Is my beer infected?

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Beeroliver

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Hi guys, I put a brown ale about a week ago with kits and kit yeast and it has been fermenting pretty slugishly. The airlock isn't bubbling but it has the smell of fermenting wort. I had a look at it today and it has a sort of Brown scum on top. Is it infected or do you reckon the kit yeast is just old and bad? Thanks in advance for any help
 
Beeroliver said:
Hi guys, I put a brown ale about a week ago with kits and kit yeast and it has been fermenting pretty slugishly. The airlock isn't bubbling but it has the smell of fermenting wort. I had a look at it today and it has a sort of Brown scum on top. Is it infected or do you reckon the kit yeast is just old and bad? Thanks in advance for any help
as most people might advise you:
1 airlocks won't tell you much, you need to track your SG to monitor fermentation progress.
2 The brown scum is probably krausen
3 kit yeast generally arnt much chop but they get the job done, usually

take a pic
 
Here's what it looks like. Apologies for the quality of the pic

IMG_20161029_124703_01.jpg
 
If the yeast was pretty old and its been going a bit slow would it be a bad idea to add some more yeast? I'm pretty sure the kit I got was a bit old.
 
If you have a hydrometer, take a sample and check it's specific gravity. That'll tell you if the yeast is working and most importantly, taste it. If it tastes like fly-struck sheep's arse, then odds are you have an infected brew.
 
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