Strange Brew!!!

[froggi]

A relative noobie still with several kits under my belt and have just tried a hobgoblin type clone using a couple of youngs bitter cans I had lurking in the cupboard, 3 types of hoppage along with some grain also.

I followed the correct proceedures re sanitisation and brewing as far as I can tell

The brew had 2 weeks in the primary FV and a further week in a secondary FV.

I racked the brew into an empty corny last night and noticed a film/skin on top of the brew which looked a little like, shall I say, spiders webs on top of the beer. It also sort of wobbled when the surface moved, a bit like jelly!!!

The smell was good and taste the same also so I continued with racking and primed as per normal with dextrose.

Can anyone please tell me if this is to have any detrimental consequences and what this is.... Afraid there's no pictures to give anyone any clues.

 

[pittsy]

sounds like its got infected ,sorry to say it may still taste ok now but may go sour , the last time i seen a pic of this people said it was infected and it did look like spider webs but done just throw it away wait till you get a 2nd opinion

 

[pittsy]

p.s if your into using spray malts and soaking grains also hops then dont bother with kit just use more spray malt and your extract brewing , have a look for some recipes on top left hand by malt miller :thumb: better than kits

 

[froggi]

Cheers pittsy
Have kegged it as prev post.... Not wanting to go the extract route but adapted a kit as per a recipe on another forum..... Hope it's not infected as I was looking forward to sampling this before moving on to 3v ag brewing

 

[froggi]

Thing were not what they seemed to be.... It may have shown evidence of infection after putting into the secondary vessel (puts paid to me doing that again!!!), but as for signs of "sour beer" after kegging, nada, zilch, nowt, bugger all!!!

In fact it was rather a pleasant brew, left for 2 months to condition down.... I'd given up hope but decided to try it just in case I had managed to save aforementioned HG clone before pouring the whole cornie down the outside lav!!!! Well blow me I had managed to pull it back from the brink.... Was darker than the target brew but was a reasonable facsimile of HG nose wise and a near enough for me taste given it was my first ever attempt at a tweeked kit/extract brew.

Was kept under it's own pressure after my priming with around 80g of dextrose before being subjected to a blast or 2 of gas from the new delivery system prior to drinking. It didn't last long after sampling the initial glass.... Just over a week including several samples by the tall nephew..... He was as pleased as I was too I can tell you!!!

Moral of the story!!! Sanitise, sanitise, sanitise thoroughly and leave the damn thing alone before you keg/bottle your brews.... Lesson learned people and thanks for the input those who bothered to post!!!
Cheers

 

[Darcey]

My Bitter Mild had this on top.

Its things like this that stop me from using secondary FV's.... or at least doubling up my cleaning. Kegged it and it tasted nasty after it had carbonated.

D

 

[orlando]

My Bitter Mild had this on top.

Its things like this that stop me from using secondary FV's.... or at least doubling up my cleaning. Kegged it and it tasted nasty after it had carbonated.

D

Keep this picture Darcey, for every time someone brings up secondary fermentation, though of course it could be sanitation was the key not the transfer. Any idea what the infection is called as I've seen pictures of with others brews, thankfully not in my own, at least not yet. :pray:

 

[Darcey]

It was my own fault. I should have purged the fv with co2 more thoroughly. I would also like to know the name of this little beasty.

D

 

[orlando]

It was my own fault. I should have purged the fv with co2 more thoroughly. I would also like to know the name of this little beasty.

D

CO2, really, I assume this after a through clean and sanitisation as CO2 wouldn't be enough on its own. I've only heard of using CO2 when bottling to eliminate oxygen and its potential for staling the beer in long term storage.

 

[graysalchemy]

Dropping into a secondary is perfectly safe and beneficial but you do need to make sure everything is scrupiously clean. There is also nothing to say that it wouldn't have turned out like that if you hadn't. An Fv after a weeks fermentaion especially an active one isn't a very sterile place above the beer line and things can drop in.

 

[Darcey]

Ok so!

I brewed 25L of Bitter to my house recipe but 'improved it' and attempted to use 'black malt' to darken it just soooo slightly... but I over sparged and added too much black malt by 50g.. so that went wrong and so became 'Bitter Mild'. This was originally for a friends wedding as it went wrong I dry hopped the beer (EKG single hop beer) and racked it off to secondary. It was all clean and starsan'd. I read somewhere that you should increase the temp when doing dry hopping so took it up from 2c (for clearing) to 16c for dry hopping! Came back 2 weeks later and it was as the above photo total 5 weeks since pitching.

The beer was also pitched from a yeast culture from a cask of fullers beer. The culture tasted great and the starter equally had NO off flavours but I can not rule this out in this case.

I will only now secondary if there is alot of turb or if I am fining at 1c!

My fault... bad times... but in future I wont transfer if its not really totally worth it.

The brew cellar needs a general clean up and from now on (the FV in question is in the bin) I am being extra careful and not risking any more beer. It deserves better!
D

 

[orlando]

Couple of questions. Does the Starsan go milky when you add it to your domestic water? Was there a lid and airlock on during the 2 weeks of dry hopping?

Your mention of your brew area needing a clean up has aroused suspicions.

 

[Darcey]

Starsan for me stays clear in solution for 4 weeks +. Airlock and lid on :thumb:

The brew cellar is much cleaner and tidier now a days I am putting it down that

 

[orlando]

Looks like you have it covered then.

 

[froggi]

Darcey... That was it... Exactly that!!! Looks like a thick layer of cobwebs over the surface..... Sorry about your misfortune but at least it's not just me it seems to happen to. Shame about the taste of yours and not being able to bring it back from beyond the homebrew grave... As I previously posted, mine was fine after it's time conditioning.... The secondary FV route will only be considered if I sanitize the hell out of the FV and other acutriments.

Good luck with the next brew guys
Froggi

 

[graysalchemy]

Darcy I think your problem is you left it for 2 weeks. The only beers I would leave for any length of time is a barley wine or something over 7-8% where there is enough alcohol to stop spoiling. When ever I have left a beer that long especially in warmer months I have ended up with that.

 

[Darcey]

Darcy I think your problem is you left it for 2 weeks. The only beers I would leave for any length of time is a barley wine or something over 7-8% where there is enough alcohol to stop spoiling. When ever I have left a beer that long especially in warmer months I have ended up with that.

I think you are correct. I have two 5g AG batches fermenting at the moment and as soon as they hit their final gravitys they are getting crash cooled and kegged! No messing around!

D

 

[graysalchemy]

I have taken to that 2 weeks from mashing to bottle. I lost to many brews last year from not having the time to bottle. My barley wine however ended up in the secondary for 10 weeks with no ill effect.

 

[Darcey]

If they are in the primary then I dont worry about it. At the moment Kolsch Mk.II is fermenting away and should be done in a week, that'll get a short rest before being crash cooled for at least 4 weeks to drop out the yeast.

I left the above brew at room temperature, I guess thats why the infection took hold

Its all bringing back bad memory's :cry: