What Is It

[Batz]

Sometimes when I keg a brew ,this one has been racked into secondary , and this one was a partial , I see some white scum stuff in the fermenter , sticks to the sides of the fermenter when I rack to the keg.
The taste and smell is fine , is this protein ?
Looks a bit yukky
I believe I have only seen it in my partials , and not all of them , as I said the beer tastes fine so it's not an infection , although it did scare the shit out of me when I spotted it

 

[Jazman]

it could be yeast to that hasent flocculated

 

[jayse]

did you notice it floating on the top in the form of a wierd spider webb or a few floating white spots?
if so you can easily rack the beer underneath and still have a perfect beer.

 

[Batz]

floating white spots
Did rack into CC
Thanks

 

[jayse]

iv'e only had the white round spots on a extract brew. which used a tooheys can amoung some other really wicked stuff.
anyway i can't tell if the spots made a difference but iam of the beleive like many others that bad LME is the cause of a cidery taste..
ie past the due date or just plan bad to start with.

the one i had the spider one with was still perfect it was one fermentor of my last oatmael stout.
it tasted the same as the first fermentor full of it that went straight in the fridge.
ie i do double batches. so it was a perfect experiment.

so now in the heat i look in the top of the brews that condition in the fermentors every day.


cheers jayse.
yeah i know up late. what 3 am. oh well i live and work rock and roll.
been bashed by the barmy army.
and the snail trails on the passenger seat.

anyway sounds like you might have got that infection.
no damage done though batz. i'll try and find the name of that white spot bacteria.

 

[Batz]

It tastes fine , may have not been white spots as I did'nt really notice it till I opened the fermenter , it was stuck to the sides , so must have been on the top I suppose
And guess what , was a tooheys can I used , first one I have tried
I even tasted the white stuff , no taste at all
Time will tell , will report on it when I start to drink it

 

[Trough Lolly]

Hmmm, white spots - the plot thickens...

Sorry to drag up an ancient thread, but I racked a pale ale to the keg on the weekend and when I opened the lid of the secondary fermenter, I saw lots of very small white spots on the surface of the beer. When I racked to the keg, the white spots stuck to the sides of the fermenter.

They looked like tiny drops of fat - no spidery lacework or anything like that, just small white dots - and only on the surface of the beer. They weren't small gas bubbles as they stuck to the sides of the fermenter as the beer volume dropped - and stayed there until I had at them with the boiling water, bleach and Iodophor!

Thinking a feint heart never won a fat turkey, I took a sample before racking and had a taste - the beer tasted and smelled fine. I did notice a slightly phenolic / band-aid aroma to the beer, but nothing overpowering. On reflection, I probably forgot to rinse the iodophor from the secondary before I racked the beer out of primary...

Having searched a few sites on this white spot issue, there appears to be a common thread appearing - old yeast. For this brew, I rehydrated a relatively fresh pack of US-56 dry yeast and at pitching time, I decanted and tossed in the slurry of a stubby of 1056 Wyeast, for good measure. That 1056 slurry was around 12 months old and there's a good chance that the slurry was largely gone. I tasted the beer that it sat under before pitching and it smelled and tasted fine (for an unhopped wort).

Has anyone else had white spots on their beer surface? Did you use yeast that may have been past it?

Cheers,
TL

 

[Borret]

Yep I have and the beer is wierd. It was an ESB ESstout and I did a minimash to add 300g rolled oats to it. (mashed with muinich and yes it did convert... I tested it). Anyway fermed with a 3 month old culture of 1084 it smelled slightly mushroomy(?) coming out of primary and it got worse in scondary. The said secondary was in glass and you coule see the above mentioned white spots.. thousands of them, all over the surface but not on the sides. As I emptied the secondary they clung to the side.
The beer was bottled and some have formed the white spots in the bottle. The aroma is still there but has subsided slightly but it's just not quite right. Shawn (gough) also tasted it and we can't really put a finger on what is going on except that it's something that shouldn't be there.. I was unsure if the spots were yeast related or possibly rolled oats related at the time. The brew's still hanging around so I should try another bottle and see I surpose.

Good luck. It looks like you may have got away with it. However I believe mine is doomed.

Borret

 

[Gough]

The beer of Borret's was definitely more 'mushroomy' than 'band-aidy' if that makes sense, but tasted on the way out. It seemed yeast rather than extract related to my taste, but as Borret said it is hard to put your finger on - not a 'raging' infection/undrinkably 'off' beer by any means, just 'mushroomy' and not quite right... If we are talking about the same thing (and it is a big if given we are talking flavour descriptions without being able to actually taste the both the beers in question), I'd reckon you should just drink the beer as quickly as feasible TL. It would appear it gets slowly worse over time by the sounds of it

Good luck with it,

Shawn.

 

[warrenlw63]

Batz.

How much headspace was in your secondary? :unsure:

BTW I did a partial with a Toohey's kit last year. Worst bloody beer I've ever made (or close to it). <_< I'd question what some manufacturers put in these cans to give the beer *body*. Remember they sell the things with the belief that no brewers are going to boil the extract.

Worth thinking about.

Warren -

 

[big d]

hope you never ask me a head space question warren
i have trouble remembering what i did a few days ago little alone asking head space in a brew done a year ago. :huh:

cheers
big d

 

[Trough Lolly]

The beer of Borret's was definitely more 'mushroomy' than 'band-aidy' if that makes sense, but tasted on the way out. It seemed yeast rather than extract related to my taste, but as Borret said it is hard to put your finger on - not a 'raging' infection/undrinkably 'off' beer by any means, just 'mushroomy' and not quite right... If we are talking about the same thing (and it is a big if given we are talking flavour descriptions without being able to actually taste the both the beers in question), I'd reckon you should just drink the beer as quickly as feasible TL. It would appear it gets slowly worse over time by the sounds of it

Good luck with it,

Shawn.

[post="94130"][/post]​

Borrett / Shawn - thanks for the info guys. Yes, this one will be a Xmas Quaffer - I have a keg of IPA and this keg which is a part mash version based on Jayse's Skunk Fart Pale Ale. My brother is returning with me from the US on the 16th so I'll give him a couple of IPA's to deaden the taste buds and then offload the white spot pale ale when he's sauced up!!!

I tried to keep the spots in the fermenter but did notice one or two floating on the surface of the kegged beer - good luck if it's mould - it's got a blanket of CO2 and a 5% alcohol solution to live in...

I may have dodged a bullet here - will pour a glass when I return in two weeks!

Cheers,
TL

 

[Batz]

hope you never ask me a head space question warren
i have trouble remembering what i did a few days ago little alone asking head space in a brew done a year ago. :huh:

cheers
big d

[post="94148"][/post]​

It was just over 2 years ago big d

Buggered if I can remember details now , not sure if it was ok or ditched :huh:

Never had it again anyway

Batz

 

[warrenlw63]

Oh crap. I just realised it was a re-hashed thread. Sorry guys. :blink:

Really on the ball today.

TL. My money would be on your 12 month old 1056 slurry. Some of the yeast may have been OK, however a lot of it could have been dead as a doornail or even mutated.

Warren -