have i got an infection??

[grinchy]

Well not me personally, but my kit made Geordie bitter.....

So the story goes that i made up the kit as per the instructions, except made to 21 litres instead of 23 and opted to submerge a heater into the mix as the ambient temp in my garage is now around 14-15 degrees. Temp in the brew has been a constant 20 degrees.

All has been well and though progress has been slow, the S.G. has been falling steadily. 2 days ago i took a reading and it was 1008, following day same reading! So i think its stopped, but it shouldn't have stopped until around 1005 according to the destructions :wha:

Upon tasting, it was very bitter with a sharp aftertaste, not pleasent at all :sick: , but then i dont actualy like bitter anyway!! I decided yesterday in my ultimate, inexperienced wisdom to add the extra 2 litres of water :| gave it a little stir and resealed the lid.

Been to it this morning to take S.G. and found little white flakes which kinda look like melted plastic, in and around the surface when drawing some fluid off for S.G. reading, it is cloudy and it still tastes quite bitter although not quite as bad...and being a little scared of what i have done, ran away quickly without taking the S.G. reading

So my question ladies and gents is ....do you think i have got an infection, or is something else not quite right??

 

[Leglesstwot]

Well not me personally, but my kit made Geordie bitter.....

So the story goes that i made up the kit as per the instructions, except made to 21 litres instead of 23 and opted to submerge a heater into the mix as the ambient temp in my garage is now around 14-15 degrees. Temp in the brew has been a constant 20 degrees.

All has been well and though progress has been slow, the S.G. has been falling steadily. 2 days ago i took a reading and it was 1008, following day same reading! So i think its stopped, but it shouldn't have stopped until around 1005 according to the destructions :wha:

Upon tasting, it was very bitter with a sharp aftertaste, not pleasent at all :sick: , but then i dont actualy like bitter anyway!! I decided yesterday in my ultimate, inexperienced wisdom to add the extra 2 litres of water :| gave it a little stir and resealed the lid.

Been to it this morning to take S.G. and found little white flakes which kinda look like melted plastic, in and around the surface when drawing some fluid off for S.G. reading, it is cloudy and it still tastes quite bitter although not quite as bad...and being a little scared of what i have done, ran away quickly without taking the S.G. reading

So my question ladies and gents is ....do you think i have got an infection, or is something else not quite right??

As long as the added water was sterile you will have done nothing but water your brew down. The taste in the FV is tainted by the suspended yeast and extras from brewing. These will settle out of the beer once bottled or barrelled and when it has cleared and matured over 4 to 5 weeks it will taste totally different. Dunna worry it will probably be fine. I have a Coopers lager kit fermenting and it smells like the dog has been farting in the kitchen all night, but I beleive this is normal (the ferementing smell not the dog!) and nowt to worry about!

 

[grinchy]

By sterile you mean boiled and cooled dont you?? then no it wasn't I realised this just as i finished pouring it in :cry: It was straight from the tap.

There is no bad smell to it, just concerned about the plasticy bits, they are completly new!

 

[Leglesstwot]

By sterile you mean boiled and cooled dont you?? then no it wasn't I realised this just as i finished pouring it in :cry: It was straight from the tap.

There is no bad smell to it, just concerned about the plasticy bits, they are completly new!

No I meant you had used a sterilised container to put the water in and add it to the FV. I aren't sure what you mean by plasticky bits, but you get all sorts of odd shaped crud produced by fermentation but this generally settles to the bottom of the FV once fermentation is nearing completion. I am sure it will be fine and you will soon be bottling the stuff, dunna worry :drink:

 

[lazydog]

sounds to me like water scale like ya get in a kettle in hard water areas

 

[The Seer]

I've done quite a few of the Geordie kits, without the addition of spray malt the taste is never the greatest.

The best I've ever had out a Geordie kit was the Yorkshire Bitter. I left it at room temp for around six months in a barrel to condition. Took that amount of time to clear..but when it did the taste was very good.

 

[grinchy]

So this is what i am faced with this morning.....

There is an opaque film over the top, and there a little white bubbly things...... It doesn't smell bad at all, actually smells like beer!

Its infected right??

_________________
Grinchy is a term which shall be applied when christmas cheer is in short supply!!

 

[Aleman]

I'm struck with a strange sense of Deja Vue :lol:

It does look like some kind of infection, possibly wild yeast or some other mold . . . I've seen acetobacter look like this . . . You might be able to rescue some beer by racking from underneath the surface (or transferring via the tap) and tust leave the top couple of inches behind . . . and drink it quickly

 

[grinchy]

Thanks..... i'll try and rescue some of it before washing it away.

 

[grinchy]

I managed to draw some off before throwing the rest :cry: I have 1 gallon in a DJ, i fittd an airlock and there is no activity what so ever, so i know it has defo stopped (although this has previously been confirmed with 3 consecutive S.G. readings of 1006).

The fluid looks 'clean' this morning, i.e. without nasty white bits etc..

So is it just a case of bottling and leaving it to mature? How will i know if this fluid has been tainted?