Do I Have An Infection?

[jonnydee]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice. I went to keg a beer today and discovered a foamy film on the top of it. I haven't yet opened the fermentor, but i've attached some photos I took through the lid. I'm concerned that the beer is infected. I took a sample of it and it smells a bit sour and tastes very bitter, (although it has two cans of Coopers Stout in it, so I was expecting the bitterness). It was fairly bitter before, but I now had to spit it out it was so bad. Please can someone take a look at the photos and offer any advice - do I ditch it or not?

On a side note, I dry hopped with a hop bag, as you can see in one of the photos. Could this have caused the infection, (if that's what it is)?

Cheers,

Jon

 

[manticle]

This isn't going to be of much help to you but I seem to have a similar looking layer on my ginger beer brew and was about to post asking the same thing.

My hydrometer read 1010 a couple of days ago but now it sitting at 1020 and the top layer seems to be more intense (as if the fermentation had started all over again).

If there is an infection and I bottle it anyway, I'm assuming it will smell and taste off when I open my first one. Am I way off base here?

 

[InCider]

Hi Jon,

The bad news is I reckon it's done for. On the good side, you will now explore some new methods of sanitation to prevent this in the future.

At a guess I'd say the infection is Acetobacter, and he and I go way back. Let's hope it's not, but if it is, you may be able to keg it and drink it before it tastes off (kegs don't explode!!).

Being a two can it will be very bitter, and they are yum! :icon_cheers:

InCider.

 

[bradsbrew]

This isn't going to be of much help to you but I seem to have a similar looking layer on my ginger beer brew and was about to post asking the same thing.

My hydrometer read 1010 a couple of days ago but now it sitting at 1020 and the top layer seems to be more intense (as if the fermentation had started all over again).

If there is an infection and I bottle it anyway, I'm assuming it will smell and taste off when I open my first one. Am I way off base here?

If there is an infection and you bottle it anyway, my guess is the bottle will open itself by exploding (hopefully when noone is around). That said I have made crap beer in the past that maybe was infected and hasnt exploded but got tipped out just in case. I would hate to bring a bottle into the house and have it go off around the kids.
am interested to find out why the gravity would rise again though. I have left them in the hydro tube and seen them rise again over a feww days but have only put this down to evaporation.

Cheers Brad

 

[manticle]

At the moment I'm guessing I just read the hydrometer incorrectly a day or so ago.

A couple of days ago it had a top layer that resembled that photo (hard to tell exactly from the screen though). Now it just looks like a yeasty sedimenty type layer, the likes of which are fairly typical but usually earlier (been brewing this one for around five days in reasonable Victorian springtime weather).

I store all my bottles out in an old chook shed - no kids and the cats can't get near it when it's shut so I'm happy to take my chances. If there's an obvious unexpected odour at bottling time I may review that idea.

Everything was sanitised properly and the fermenter is sealed so an infection would be unexpected. Maybe I'm just optimistic?

 

[bradsbrew]

Hi Jon,

The bad news is I reckon it's done for. On the good side, you will now explore some new methods of sanitation to prevent this in the future.

At a guess I'd say the infection is Acetobacter, and he and I go way back. Let's hope it's not, but if it is, you may be able to keg it and drink it before it tastes off (kegs don't explode!!).

Being a two can it will be very bitter, and they are yum! :icon_cheers:

InCider.

Good info Incider.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...;hl=acetobacter

This thread has alot of good info on infections.

Cheers brad

 

[bradsbrew]

Nothing wrong with being optimistic Manticle. Some beers that I thought were either infected or crap have turned out to be quite good.

Cheers Brad

 

[jonnydee]

Thanks for the info InCider and Brad. I decided to pour it out. After I opened the fermentor, there was a sweet, solvent like smell so I guess it's only going to get worse with time. I've attached a photo with the lid off, hopefully that'll help someone else looking for help on infections. I've been brewing for four years and this is my first infection - I guess it's time to treat myself to a new fermentor and a different sanitiser!

Cheers,

Jon

 

[DKS]

Bad luck there Jon. Thanks for the pics. With the paranoia surrounding infections Im sure the pics will help AHBers.
I think Ive had two infections, both wheats in the last year. One had a real lemon tang that was over powering got tipped after three months in the bottle, the other Im still sitting on, not wanting to toss just yet. Neither had a nasty looking scum on top like yours but until you get a particular type of goobie I suppose its hard to know for sure. Anyway thanks for taking the trouble passing on the info and pics. :icon_cheers:
Daz

 

[braufrau]

si the black blob the hop bag? or something growing?

