Funky brew bottle concern

[hwall95]

Hey guys,

So I made some funky cider-type brew around two months ago in an 2L flagon (Used to house 'Old Rosie' cider). Anyways, one night I had lots of lemons in the fridge due to cold that had been going around that house, so I decided to use them to make a sour cider brew since we had no need for them anymore. So orginally it was watered down lemon juice with sugar, but the I added a range of fruit every week (pear, grape, apple, mandarine and berry mix). However when I checked the bottles at my mates house (where we brew and bottle), it looked like this:




For background info, the only yeast I used was from the bottom of the previous brew however that didn't seem to do anything. So I chucked some grapes in and it took off. Anyways I let it sit in the flagon for around 2 weeks after stopped final and then bottled it (Was bottled on 23/05). However it now seems to a fair bit of foam on top of it. Anyone seen a similar thing?

Overall it's just experiment brew I did in my cupboard, so I don't mind tipping it it's most likely going to explode.

 

[gsouth82]

Have you tasted it? Could be infected.
Fruit is renowned for harbouring wild yeast (possibly why the grapes made it take off).
Did you boil all the fruit before chucking it in to kill any nasty's?

 

[hwall95]

Yeah I tasted it before I bottled it. Tasted like sour berry cider due to the fruit however it wouldn't surprise me if it was infected with wild yeast as I was curious to see how it turned out. No I didn't boil the fruit as it just a 2L experiment, so I didn't really mind if it got infected with wild yeast. In two weeks prior to bottle there was no activity so I just assumed it was finished (No hydrometer at my house unfortunately - all at my brew mate's house). I'll just cover them up and open one in a little while and see how carbed they are I guess.

 

[Camo6]

I'd be careful with that one mate. There's massive headspace in those bottles and it looks to be happily fermenting. Maybe I'm wrong but I reckon if you popped the top off one they'd be well and truly carbonated. I'd exercise caution when handling them.

 

[hwall95]

Yeah I think I may open it in submerged in water just to be safe

 

[mkstalen]

You sure it's foam and not a layer of mould?

Sent from my Samsung S3 using Tapatalk.

 

[hwall95]

I guess there's only one way to find out? I'll open one next time I'm over and check.

 

[Not For Horses]

Bit hard to tell from the photo but it could be an acetobacter jelly?

 

[marksy]

You need to boil anything that touches your beer.

 

[hwall95]

I'll open one up with care tomorrow or Sunday when I go check how my lager is going and find out.

You need to boil anything that touches your beer.

Haha yeah I know, wouldn't call this beer though, more just a cupboard experiment I made when I was procrastinating uni work... In all it only made 3 or 4 bottles so if they're infected, then its no real drama.

 

[hwall95]

I opened one today (submerged in water) and it was a gusher.. Had kinda of a funny taste however was overly sour in nature so was hard to tell if anything bad bacteria were present. Moved to safe location and will see if they're still in one piece by the end of the year