Infection Alert - Should I Chuck It?

[Screwtop]

If you're going to leave beer on the yeast that long then start dropping the temp, drop slowly to around 2C after 2 weeks, bugs hate the cold as much as I do. As ross indicated the best protection for your beer is Co2, keep it in your fermenter, on the beer to protect it. Problem for newbs, they want to keep opening up the fermenter for testing or whatever.

Screwy

 

[clean brewer]

Fine form Chappo :lol: , reminds me of the crap being posted on Monday, had me in stiches... :beerbang:

 

[NickB]

Let's just say the next pandemic is "Cat Flu"... h34r:

Or Dirty, Dirty Chappo Flu. Infectious as buggery, but nice eyebrows.........






h34r:





Cheers

 

[Renegade]

If you're going to leave beer on the yeast that long then start dropping the temp, drop slowly to around 2C after 2 weeks, bugs hate the cold as much as I do. As ross indicated the best protection for your beer is Co2, keep it in your fermenter, on the beer to protect it. Problem for newbs, they want to keep opening up the fermenter for testing or whatever.

Screwy

This was the confusing 'gravity wont drop' beer that I wrote about recently, so it has had an overextended stay in the buckets. Typically I would do one week primary, one week secondary, then rack for bulk prime to bottles (without issue).

After so much assing about, its a shame to lose it. Ah well, its all part of the experience.

 

[glaab]

interesting thread. sorry to butt in with a newbie question. my 45l of Coopers Heritage Lager is nearly finished primary ferment, after I do the diacetyl rest, can I just leave it to cold conditoin for a few weeks in the primary fermenter, on top of the yeast cake, then bottle or keg it? I wasn't sure why people rack into a cube anyway.
Thanks for any pointers. Cheers.

 

[Jye]

bugs hate the cold as much as I do.

A tip I picked up from TBN is infections will develop twice as fast with every 10C rise in temp. So dropping the temp to 0C will slow them by a factor of 4... a bit like Screwy

 

[pokolbinguy]

I see from your pic you have transferred to a similar vessel, so their really is no benefit in this practice at all. By transferring, you've removed the protective blanket of CO2 & left your wort exposed to the air & hence the problem you now have.

Well I have learnt something tonight.....I hope my last batch that I racked into a fermenter is ok.

Pok

 

[NickB]

glaab - depends.

Ideally, rack into a keg and carbonate, then CC for as long as you can stand. (People rack into a cube for clearing and conditioning).

Otherwise, leaving beer on the primary cake for around 4 weeks should not be harmful. Longer might be. If you're wanting to rack to secondary, do as I do, and purge your secondary vessel with CO2 prior to transfer. Takes all the problems (ie: introducing excess oxygen) out of the equation.

Personally, I primary until the beer hits FG, then rack into a keg, carbonate, and condition for a few weeks (not often!) or as long as I can humanly resist pulling a pint....

Cheers

 

[Ross]

interesting thread. sorry to butt in with a newbie question. my 45l of Coopers Heritage Lager is nearly finished primary ferment, after I do the diacetyl rest, can I just leave it to cold conditoin for a few weeks in the primary fermenter, on top of the yeast cake, then bottle or keg it? I wasn't sure why people rack into a cube anyway.
Thanks for any pointers. Cheers.

Yes - 2 main reasons for racking to a cube for conditioning is if you want the fermenter back for another brew, or can only fit a cube in your fridge for chilling. I chill all my beers in primary & then transfer direct to keg or bottle. The only time I'd transfer to a secondary vessel would be to bulk prime after clearing.

cheers Ross

 

[Renegade]

So if you dont have the facility to chill (I dont have a spare fridge), are you suggesting that secondary is a waste of time ?
To show my lack of expertise I suppose, I have only ever gone secondary because that's the way Ive always done it, and simply assumed that more yeast is dropping out. Pretty dumb to not have tested the simpler route, I will admit.

 

[glaab]

Thanks for the help guys, much appreciated.
I couldn't find that info anywhere. I was thinking it would be best
to leave it in the primary for 2-3 weeks then keg but now I'll rack it
straight into kegs. Handy to know that in future if my kegs are full
I can just leave it a few weeks if I need to.

Cheers!

 

[Ross]

So if you dont have the facility to chill (I dont have a spare fridge), are you suggesting that secondary is a waste of time ?

IMO YES - Some swear that it improves their beer, but i can see no reason why it would. Leaving your beer on the yeast for a couple of weeks will do more good than harm. Leave well alone & you'll have few problems.

cheers Ross

 

[T.D.]

Acetobacter is a bacterial infection. It will be all through the wort. The film on top is nothing but an indicator. Racking the beer from underneath it won't fix a thing, the film will just reappear in the new vessel, and if you bottle the beer the film will appear in the necks of the bottles.

The thing about acetobacter is that it often takes a little bit of time for the adverse flavours to appear. I think this is why some people think they have fixed the problem by racking to a new vessel. You often get a couple of months before it starts taking hold, at which time you start getting vinegar-like flavours and a loss of body.

Sounds weird but as far as infections go its one of the "better" ones!

 

[BennyBrewster]

It will make you fart like a demon if you drink it ! :excl:

 

[hazard]

Renegade,

Yes it is infected with acetobacter - some brewers have succesfully siphoned off the brew below the film without any apparent problems, but to avoid this happening again stop transferring to secondary. I see from your pic you have transferred to a similar vessel, so their really is no benefit in this practice at all. By transferring, you've removed the protective blanket of CO2 & left your wort exposed to the air & hence the problem you now have.

cheers Ross

Ross, probably need Bribie to explain this - I'm brewing with 1469 at the mo, and Bribie says to beat it twice a day - but based on this thread, risk of infection (acetobacter and others) is quite high doing this. I've had the lid off twice to beat the yeast back in, and a good thing too because it keeps climbing out the airlock, but am I going to get a swine flu in my beer? Never had an infection yet (touch wood) but only done 20 brews so far in my career, I guess one day I've got one coming? I always rack to secondary, but not sure if this is still the recommended way to go?

hazard

 

[petesbrew]

Got a great one for you guys. I thought I'd save posting a new thread.

This is the extra 10Litres of my Village Idiot Medieval Amber which didn't fit in my primary fermenter. I oversparged and didn't really get enough evaporation, but whatever... I threw it in a cube and it's been sitting there for about 6-8 weeks in my garage.

Opened it tonight to throw a cheap kit on top, for shits n giggles, and I saw this. WHAT THE F##K IS THAT INFECTION?
It doesn't really smell different from any wort, but for the record, it's got Chamomile Tea, Honey, and American Oak chips went in the boil. I'd definitely say the oak and chamomile are the factors, plus the massive deadspace in the cube.

 

[Cocko]

Did you use PVC hose h34r:


Seriously tho, dude that doesn't look good!

Hope it works out.

 

[mwd]

looks like mould fungus to me before it turns blue.

 

[jonocarroll]

Seriously tho, dude that doesn't look good!

Au contraire - it looks pretty awesome if you ask me.

Probably won't help much in the flavour department though.

 

[Rodolphe01]

looks like the bottom of my coffee cup at work...

Just skim the chunks off and i'm sure it'll be ok :icon_vomit: