Accidental Fermentation Without Pitching Yeast.

[michael_aussie]

I know it's not strictly PC to post a thread from one forum into another .. but what the heck .. beer is beer.
If admins are offended please delete.

This guy's first posting sets the scene of his run away hefeweizen:

Brewed a Hefe late saturday, finished at 10:30pm, and didnt have my starter quite ready. I left it all day sunday and figured i'd pitch this morning but its already fermenting. The beer smells sour which is definitely bad, but i did santize well. I question if when i cooled my wort outside i didnt draw something in? I wouldnt have thought something would have kicked off fermentation under 36hours? The wort was a bit warmer when i brought it inside so it would have cooled some more, looked like my air lock lost some water. So i have 3 choices: Boil again, see what a Hefe is like as a Lambic, Pitch and hope like heck or throw it out and say lesson learned? Thoughts?​

He then includes photos at various stages during fermentation.
Fermentation hasn't finished yet.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/fermentin...g-yeast-327013/

 

[rotten]

I went to the end to see the disaster that I was expecting but it hasn't happened yet :icon_vomit:

 

[Brewman_]

Well I am not surprised there is an infection? Lesson learnt, pitch yeast as soon as possible, and if starter is not ready, have a fall back dry yeast. This guys practice is a recipe for infection.
Fear