Ginger beer infection in the fermenter?

[charlie_b]

Hi guys,

I've had a ginger beer on since Sunday, used a morgans kit, dex, maltodex/dex/light malt mix, fresh ginger (well boiled), and a few other herbs and spices all well boiled, tasted awesome once mixed together but I've not had a minute of bubbles through the air lock....

Opened it up today to have a look inside and stir it up a bit but there was a gunk on the top that is brown and stringy.... I filtered everything as I added into the fermenter through a hop sock but it fell in once so I'm thinking I'm screwed.

Thoughts?

 

[bum]

Nothing that fell in with the sock should cause infection - that is to say that if there's an infection there dropping the sock won't have changed anything. If the stuff you filtered out was infectiony it was already in your GB. If the sock was infectiony your entire gb passed through it.

If it is an infection then it came from elsewhere. Opening it up to have a look perhaps?

May not be an infection though. "Stringy" sounds bad but the stringy infections I've seen appear more whitish than brown. Sick with it and see how she goes.

 

[Droopy]

Whenever I've had no bubbling, I've found the lid wasn't securely tightened... Either that or some sneaky person has put their life in serious danger by loosening the lid !!

 

[Moad]

I infected my fermenter with ginger beer, nothing will get the smell out.

 

[MCHammo]

I've not had anything stringy form in my ginger beers before - that's sounds like a bad sign. You also say it's brown. Dark brown? Light brown? Is there any yeast sediment at the bottom of the fermenter, is it the same colour brown?

Regarding the airlock - as has been mentioned, perhaps the fermenter hasn't been sealed up properly. I've had a non-bobbling airlock only a couple of times, and it's always been due to a small leak somewhere. Whether or not that leak is significant enough to let an infection in is another issue altogether (it never has been for me. Maybe I've just been lucky).

If the fermenter has been sealed up properly, the only way for air to get in or out is through the airlock. I've found a way to test this (maybe there's a better way, this is just what I've come up with). Apply a little pressure to the sides of your fermenter, you should see the fluid level change inside the airlock. Hold in this position for a while (10-20 seconds should do). If the fluid level stabilises to it's normal level in this time, you would appear to have a leak. In this situation, removing the pressure from the fermenter will make the fluid level change again (in the opposite direction to before) - and it will once again stabilise in a neutral position. In a leak free system, the fluid level should hold in place when the pressure is applied, and return to its original position when it is removed - unless you applied enough pressure to send bubbles through the airlock, in which case with will draw atmospheric air in through the airlock when pressure is removed.

I infected my fermenter with ginger beer, nothing will get the smell out.

I prefer "enhanced"