting that if I leave a container of wort or other favorable medium out in the open it gets the same infection every time. Same smell and flavor so I've got some dominant strain going around my house for sure.


The last infection I just racked about 4 gallons from underneath the pellicle and I'm letting the last 2 age for about 6 months to see if this particular bug is favorable.

 

[LLBeanJ]

That looks like yeast to me. How does the brew smell and taste? If it's infected, that should give it away.

 

[Yooper]

It's very white, and it looks like mold or another infection. It's definitely not yeast clumps.

 

[Yesfan]

I agree with Yooper. That looks like the beginning of mold to me. I've never seen yeast rafts that white looking, at least in my batches.

 

[IslandLizard]

Every time I rack to secondary in my brew space I get an infection.


Yours doesn't look infected yet to me.

So I only ever do secondary out of necessity now which is to provide myself with another fermentor.

I get the same infection every time for a count of 5 now. It's nearly heartbreaking to spend 5-6 hrs on a brew and probably weeks planning a recipe to have it ruined. It's interesting that if I leave a container of wort or other favorable medium out in the open it gets the same infection every time. Same smell and flavor so I've got some dominant strain going around my house for sure.


The last infection I just racked about 4 gallons from underneath the pellicle and I'm letting the last 2 age for about 6 months to see if this particular bug is favorable.

What do you for sanitizer?

 

[Mainer]

The white film is on the siphoning tube I use to rack. My hands are tied until tomorrow when I can get another tubing from lowes. I'll be sure to post with the final results. It's kind of demoralizing to get my first infection. I suppose I just need to allow my equipment longer soaking times.

Do you use PBW or another surfactant before you sanitize? It will help you get rid of any yeast or other deposits that might harbor an infection.

 

[oceanic_brew]

What do you for sanitizer?

Starsan. My sanitization is spot on. The infection comes from airborne bacteria/wild yeast. Only happens when I transfer out of primary into secondary where it's exposed to air in the basement/brew room.

During the process of finding this out I threw out all my plastic, tried various cooling and transfer methods. I only realized it had to be airborne when any dirty coffee, tea, or beer glasses left out would form the same pellicle and smell.

 

[Whatsgoodmiley]

There seem to be significantly less of the clumps than there were last night and it smells... Mostly... Fine to me this morning. To those who said I should rack from below the formations and keg and drink quickly, this beer is to be bottled for my wedding in 3 months... if the formations turn out to be mold, there should be some level of off-flavors produced the mold, right? Not exactly a showcase quality brew in that case.

I could grab some sterile q-tips from my college and test the formations by growing it on agar? I'd rather not though because that seems like a whole lot of work.

I'm thinking I could just let it sit around and see if the formations dissipate more over time.

 

[Whatsgoodmiley]

Wow I actually didn't see the entire second page of comments. I use star San rigorously. Most people here agree that it's mold so I can rack under it, again, later tonight. My only issue is if there will be off tastes... If I taste anything funky after racking it I'll probably toss it because I need all the bottles I have now for my other batches I'm working on for the wedding.

Thanks everyone!

 

[passedpawn]

I dunno. I wouldn't touch it just yet.

Sure looks like something that bubbled up from the bottom instead of growing across the top. In other words, I don't think it's infected. I think you're seeing yeast rising from the bottom, probably as a result of the racking. The sludge you refer to was likely just yeast/trub from the bottom of the primary.

My advice is give it a few more days. If it's at room temp and that's an infection, you'll definitely see it grow - a lot. If you get any type of weblike film across the top of the beer, or puffballs appear anywhere, bad news.

BTW, racking it to another container won't make it go away. If you're positive it's infected, you need to get it as cold as possible and then drink it right away. Bottling probably isn't an option at all.

Oh, and quit opening it! If it wasn't infected before, it will be soon enough if you keep screwing with it. I'd avoid racking to secondary for this reason.

 

[ncsuwerewolf]

Im apart of a never secondary crowd. Ferment , raise for a d-rest / finish, even my ales. 4-6 days hard cold crash. Keg and let sit waiting for its turn in the rotation.

 

[m00ps]

I think its infected. There's 2 normal looking clumps of bubbles, but the white stuff looks distinctly different (bad) than the rest of the normal stuff you can see on the surface

 

[Whatsgoodmiley]

I'll let it sit out and probably end up trashing it and start a different batch of beer... Maybe one that's better than an Irish red ale for a 100F wedding in the summer

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I am absolutely no authority, but I had exactly the same thing on my last two beers. Both turned out fine - in fact, one of them might be the best beer I've made yet.

I forget what it was called - maybe yeast rafts? But in any case - no worries. Let it go, bottle it, refrigerate it and enjoy it. The only thing I did different was to filter mine when transferring to bottling bucket, but that didn't seem to have much effect, because they came back during bottle conditioning, then eventually sank to the bottom and joined the sediment there. Both finished beers were very clear, in the end.

 

[Whatsgoodmiley]

Here's an update. All but two clumps and some tiny faded white islands are gone. Can I assume they were yeast rafts now? Or that they were were mold that just ran out of O2?

 

[signpost]

Yeast rafts.

When you transfer to secondary, some of the CO2 in solution is disrupted and causes yeast and other sediment to float to the surface.

Also, extra headspace doesn't cause infections. If you get an infection while transferring, then you have an infection. Even if you fill the fermenter to the neck. It's there and you have to deal with it. If you get an infection, it's most likely either from the process of transferring or it was there from the beginning. The only thing some extra headspace will do is provide a little extra O2 for the bugs to feed on.

 

[poptarts]

infection, dont do secondary, use star san.

 

[Whatsgoodmiley]

Verdict: I'm about to bottle the beer and I gave the hydrometer cylinder a taste... I'm no cicerone but this beer is tasting sweet, rich, and clean!

It had to be yeast right? Or tasty mold

 

[Whatsgoodmiley]

Best beer I've made yet!

 

[passedpawn]

Sweet. And I think I beat the class average this time

 

[TasunkaWitko]

@Passedpawn ! I am sending a PM on an un-related matter, if you don't mind!

 

[signpost]

Glad it turned out well.

 

[djlang]

Let is sit another week - I seriously doubt there is anything wrong - no infection. Do you keg or bottle? Looks like residual yeast activity to me.

 

[Whatsgoodmiley]

Let is sit another week - I seriously doubt there is anything wrong - no infection. Do you keg or bottle? Looks like residual yeast activity to me.

Wrong thread