Infection Help

[Loetz]

Any ideas as to what I should do about this? It's in the secondary right now, and this thing started growing recently. It got a lot thicker over the past couple of days. I'm not sure where it came from.

 

[pittsy]

yeah i've seen that before it's infected alright , is it lacto something or other (can't remember science bit's) but i think it's a fungi , others will know more but i'm sure it's for the drain . :cry:

 

[jonnymorris]

Doesn't look good. I think you may have lost this one. :-(

 

[Dieseljockey]

Looks like the brew I had early last year...looks like a layer of plastic - clingfilm.. :sick: ..it went down the outside drain....see what other folks think.

 

[Mark1964]

looks like acetobacter infection taste it if its ok get it bottled if not buy some onions and get pickling

 

[Ian...]

I would go with Marks suggestion, taste it and bottle it if its ok. I'm no scientist but the infection/reaction may only be on the surface. Good luck.

 

[StevieDS]

You're a braver man than me if u take a sip of that :sick:

 

[Loetz]

I guess I'll probably pitch it. I have too much beer on stock right now to hold on to bad stuff. It's a shame though. This was a chili stout that I was really looking forward to. The infection started before I made the chili addition -- I think some liquid from the airlock dropped down into the beer when I opened the bucket up for a peek a few days before I did that addition. That's the only thing that makes sense to me at this point.

Any thoughts on how I should clean up the bucket after I throw out this beer?

 

[jonnymorris]

...some liquid from the airlock dropped down into the beer when I opened the bucket up for a peek...

Use vodka next time.

 

[RobWalker]

Hmm, stalks left on the chillies?

 

[Sean_Mc]

Unlucky L, it happens :|

 

[Loetz]

Hmm, stalks left on the chillies?

The infection was there before I did the the chili addition. At the time it was really, really thin and I thought it might just be some kind of an oil deposit... but I guess it wasn't! :evil: It has grown over the past few days.

Oh, and the stems and seeds were removed and the flesh was soaked in tequila before I added it to the secondary.

 

[wilsoa1111]

think i had one go that way, but was just a mini experiemental batch (no hops), it tasted alright at the time as i bottled sharpish, following bottles have been less good but not horrible-yet- at the time thought it was oil aswell, maybe it wasnt though :sick:

 

[Mark1964]

use preboiled water in the airlock then any accidents will be ok. You will probably need a new fv if it is acetobacter. Would not trust that one again no matter how much bleaching you do. We lobbed ours out after we got acetobacter in a pilsner :thumb:

 

[Loetz]

use preboiled water in the airlock then any accidents will be ok. You will probably need a new fv if it is acetobacter. Would not trust that one again no matter how much bleaching you do. We lobbed ours out after we got acetobacter in a pilsner :thumb:

Do you think I could safely use it for grain storage?

 

[Good Ed]

I had something like this last year, although the film hadn't got as bad as yours, I spotted mine within a couple of days, went ahead and bottled it and it tasted fine, apart from being a bit gushy, so I put it down to a wild yeast infection but I think it might just have been mould, which can grow when the beer is exposed to the air. I'm going to look into getting some CO2 to purge the air from the top of the FV.

 

[Loetz]

... I think it might just have been mould, which can grow when the beer is exposed to the air. I'm going to look into getting some CO2 to purge the air from the top of the FV.

I'm thinking about getting a co2 thing as well. Where does one buy something like that?

 

[Mark1964]

use preboiled water in the airlock then any accidents will be ok. You will probably need a new fv if it is acetobacter. Would not trust that one again no matter how much bleaching you do. We lobbed ours out after we got acetobacter in a pilsner :thumb:

Do you think I could safely use it for grain storage?

yes as long as its thoroughly sterilized first

 

[Good Ed]

I don't know because I don't use kegs, but next time I'm in my LHBS I'll ask them. You can get the little soda siphon jobbies but I don't know what you would need to get the gas out

 

[Loetz]

I don't know because I don't use kegs, but next time I'm in my LHBS I'll ask them. You can get the little soda siphon jobbies but I don't know what you would need to get the gas out

Yea, I don't use kegs either so I don't know how practical it is to invest in something like this just to purge the air in my secondary.