what happened my IPA

[marc]

evenin folks

I'm thinkin the IPA I had on is probably lookin fooked. maybe ye can confirm for me and offer advice as to whats gone wrong.....

I was kinda loosly following craigtube. My recepie was a coppers IPA kit, 1kg DME, 700g dextrose, 25g cascade hops(might be a little more) I had it in primary for over a week and it seemed to be doin fine. I never saw the airlock bubbling like I usually would brewing anything else but I could see the pressure in the airlock and when I took off te lid I could smell the CO2 easily so I thought all was well. After about 10 days, I syphoned into a secondary bucket as I didnt want the hops in there too long as Id read somehwere you could get off flavours. I had a sneaky taste while syphoning and it tasted good, real good. I was excited to see what it would be like after a couple of weeks and carbonated properly.

so I have it in secondary then for 3 days. I still had the heat mat under it as I figured it would do no harm if it was still fermenting a bit. Its probably about 22deg. so I took a glassful out this evening and found that it was covered in a sorta white gunk...(yeast maybe?) Its floating all over the surface. I took the carrel down outta the fridge and took a pic to get yer advice. looks grim to me but would be delighted to hear thats normal when you add hops or something (was my first time adding hops)

anyway..

[marc]

I should add that the white gunk in the bucket is sorta a dusty appearance, almost like a skin on top.

I did actually have a taste (I dont want to give up on this, was lookin forward to it) and it didnt taste rank, it tasted a little weaker that i thought it would if anything as in less hoppy maybe.

with regard to sanitization, I thought everything was ok, I filled that bucket up with water and added a load of thin bleach. let it all pour out then through the new tap I'd just added to that (was going to be my new bottling bucket) so I'd have thought it should be sufficiently sanitised.

[Chris]

What does it smell/taste like.

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

how often did you have the lid off?

I brewed a coopers ipa kit recently and dry hopped it with fuggles and cascade.  It was realy good at first but the flavour and aroma of the hops (due to dryhopping i think) has receded quickly so I recommend drinking this kit young from my experience.


hope it works out for ya

[Chris]

I have had funny stuff on top of coopers kits before. Bottle it and take a chance it could be fine.

[marc]

Left out the fact that I wasnt dry hopping, I boiled up the DME with the hops and used this as the coupla litlres of hot water to throw in with the LME.

funny enough  I didnt really smell it to be honest,, I didnt note any bad smell anyway, I was kinda taken aback by the gunk and was gutted to see it in this state.

I did taste a little dab of the gunk (daft i know) and it didnt taste of anything at all really. I tasted the brew then and it didnt taste off to me. as mentioned i thought it was maybe not as hoppy or as strongly flavoured as it was when I'd tasted previously...maybe I dunno..

I took the lid off two or three time during the week, usually i wouldnt but as i didnt see the airlock happily bubbling away I was a little worried that I didnt have it warm enough (about 22deg most of the week)

I cant see how this will clear or look well though, maybe its just a film on top, I think it may have had lumps of this stuff in there as well though.

will probably bottle it either way though. 'drink it, you;ll be  fine'

[Bazza]

+1 on bottling as soon as.

Ive had that skin a couple of times and the key is to get the beer out from under it ASAP as it will get worse and worse and the beer will eventually turn sour and undrinkable.  First time I had that skin I just about rescued it as I caught it early. Next 2 times it had gone too far, in fact the 3rd time the skin had sunk back in so I didn't even know it had happened till I went to keg it and was met with that unmistakable sour smell. Straight down the drain.

If you prime and bottle early the new Co2 layer should at least keep it in stasis but it'll get no better over time so drink young.

Looks like pecile bacteria and is a bitch to get rid of. I changed my ss fermenter bucket after the 3rd occurrence.  Check your fvs and syphoning equipment for any internal scratches or scuffs that are catnip for persistent bacteria.

Good luck,

-Barry

[Tom]

Get it bottled and drink it quick. I've had this on my lagers that I've put into secondary but with no active fermentation, so the oxygen gets in. It adds a little astringency to the brew is all. Harmless.

Get it bottled and drink it quick.

