White spots during secondary.

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stush92

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Hi all,

I am brewing a "Brewers Best" Kolsch and I am currently in the secondary phase with it in the carboy. After 1-2 after transfering to the carboy I have notice several white cloudy spots at the top of the beer. I have attached a picture and after doing some research some suggest yeast formating and some say it can be mold. I am using a chiller bag with frozen bottles and I am fairly confident I have kept it between 60-64 degrees.

Any thoughts on the white spots?
beer pic.jpg
 
Wait and see what it tastes like after it's finished fermenting, bottled and conditioned.

I be more worried about the hair floating in the beer. Might need to wear a hair net. Or is that on the outside of the jug?
 
Haha, I spotted the hair after I took the picture, and luckily it was on the outside!
 
Seriously I wouldn't worry about it. Most of the stuff that makes a beer infected or grow weird stuff won't hurt you. It'll just taste bad.

There isn't much that can be done for it at this point even if it was something. So just wait and see.

If by bottling time you have something growing everywhere in, on and above, then get us another pic to look at.
 
Hard to say for sure, but that looks like bubbles. There is probably CO2 in suspension at end of primary.. could be a handy nucleation point(s) in secondary vessel. Does not look like mold or infection, take a taste before bottling/kegging and keep an eye on it. If they grow or have "fuzz", consider that bad(unless this is a sour..).
 
Aw... man... looks totally ruined... Once it ferments out, bottle it up and send me a sixer for inspection... I'll give my detailed, professional* opinion on what went wrong... Sorry for your loss...


* difficulty... not a professional...


:ghostly: :bigmug:
 
Aw... man... looks totally ruined... Once it ferments out, bottle it up and send me a sixer for inspection... I'll give my detailed, professional* opinion on what went wrong... Sorry for your loss...


* difficulty... not a professional...


:ghostly: :bigmug:

It appears that the main difference between an accomplished amateur and a professional is that the professional gets paid so maybe if you charged a bit..... :yes:
 
And as usual the tip, don't do secondaries in the future. It's unnecessary and potentially harms the beer.
To expand on this for people who might be wondering. There are usually only a few reasons to utilize a secondary vessel, those mainly being:
  • Extended (>6M) storage. Getting the beer off the yeast for long-term storage helps prevent off-flavors resulting from autolysis.
  • Needing to free up a specific fermentation vessel
  • Use of significant amounts of fruit. Clarification of the beer is needed.
When people say that it's unnecessary or could harm your beer, they mean that all things being equal, and for no other benefit, transferring to a secondary vessel only introduces potential for oxidation and infection/contamination. Even if your processes (cleaning, oxygen prevention, etc.) are on point, Slight Potential > No Potential.
 
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