What do you think? Infected? It doesn't look pretty, that's for sure. Lessons learned: don't let the cranberries float? Any chance i can maybe skim the top and hope to salvage the bulk of the batch, or is this a lost cause?
Sorry, I can't really get a better pic through the glass. I haven't tasted it yet, but it seems like there's a pretty substantial white mold growth concentrated near the center of the berries. Though honestly, it doesn't smell too bad.
Maybe a closer picture of the top of the beer. Cranberries do contain sugar so it might just be another sacc fermentation but the picture is too small for me to tell on my laptop.
I think I'm going to try and bottle it up and just see what happens. This was an "experimental" batch anyway, so I'm not crying if I have to dump it.
If it's finished fermenting and it tastes good, then rack it into a new carboy with some potassium sorbate & a couple crushed campden tablets. You'll kill whatever might be growing. If you're kegging then you're good to go. If you're bottle conditioning, you'll want to let it sit a while longer then add some yeast at bottling time.
I didn't boil them. I "steamed" them for a few minutes in a double boiler, keeping the temp at or below 160F. And yes, I froze them before steaming them too.
Looks a lot like a forming pellicle around the fruit. My vote is infection. What kind of brew? If it's not one that some sour and/or funk would favor, I'd follow leedorhams advice and try to kill it. Or split half off trying not to disturb the top layer. I definitely would be hesitant to bottle with an infection. Potential bombs. Where's the gravity at? How long has this been going?
if you steamed them for long enough, you probably pasteurized them and this should not be contamination, not from the fruit anyway. adding fruit to a beer will cause it go undergo another fermentation cycle. give it a 2-3 weeks and taste it. dont bottle early or else the sugars in the fruit will continue to ferment in the bottles and youll have a collection of bottle bombs. definitely dont dump it. if the belgians dumped every fruit beer they made that got contaminated, the world would have been robbed of lambics for hundreds of years.
It was kind of just an experimental brew I was trying, with a vaguely ESBish base, and only 1lb. cranberries in an attempt for a more subtle fruit taste. It's been in the secondary with the berries for about 2-3 weeks now. Maybe I'll do as suggested and rerack it with the potassium sorbate. Speaking of which: how much to use for a 5 gallon batch?
Looks like it's infected. Give it a taste. If it's ok, you might as well bottle and drink it as soon as you can. Infections rarely ever taste better with age.
Ok guys, thanks for the advice. It smells fine, and tastes ok. I think I am going to bottle it up and just hope for the best. I'll keep myself prepared in case of bottle bombs.
I will go against the grain and say I do not see a single thing to worry about in that picture. I would not do/change anything based on that picture.
