infected?

[redcraig]

Hey there,
This is only my 5th brew, it (and all previous) have been with kits.
This one is muntons wheat beer, with coopers malt extract, 500g spray malt and a hops tea bag for good measure.

This ferment has been:.
- no reaction for about a day and a half
- then 7 inches of krausen for a day
- then reduced down to a low seemingly thick bubbly layer (cream coloured) which has stayed as is until day 6 (now).

I used Danstar wheat beer yeast:
http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/munich-wheat-beer-yeast
which says about 4 days fermentation above 17 degrees. My temp has been a pretty consistent 21 degrees, though I think it was pretty cold that first night - hence the delayed fermentation start.

The beer tastes good to me and is a great amber colour in the glass, so I'm probably overreacting. If the FG is the same tomorrow as today I'm planning on bottling it. Just want to double check before I start bottling...

Thanks!

(The image is a tad blurry because I didn't take the plastic lid off.)

[mr hoppy]

Looks totally normal to me. Not sure what the dark shadow at the bottom of the picture is - but doesn't look infected to me.

It's totally normal to wonder if your beers are infected the first few time - chances are they aren't - especially with a healthy looking head of yeast like that.

A day and a half isn't ideal but it's not too bad in terms of how long it takes for the krausen to rise. I found this yeast a bit slow to start and pitched a starter with some Schneider Weisse cos I got impatient.

I also see you didn't take the lid off. Good call. I've been brewing for 5 years and I still can't resist peeking myself the odd time but messing around too much with your beer in the fermenter is a fairly good way of infecting it.

[lampie]

It all looks fine .. i think the black spot at the bottom is the hopbag .

the foam can look a bit strange sometimes. but the pictures of infections that i saw where mostly flat and it was just like a strange cleanfilm on the beer. or a little coral like structure at the top.

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

Infected beer is usually pretty obvious on the nose or on the taste.

Heavy krausen with healthy start usually means no infections.

[Dunkel]

+1 to all the other replies. But day 7 is probably a bit early to be bottling - it won't be doing any harm to leave it for another week.

[redcraig]

Phew! Thanks all.
The fact that the krausen looks to be thick & almost gooey is what had me concerned.

+1 to all the other replies. But day 7 is probably a bit early to be bottling - it won't be doing any harm to leave it for another week.

In that case I might leave it another week before bottling.
If you ignore the ferment time advised for the yeast, how can you tell when it's time to bottle?

[Dunkel]

"how can you tell when it's time to bottle?"

As you mentioned, when the specific gravity remains the same over 2 or 3 days. As a rule of thumb, this should be about a quarter or a fifth of the original gravity i.e. if your wheat beer started at an original gravity of 1040, then final gravity (and hence bottling time) will be about 1008 - 1010. Roughly. But an extra few days in the fermenter just give the yeast time to clear up any byproducts of the fermentation. As long as you don't leave the beer in the fermenter for over five weeks or so, everything should be grand 

Enjoy your beer!

[beerfly]

top fermenting yeast can give you a gooey layer on the top as it likes to float. 
but dont worry if you ever have an infected batch you wont need to ask anyone to confirm it 

[redcraig]

Thanks for the info everyone, I appreciate it.

Now I kinda want to just get a batch infected so I know what it looks & smells like