[marc]

Get ti bottled, drink it quick....sounds like good advice to me.

had to google astringency

from wikipedia
Astringency is also the dry, puckering mouthfeel caused by tannins found in many fruits such as blackthorn (sloe berries), Aronia chokeberry, chokecherry, bird cherry, quince and persimmon fruits, and banana skins. The tannins (which are types of polyphenols) bind the salivary proteins, causing them to precipitate or aggregate[1] and lead to a rough "sandpapery" or dry sensation in the mouth. Tannins are found in some red wines and teas. A small amount of astringency is expected in some wines, especially young red wines made from grapes such as cabernet sauvignon and merlot.


last thing i had in this bucket was a sadlers reserve cabarnet sauvignon a week or two ago. any chance it has left something behind to react or is it purely coincidental?

Bazza, when bottling from under this stuff did you end up with much of this crap in the bottles? I would get over it myself but would like to be able to pur for visitors that call. lumps of yok in there kinda spoils the experience for them:)

[Bazza]

Bazza, when bottling from under this stuff did you end up with much of this crap in the bottles? I would get over it myself but would like to be able to pur for visitors that call. lumps of yok in there kinda spoils the experience for them:)

Very little crap in bottles the. Hardly noticeable at all except as a tiny clear film only visible in a clear bottle if you know what you're looking for.

-Barry

[Tom]

It's aerobic, so as Barry says, rack from below (sacrifice the top gallon), and bottle condition, then you should have a good chance of getting it all drunk before the tell-tale ring around the neck of the bottle forms.

Take this as a lesson in sanitation, and be grateful it's not Lactobacillus, Brett, acetobacter or the one that smells like poo.

[marc]

great advice folks

I appreciate that, will let ye know how i got on.

[Greg2013]

+1 Get it into the bottles FAST,make sure you prime with sugar correctly.You might just about save it but you have to do it now,as in this weekend.

I am a newbie so from my mistakes both past and continuing i have included a little advice below for future brews, not meant as a criticism,meant as a helping hand from one home brewer to another

Ok now since its a Coopers, no need for a heat belt in secondary,in fact no beer should have external heat in secondary,i have never had heat on a brew longer than five days max in cold weather, unless of course its one of them fancy Belgian ones(??). Bleach on its own,and i can't stress this enough,is not a sanitizer to the standard required for home brewing.

There are plenty sanitizers on the market for home brewing, i would advise Starsan,used correctly it will last for ages and it is enviromentally safe unlike bleach,you could use it around the kitchen counter top if you wanted to,bloody great stuff.Ask the lads or look on here for links to how to use it 

http://www.homebrewwest.ie/starsan-hb-236-ml-3417-p.asp

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I'd be a bit dubious about using a heat mat at all, the yeast that drops to the bottom of the fermenter won't thank you. I haven't checked the temperature of the heat mats but the idea that heat is applied from the bottom doesn't seem like s good idea, better to invest in a heat belt. This will keep your yeast healthier and ensure a better fermentation with plenty of CO2?

[Shanna]

Alternatively invest in a lagging jacket or in a pinch wrap it in a duvet.  The fermentation process is exothermic and will generally produce heat. If where the fermenter is cold insulating it can keep the temperature from falling too much. The other thing to consider is using a different yeast than that supplied with a kit. If you buy a different yeast that can tolerate lower temps then you could probably get rid of your heart pad altogether.

Last thing to suggest is to a chlorine based cleaner like vwp. Put four heaped table spoons &  fill your fermenter with hot water up to the very top. Completely immerse the lid and any other things that come in touch with your beer. Leave for 25 minutes and then repeat with your secondary. I follow this routine when I finish with brewing one beer and when I am transferring to a secondary. I give the secondary the first shot at the cleaner as is going to be used next.  I have a spare bucket for transfer/storage of the cleaner.  I would transfer the beer in to cleaned secondary container and then with the empty fermenter fill that with cleaning solution from the spare bucket. Everything to be left for use in the future should be put away clean and then recleaned/sanitised before use.

Hope this helps,  sorry to hear your about the infection. If the above does not shift it consider sending the fermenter to the recycling centre.

Shanna