This is not my first rodeo...

[Hughtheboatman]

...but it IS the first time I have fallen off!
As I said in my intro, I've been making beer at home using the 'kit and a kilo' method for around 40 years. The kits are mostly ales or bitters from Youngs, Coopers, John Bull or Simply.
My method hasn't changed, I use a white plastic 25l bin and lid, scalded with boiling water before the sugar goes in, the wort is maintained at around 21C with an aquarium heater and the tub is wrapped with bubblewrap to save energy (it does get cold in Orkney). I don't measure the OG but use a hydrometer to check the brew at bottling, which is anyway indicated by a cessation of bubbles on the surface and a promising taste. The beer is auto-siphoned into cleaned 1-litre Pellegrino green PET mineral water bottles and primed with a 5ml spoonful of granulated sugar.

About four weeks ago my HB shop ran out of my usual brands so I bought 3 cans - Geordie Bitter and Geordie Yorkshire Bitter.
I misplaced the yeast sachet from the first can and used Youngs Wine and Beer yeast instead.
The brew foamed dramatically to start with but after about one week, when I would be expecting it to be nearly ready, I noticed a milky film on the surface, never seen before. A question on another forum brought the suggestion to give it a good stir and wait another couple of days. I did that, but by then the tub looked like a witch's cauldron so I bottled it anyway hoping for the best. It didn't actually taste 'bad'. I learned a new word - "pellicle" - from the internet. The second fermentation didn't really happen but the taste improved after one week and an experimental addition of sugar yesterday produced an instant foaming.
So, thinking about how the brew got infected, I figured that it had to be from the aquarium heater, so that and everything else in the fermentation cycle got a good soaking in a VWP cleaner & steriliser solution before the next batch, Geordie Bitter, was started. Now, about 7 days in, it too looks infected. Video attached. The 3rd can, Geordie Yorkshire Bitter, is already two days into its brew.
What am I doing wrong, or forgetting to do?

Thanks in advance, HTB

 

[fluketamer]

i doubt that its infected it looks perfectly normal to me. and it looks good ( deliscious) . i think those are normal yeast rafts.

id be nervous leaving my hydrometer in there while fermenting.

i have never heard of putting the aq heater inside the fermenter . i imagine it could hold a lot of places where infection could brew. i have only heard of putting it in a jar of water in an insulated chamber and placing the fermeting vessel in said chamber.

that being said i still dont think your beer is infected especially if it tastes like beer and not sour pi$$

i think the issue you are having is using a different yeast then you are accustomed to is all. different yeasts behave much differently and the white film could be (and likely is) perfectly normal for that strain


good luck

 

[Hughtheboatman]

i doubt that its infected it looks perfectly normal to me. and it looks good ( deliscious) . i think those are normal yeast rafts.

id be nervous leaving my hydrometer in there while fermenting.

i have never heard of putting the aq heater inside the fermenter . i imagine it could hold a lot of places where infection could brew. i have only heard of putting it in a jar of water in an insulated chamber and placing the fermeting vessel in said chamber.

that being said i still dont think your beer is infected especially if it tastes like beer and not sour pi$$

i think the issue you are having is using a different yeast then you are accustomed to is all. different yeasts behave much differently and the white film could be (and likely is) perfectly normal for that strain


good luck

Thank you.
It would be good to hear opinions from anyone using Geordie kits themselves.

 

[MashBag]

I would have liked to see a pic of the milky film.

For me I see and read no issues.

Aquarium heaters do work. I think I gave up on them in the 80's though.

Trust your own senses. Tastes good. Bingo. Smells good ditto.

Carry on and get it bottled. 'tis fine.

 

[old dog new tricks]

i use a 50w aquarium heater they are completely sealed and as long as sterilised no issue.

btw good shout on bubble wrap round the plastic FVs tho!

 

[Hughtheboatman]

Thanks for all your advice re the Geordie brews, which boiled down to "Relax - patience will be rewarded". All three have taken twice as long to ferment as my usual LME kits, and all have taken twice as long for their secondary fermentation in the same conditions as in the past 6 years. The advantage of re-using 1l Pellegrino mineral water bottles is that a/ they are free, b/ they hold a litre of beer and c/ I can check the progress of the secondary fermentation by giving them a friendly squeeze to gauge the pressure inside.
The outcome so far is that the first batch did become drinkable and the other two are heading in the same direction. The flavour is reminiscent of a Peasel Weiss I sampled in Munich in 1980.
Perhaps the Geordie kits need Tyne-water, and not the Stromness tap water I have been using so far?

Edited to add - A Munton's Connoisseur Bitter brew started a week ago zoomed to bottling yesterday and tasted great the day before. Maybe it's down to the local tap water; ours is from a loch surrounded by cow pasture, and presumably treated with unknown chemicals to qualify it as 'potable'. I think I'll buy imported water from the Co-Op for the next brew.

 

[Hughtheboatman]

Well, here's the final update on the Geordie brews made using Orkney Mainland tapwater.
Everything took twice as long to ferment and mature as other brands of LME kits I've used here, like John Bull and Simply. I'm guessing that the tapwater is so heavily dosed with chemicals to protect us from infections that it adversely affected the Geordie yeast. No issues with either party, they were just incompatible ;-)

As for the outcome, I'll paraphrase a Terry Pratchett statement from Discworld.
"All beer is drinkable, for a given value of 'drinkable'.

He wrote, from memory, "All tribal myths are true, for a given value of 'true' ".

 

[Stu]

Aquarium heaters are different beasts these days. I know many don't like them, but I've always sworn by them rather than brew belts.
The new ones are metal too, so don't have the disadvantages of glass and super easy to clean.

For the water, a simple trick if you have 2 FVs. Draw it off the night before and add a campbell tablet. Leave the half litre or so in the bottom. Orkney water is probably far better than the stuff here on the South Coast which is very hard and full of chlorine.

 

[MashBag]

As for the outcome, I'll paraphrase a Terry Pratchett statement from Discworld.
"All beer is drinkable, for a given value of 'drinkable'.

I like that. The work drinkable had airways made new shudder

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Or in this case Geordie pish . You made good beer before you changed the kit.. Chances are it's not you. Tbh the multipurpose yeast won't help.

Do cml deliver to Orkney. You could use this experience as an opportunity to pimp your kits.

Don't panic about the water, but some cheap pool test strips would give you some clues. A full test is about £30 which sounds a lot, but cheaper than buying in water long term. Xmas when you buy it in, you still don't know wants in it? Spotless has nowt in, so you need to spend more to put in what you need.


Pellegrino mineral water bottles.... Brilliant, I wish I had a supply.