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Is this an infection?

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silverfirexz

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Sep 13, 2010
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I've brewed probably ten batches and I've never had an infection. I know what some infections look like, but I don't know if what I'm seeing in this batch is normal or the beginnings of an infection.

It's a 1 gallon BOMM that has just finished fermenting. I racked it to secondary last night and noticed a bunch of white dust-looking particles on the surface of the mead. The must smells yeasty and boozy, more or less like a normal freshly fermented mead. It has a very slight astringent, sour note to it. It tastes yeasty and beery with a very, very slight sour note, which might just be it's dryness, to be honest. It's so faint that I think it might just be how this honey tastes dry.

Anyway, the gravity last night was .999, original gravity was 1.093, so it's pretty well done fermenting, based in typical BOMM behavior.

Here are a couple pics:

0c68d44a2e9892a68ca6820d1427b537.jpg
fcbc657830df6459dd51fe80877c9b42.jpg
 
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silverfirexz

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 13, 2010
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Chicago
Awesome. That's what I was hoping, since it wasn't really behaving like an infection.

Re: headspace, taken care of now - got some rose hips soaking in it now. Wanted to take a clear picture of the problem before I added the rose hips. Thanks again!

I'll probably hit it with some K-meta just to be safe but I'm pretty sure it's just yeast floaters.
 
joemirando

joemirando

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I don't like to generalize, but usually bacterial infections cluster into large, discrete colonies, I think. Some of the more accommodating ones also add color to announce their presence. Chevette Girl's axiom also holds true most of the time: If it tastes good and smells good, it probably IS good.
 
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Zem

Got Mead? Patron
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Sep 14, 2005
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Not to hijack but I've got an infection question myself

my ob yeast test all had a thin layer that was slightly translucent in the upper half inch or so. I assumed it was infection, I can not tell if it had any negative effects in flavor or aroma, nothing significant for certain. I wish I'd photographed it before I racked but my phone sucks and the camera had already been packed.

Anyone know?
 
Chevette Girl

Chevette Girl

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Wolfie, did it look like a skin that wrinkled and went flaky when you jiggled things, or did it just disperse and then collect near the surface again? If it's the first, it might be an infection, if it's the second, I don't know what it is but I get that sometimes too, doesn't seem to hurt anything.
 
Chevette Girl

Chevette Girl

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I've had a few of those, if you catch it early enough it doesn't seem to affect the taste.
 
Z

Zem

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Hey! uh... I'm back

Thanks for the reply Skunkboy and Chevette

I hit them with sulfite and sorbate and there is no sign of recurrence so I think I'm basically out of the woods with that one. Is there a good resource with pictures and descriptors of common infections? I searched high and low, but maybe my google foo is just not up to snuff.

Pellicle, I did not know that word. No it didn't have a skin, that pellicle is something I've definitely seen before in brews that were neglected and I've racked under it and hit with sulfites / sorbate with good results. This was different, the skin wasn't there, it was just sort of a translucent layer in the top 1/4 - 1/2 inch (rather than strictly on the surface)

/Z
 
Z

Zem

Got Mead? Patron
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Sep 14, 2005
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ok so once I'd posted I found this on homebrewtalk which is a pretty good and very long thread of contamination and and things people thought was contamination. I recommend to anyone curious or worried about infection/contamination on your brew.
 
skunkboy

skunkboy

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May 30, 2005
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Yeah, that thread has some "nice" pictures. Nobody has posted definitive pictures of what a pellicle or other issues look, like. Guess because they all very by size, and infection rate?
 
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