Is my beer infected?

[Beeroliver]

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

 

[barls]

without pics its hard to tell.
id say 90% probably not.
is the gravity dropping?
have a look at this thread
Infection Photo Thread

 

[ein stein]

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

 

[Beeroliver]

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

 

[malt junkie]

Looks good to me. Probably needs another 2 or 3 days, then crash chill it.

 

[ein stein]

yup looks like krausen to me

 

[Beeroliver]

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.

 

[Vini2ton]

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.