cimirie
Well-Known Member
So, I've spent the past two months on my most complex beer-brewing journey ever. I did a cereal mash for the first time and used a my first sour mashing technique in the same beer. Add to that same brew, one month on some fruit, and I've got a ton of time and excitement tied up in this one sweet/sour peach beer. I'd hate to think of it all going to crap.
After having it in secondary on fruit for a month, I transferred it to tertiary yesterday. Actually, I transferred it to a sanitized holding bucket, cleaned out the carboy, sanitized the carboy, and returned the beer to the original carboy. This evening, I checked in on my project only to notice two things 1) my airlock had had a "suck back" and almost all of the sanitized water inside of it was gone and 2) I had a smooth, thin, off-white film on the surface of the beer. What's odd is that I used the exact same equipment on the sister brew (only sitting on berries for the same time period) and there is no film there.
So A) do I have an infection or is this yet another odd at first but normal occurances in beer making?
B) Since this is supposed to be a sour beer to begin with, I'm assuming I'll be OK to bottle. Should I increase my tertiary time to let this "infection" run it's course before then?
C) Why, oh why did this have to happen to THIS batch? The batch I've been planning for the better part of a year (had to wait until fresh Georgia peach season!)
PS My digital camera is on the fritz, btw and can't take pics or else I would post a look-see.
After having it in secondary on fruit for a month, I transferred it to tertiary yesterday. Actually, I transferred it to a sanitized holding bucket, cleaned out the carboy, sanitized the carboy, and returned the beer to the original carboy. This evening, I checked in on my project only to notice two things 1) my airlock had had a "suck back" and almost all of the sanitized water inside of it was gone and 2) I had a smooth, thin, off-white film on the surface of the beer. What's odd is that I used the exact same equipment on the sister brew (only sitting on berries for the same time period) and there is no film there.
So A) do I have an infection or is this yet another odd at first but normal occurances in beer making?
B) Since this is supposed to be a sour beer to begin with, I'm assuming I'll be OK to bottle. Should I increase my tertiary time to let this "infection" run it's course before then?
C) Why, oh why did this have to happen to THIS batch? The batch I've been planning for the better part of a year (had to wait until fresh Georgia peach season!)
PS My digital camera is on the fritz, btw and can't take pics or else I would post a look-see.