Infection...

[user 11560]

Whatup

I was gonna post about this the other day, but didn't because the photo I took seemed to disappear off my camera as I went to upload it. But the other I noticed my latest batch (which was still in the fermenter at the time) had the beginnings of an infection: while film on top, looking much like acetobacter pics that I've seen here and elsewhere, but I'm no expert and thus don't really have any idea. Like I said I tried to take a pic but alas, it vanished.

Anyway, the beer still tasted and smelled fine, so I went ahead and bottled anyway, leaving the last few cms, hoping that the infection was only on the top and not in the rest of the beer.

Unfortunately the same white film is cropping up in the bottles. They're still nowhere near fully conditioned, but in the interests of Science (aka possibly making myself sick) I decided to crack one open anyway, just to see what's going on. (Nothing remotely like this has ever happened before so I'm treating it like an educational opportunity.)

Now the interesting part: there's no foul smell, nor foul taste. The only thing is a lack of taste, not quite sure how else to describe it - just bland. The recipe I've done before quite a few times, so I know what to expect, and blandness isn't it.

So I guess my question is where to from here? It seems as though it'll still be drinkable, if a bit bland, but the idea of ingesting more of that white crap doesn't seem particularly appealing.

 

[Florian]

Do you have any recent pics of the bottles (not the fermenter)?
I had an infection with a white film recently which you can see here. Does yours look anything like it?

Florian

 

[murrayr]

i recently posted about an infection which people were quick to point out looked like an acetobacter infection.
the beer tasted great for about two months but has now soured to the point where i can't drink it. if it does look like an acetobacter infection, i'd be drinking it up pretty quickly.
hope that helps, murray

 

[user 11560]

Do you have any recent pics of the bottles (not the fermenter)?
I had an infection with a white film recently which you can see here. Does yours look anything like it?

Florian

Ew, nasty! Mine's in brown PET bottles so it's difficult to get a good photo with my phone camera... will maybe give it a go later when my housemate gets home (he has a much better camera). I guess it does look a bit like yours, though not as bad.

i recently posted about an infection which people were quick to point out looked like an acetobacter infection.
the beer tasted great for about two months but has now soured to the point where i can't drink it. if it does look like an acetobacter infection, i'd be drinking it up pretty quickly.
hope that helps, murray

Hmm I'll have to see how I go. Still have an uninfected batch to get through, maybe I'll put those ones away for a while. So acetobacter is safe to consume then?

 

[murrayr]

yeah its safe. but definately drink it quickly if you're sure that's what it is.
maybe leave one bottle for a little while so you can see what happens after about 4 months. i've ended up pouring out nearly half of mine cause i didn't drink it fast enough (wasn't totally convinced it was infected as it tasted really good). i guess that'll teach me.
murray

 

[paulwolf350]

You are kidding right, you are drinking beer infected with acetobacter?

pour it out and spend the 30 bucks on a new batch, your intestinal tract will love you for it

 

[zoidbergmerc]

I had a batch like this, filtered&kegged it and got all my friends around to finish it that night Good times.

 

[benno1973]

Acetobacter is used to sour up flemish ales isn't it? And my mum always swears by drinking a glass or watered down vinegar each day to get rid of gastro, so it can't be too bad for the intestinal tract. And lots of people drink kombucha tea daily as a health tonic, which also has acetobacter...

 

[user 11560]

You are kidding right, you are drinking beer infected with acetobacter?

If it hasn't soured yet, why not?

 

[user 11560]

UPDATE:

Following a suggestion in one of the linked threads here I shook the bottles up, dislodging the film on top. It didn't dissolve at all, just broke off into chunks floating around the beer, but they settled out on the bottom! Also no white film has formed since. It's ready to drink now (2 weeks conditioning), and as before lacks the flavour of my previous similar batches, but still hasn't soured yet.

Moral of the story is: infections aren't always fatal! Or perhaps this wasn't even an infection (but I'm about 99% sure it was).

Nevertheless I'll try to get through it quickly, not that I needed an excuse to drink...

I'll leave one bottle for a few months as per murrayr's suggestion, just to see what happens, if anything...