Ok, so yesterday I had the joy of pouring two fermentors' worth of beer into the garden. I'd just grabbed the fermentors to start bottling, after a two weeks in primary and two weeks in secondary, only to discover a beautiful white cracked film floating on the surface *sob*.
So from what I know (and the god-awful smell), this is indication of some sort of yeast-infection, or possibly just a straight-out bacterial infection, right? The odour wasn't readily identifiable as anything more than "alcoholic" (I'd call it vaguely like propanol from experience in other realms of life).
My question now is this - why? why were my lovely brews invaded by nasties? Both brews died, one was a kit&kilo Coopers Canadian Blonde, the other a partial-mash pseudo-wheat-ale, both made on the same day, both with unopened packs of dried yeast (no starter used). Didn't notice anything astray when racking...
My theories are:
1) Was horrendously busy at work during the month (hence the long times in fermentor) ... was the full month in two different fermentors just pushing my luck. Is it risky to leave beer lying around "unprotected" so long?
2) Was away for a week and a half, during which Perth hit some stupidly hot temperatures (very high 30's) ... is temperature a contributor?
3) Was I just plain sloppy with sterilisation?
I realise it's tempting to suggest improper sterilisation, and obviously quite possible, but I've NEVER had sterilisation issues before ... which is why I'm wondering what the other sources of this nasty white film may be...
Please help, I need some advice so I can rectify the issue and get another batch (or five) on...
So from what I know (and the god-awful smell), this is indication of some sort of yeast-infection, or possibly just a straight-out bacterial infection, right? The odour wasn't readily identifiable as anything more than "alcoholic" (I'd call it vaguely like propanol from experience in other realms of life).
My question now is this - why? why were my lovely brews invaded by nasties? Both brews died, one was a kit&kilo Coopers Canadian Blonde, the other a partial-mash pseudo-wheat-ale, both made on the same day, both with unopened packs of dried yeast (no starter used). Didn't notice anything astray when racking...
My theories are:
1) Was horrendously busy at work during the month (hence the long times in fermentor) ... was the full month in two different fermentors just pushing my luck. Is it risky to leave beer lying around "unprotected" so long?
2) Was away for a week and a half, during which Perth hit some stupidly hot temperatures (very high 30's) ... is temperature a contributor?
3) Was I just plain sloppy with sterilisation?
I realise it's tempting to suggest improper sterilisation, and obviously quite possible, but I've NEVER had sterilisation issues before ... which is why I'm wondering what the other sources of this nasty white film may be...
Please help, I need some advice so I can rectify the issue and get another batch (or five) on...