 

[Tony]

Ahhh im not alone. Ive lost a fair few brews recently to that bug. White film, smells like nail pollish.

It just killed 2 x 45 liter batched of big beer made for case swaps which really hurt.

Still havent worked out where it comes from but i can tell you new fermenters dont help, its either in your system or in the air.

you dont have a ducted vacuum mounted near where you brew do you by any chance?

If you work out the cause, let me know.

cheers

 

[mwd]

si the black blob the hop bag? or something growing?

Top picture hopbag ( teabag ? )
Bottom picture out of focus so cannot tell what is going on there.

 

[wambesi]

Yeah I wouldn't trust just a new fermenter.
Nothing wrong with keeping the current one, soak it in a bleach solution for a while, rinse it good, throw some sanitiser in it and it should be alright.
However if there are any scratches in there thats another story....

There's so many other places the little buggers can hid, inside of your fermenter taps (make sure you pull them apart and give em a clean - again soaking in bleach will kill off nasties. Just make sure you rinse everything good afterwards.

Tubing, the lids with the o-ring if not cleaned can harbour them. When we moved I opened up the boxes to find some mold growing in the lid of one of mine, cleaned it up and haven't seen it since.

Sounds liek it's time for a real good clean and sanitise to try and get rid of him.
But then again you can go down the easy route and buy new gear.....

 

[flattop]

Going lambic????

Yup bad Karma, all you can do is feed it to the plants and sterilize, after an infection like that i would fill the fermenter to the brim with water and bleach with the o ring and tap inside and the bung in the fermenter.

 

[jonnydee]

Yes, the blob in the photo is the hop bag. I haven't got a ducted vacuum near where I brew, not really sure where it could of come from. I know this brew took a while to take off, so I wonder if the slow start gave it a chance to grow. Anyway, got a second fermentor now with another beer on the go, so hopefully that'll be alright. I'll follow your advice wambesi and soak the old one, hopefully I can get rid of it and use both fermentors to double my production rate :icon_cheers:

 

[Fents]

unsanitised hop bag maybe?

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Thanks for the info InCider and Brad. I decided to pour it out. After I opened the fermentor, there was a sweet, solvent like smell so I guess it's only going to get worse with time. I've attached a photo with the lid off, hopefully that'll help someone else looking for help on infections. I've been brewing for four years and this is my first infection - I guess it's time to treat myself to a new fermentor and a different sanitiser!

Cheers,

Jon

View attachment 22386

AW Yuk :icon_vomit:

BYB

 

[PostModern]

I recently had an infection that looked exactly like that, along with the solvent/nail polish smell as well. Left a beer in primary for a month with only a bottle top for an airlock :\ There must be a new bug on the loose.

 

[raven19]

At the moment I'm guessing I just read the hydrometer incorrectly a day or so ago.

A couple of days ago it had a top layer that resembled that photo (hard to tell exactly from the screen though). Now it just looks like a yeasty sedimenty type layer, the likes of which are fairly typical but usually earlier (been brewing this one for around five days in reasonable Victorian springtime weather).

I store all my bottles out in an old chook shed - no kids and the cats can't get near it when it's shut so I'm happy to take my chances. If there's an obvious unexpected odour at bottling time I may review that idea.

Everything was sanitised properly and the fermenter is sealed so an infection would be unexpected. Maybe I'm just optimistic?

I would store these 'questionable' beers in solitary if possible. You dont want a bottle bomb starting a chain reaction and lose other brews.

 

[Blackfish]

I have just had one of these too, opaque peach fuzz floaties, with a nail polish remover smell & bitter taste. :icon_vomit: 4 weeks in primary so it had time to grow. The fermenters left & right of it were fine so I'm putting it down to lazy sanitation.
I'm no conspiracy theorist buuuut.... (tinfoil hat on) given tough economic times and the corresponding rise in homebrewing and decline in beer sales:
If I was a megaswill producer with access to labs with the capability, Why not develop a GM airborne superbug that will wipe out small brewers and send us all crawling back to VB? :blink:

too paranoid?