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Possible Contamination???

bobo1898

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Made a starter with Wyeast 1318 and dregs from a can of Heady Topper. Fermented a batch of beer out--verified it hit final gravity 5 days apart. Racked into a keg with hops. After 24 hours in the fridge (without gas), fined with gelatin. Waited 24 hours before starting to carb up. Hit 30 PSI for 36 hours, then reduced to 12 PSI for 4 or 5 days. Beer is overcarbed and cloudy.

I've used this carbonation method many times before and have never been overcarbed. It's been suggested to me that I may fall into the contamination category since fermentation was already reached.

I take precautionary steps when it comes to sanitation. Even when I added gelatin, the bowl got sanitized and I sprayed the top of the keg before opening to add the gelatin. Every step of the way was meticulous. Except one. I didn't spray the can of Heady Topper when I added the dregs. In the rush of things, it completely slipped my mind.

Could an 8% ABV Heady Topper be the culprit?

Of my method, two new processes were introduced. This was the dregs in the starter and adding the gelatin. And I don't think I added the gelatin wrong. I zapped 1/2 cup cold water in the microwave in 7 second bursts until I hit 155-160. Then I added 1/2 tsp gelatin and stirred till it was dissolved. The 155 degree gelatin solution was added to 38 degree beer (5 gallon batch).

The beer doesn't seem to have any off-characteristics.
 
generally, extra dry hopping can produce cloudiness. Without your recipe it would be hard to determine the cause of the cloudiness... often when fining with gelatin (if you haven't done this before) the first few liters of beer are... well... gelatin.

as far as potential contamination, who knows. Whats the gravity? 12 psi is 12 psi.

"dregs" from a can of beer added to a yeast starter is likely to do very little, as the small amount of yeast that may be alive will be beaten out by the healthy yeast from the smack pack. Not to mention we have no idea if heady topper is pasteurized?

so, your two issues- overcarbonated: check gravity, should be the same as it was before you kegged. this will determine if there was some form of contamination (or at least if fermentation wasn't actually finished when you kegged)

Cloudy: provide the recipe(preferably in .bsmx), many beers are cloudy my nature. even when fined with gelatin.
 
BSMX is attached. There were a lot of hops. Some were added during fermentation (3 days). And some were added in the keg (0 days). The cloudiness could be explained by the hops, especially since some of them were during fermentation.

The first few liters shouldn't have been gelatin because I have a clear beer draught system, so it's pulling from the top of the keg. I don't get the bottom of the keg until I finish the keg.

Gravity finished at 1.012. Still there, but it has been cold in the fridge.

Again, it tastes good. My concern is, if it's contaminated, bottle bombs. I typically bottle from the keg with a counter pressure filler. I suppose I should see where it stands in a week?
 

Attachments

  • Medusa_IPA.bsmx
    38.6 KB · Views: 171
best and simplest bet is to check gravity. if it was contaminated the gravity will be lower than the fg was when you kegged it.
 
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