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Bled rate just increased..have I got an infection?

magnethead

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Hi Guys,
I just made my first all-grain stout, a beamish clone. After 3 days of good fermentation the bubbling on the air lock had slowed down to roughly every 2mins...I decided to do a gravity check just for curiosity.
When I woke this morning I noticed the bubbling had increased to roughly every minute now :( Can the bled rate vary after the initial vigorous phase? I thought this was a gradual scale always moving towards less and less bubbling?

To do the gravity test, I sterilised a 10" piece of siphon tubing and sucked the stout out of my demijohn  ::), trying not to suck it into my mouth and then released it into the hydrometer jar....When I was finished I returned the stout to the demijohn. I realise that this wasn't exactly the cleverest way of taking a reading, but it's not Xmas yet and they're not selling Turkey basters in the local supermarket.

Is there a good chance I transferred some bacteria from my mouth into the demijohn?  :'( The surface of the stout looks good and clean, It has cleared nicely with just a few small white clumps of yeast waiting to fall.


Does a new krausen develop with an infection?

Thanks for any input  :p
 
1st off, when you take a sample for hydrometer reading, drink it or toss it, never put it back. I think you already understand that anyway -- I'm just saying. Hydrometer samples have a one-way trip out of the fermenter.

After reading what I have read... anything can happen with a fermentation. Something can cause the yeast to pause (or shock), reacclimatize and then start up again. I've had a lot of weird looking krausen, and many odd curiosities. Every beer tasted fine and turned out good.

After reading/listening to old-fart brewers, I have gotten into the habit of not questioning the quality of anything until it has been bottled or kegged for several weeks. Airlock activity can be misleading, hydrometer reading are only good for two things (IMHO) -- Satisfying your curiosity on how much alcohol is in your brew and assuring that fermentation is done so that bottles don't explode.

Just saying that this hobby has taught me one thing. The less hurry I am in, the less worries I have. Never dump anything. It's never bad beer until the seasons have changed at least twice. My gut tells me that your brew is fine.

Also, though I have never had to work an infection myself (yet), an infection does not always "end" the beer. I've heard/read many folks just siphoned off underneath the surface of the crazy stuff and the beer was still fine.

I hope this helped even though I did not actually answer your question.
 
Is there a good chance I transferred some bacteria from my mouth into the demijohn?

You are prolly fine.

I tried an experiment once with a filthy  un-brushed mouth. I took a good hefty swig of a bottle I was about to cap.
I swished the beer around in my mouth really well  to make it as gross as I could and spit it back into the bottle then capped the sucker and set it aside to carbonate.

A few weeks later I opened it.
It was only a little off.

Whether time would have cleaned it up, left it the same,  or turned the bottle toxic I will never know.


 
Thanks for the support guys,
THe gravity when I did this was 1.014 (@3 days) and when I went to bottle from the Primary @ 11days it was 1.012 and still making the odd bubbling sound. I tasted a sample and it was good!! no off flavours so I'm looking forward to a nice beer  ;D

On a similar note, I went to make a Franciskanner Weisbeer clone, same Wort with 2 different yeasts. A Barvarian Wheat yeast and a Weihenstephan Weizen yeast (which is meant to be more banana--y)

The Weihenstephan was put into a sterilized pint glass in the same wort as the bavarian but nothing happened at all, temp was good, the bavarian took off no problem but there was a sharp vinegar smell off it, due to the fact that I'm a Newbie and hadn't a clue what I was doing, I threw it in anyway and hoped for the best, nothing happened for 3 days so I got another new pack and put that in and the fermentation kicked off.

I bottled 2 weeks later, but the Weihenstephan didn't taste sweet like the bavarian, It had a sharp vinegar taste off it. Have I wrecked that batch by throwing dead crap yeast into it? How does this happen..Those Wyeast packs are so well manufactured, they look bulletproof!!


BadWyeastpack2.jpg


BadWyeastpack1.jpg
 
Okay then... vinegar smell hugh? I'm stumped and useless on this one. 
Maybe you just taught me a lesson: Always have a backup of yeast in the fridge and never use yeast if you think it smells/acts abnormal.
Call in the big guns on this one, we can learn some more together. Any experts out there to answer this???? ???

I'm glad your othe batch seems OK!
 
magnethead said:
The Weihenstephan was put into a sterilized pint glass in the same wort as the bavarian but nothing happened at all, temp was good, the bavarian took off no problem but there was a sharp vinegar smell off it, due to the fact that I'm a Newbie and hadn't a clue what I was doing, I threw it in anyway and hoped for the best, nothing happened for 3 days so I got another new pack and put that in and the fermentation kicked off.

I am unsure your purpose of putting each yeast into these glasses.........regardless, if it smelled bad and like vinegar right away, then it's possible it was handled poorly during transit.  The well-sealed package does not prevent high heat or freezing temps from ruining the yeast. 

If these were meant to be starters, you may want to use sealed vessels for starters.  If no starters were created, you could pour straight into the fermenter, but your experience with the ruined one demonstrates the need to do a starter even if the batch size and gravity indicate you may not need one.  It's usually safer to test the liquid yeast and verify it is healthy before brew day, even if you do a very small starter.
 
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