I racked my beer the other day and I went to move the fermenter today when I noticed I have a thin "skin" of white furry looking growth on top of my beer. I am guessing this means its infected (probabbly from my racking hose which I found very hard to wash effectively)
Is there anything that can be done to save my brew?
Cheers
Guessing my brew is infected
Re: Guessing my brew is infected
evanmit wrote:I racked my beer the other day and I went to move the fermenter today when I noticed I have a thin "skin" of white furry looking growth on top of my beer (sort of like iron filings but white). I am guessing this means its infected (probabbly from my racking hose which I found very hard to wash effectively)
Is there anything that can be done to save my brew?
Cheers
I meant to put this in the "why rack section, but you're first!
I have had a white 'skin' a few times. I believe it is due to the high temps the fermenter was subjected to while racking (ie the heat wave last two weeks).
What I am doing now is to rack early, so that the beer keeps fermenting in secondary, and therefore has a layer of C02 which will inhibit nasties...or, rack and transfer to a fridge or climate controlled area (best idea), or don't rack, just bottle.
If it smells ok and tastes ok, bottle it (but make sure you leave the top 'scum' layer in the fermenter).
If it smells and tatses really bad, throw it out.
Also get some iodopher if you haven't already and cover everything in that. I use an atomiser bottle to spray everything.
I have had a white 'skin' a few times. I believe it is due to the high temps the fermenter was subjected to while racking (ie the heat wave last two weeks).
What I am doing now is to rack early, so that the beer keeps fermenting in secondary, and therefore has a layer of C02 which will inhibit nasties...or, rack and transfer to a fridge or climate controlled area (best idea), or don't rack, just bottle.
If it smells ok and tastes ok, bottle it (but make sure you leave the top 'scum' layer in the fermenter).
If it smells and tatses really bad, throw it out.
Also get some iodopher if you haven't already and cover everything in that. I use an atomiser bottle to spray everything.
For K&K brewer's without temp. control especially while fermenting in the summer month's - if I don't rack on day 3 or 4 then I won't, have had no "skin" problem's since and have been racking all beer for the last 2 year's. I just like the idea of getting it off the yeast bed ( seem's to be a cleaner taste but just might be me)ACTbrewer wrote:
What I am doing now is to rack early
Cheer's Schooner
Maybe the raking process introduced the infection plus enough oxygen for it to take hold, but as soon as it's oxygen supply runs out it will die off. I vote not to throw it out, open fermenter, remove scum, throw 20grams of dextrose in which will cause a huge amount of instant carbon dioxide to push out newly introduced oxygen and put lid back on. See if the scum stays away.
I took Atropine's advice, and after 24 hours the scum has returned however it is nowhere near as bad as previously.
I shall bottle in the next day or so, leaving the top few centremeters before the scum behind. Hopefully totally cutting off the Oxygen will fix the problem, as a friend has the theory that the CO2 from 20grams of dextrose wont be enough to make a blanket of co2, but just mix with the air and lower the amount of it.
I shall bottle in the next day or so, leaving the top few centremeters before the scum behind. Hopefully totally cutting off the Oxygen will fix the problem, as a friend has the theory that the CO2 from 20grams of dextrose wont be enough to make a blanket of co2, but just mix with the air and lower the amount of it.
cracked the first of these open last night to try. I marked the bottles in order of bottling so I could figure out which would be affected the worst (those bottled last, as more acetobacter in them).
There was a slight scum on the bottle, but you could not taste it or tell it was there. For a beer in the bottle just over a week, it came out amazingly good. I guess the moral of the story is to bottle before the infection takes off.
There was a slight scum on the bottle, but you could not taste it or tell it was there. For a beer in the bottle just over a week, it came out amazingly good. I guess the moral of the story is to bottle before the infection takes off.
