Infected Starter?

[oog]

I made this starter a few days ago, actually it was an experiment to get yeast from Sierra Nevada bottles. It worked, the yeast multiplied rapidly and went through the wort pretty quickly. Then I saw this guy floating around. Any idea what it is? I've been brewing for about a year and have never seen this. It doesn't smell bad. Should I dump this? Is the yeast OK? Can I pour off the liquid, add new wort?

[barleyburps]

only one way to find out . . .I would go ahead and pitch it and see what comes of it. . . . .keep in mind that beer is something that is constantly replaceable. . . .

[corkybstewart]

How long before you brew? If it is infected, it'll have a nasty, stringy looking white layer covering the starter surface, it shouldn't take more than a day or 2. Keep an eye on it and see if anything else develops. If not, pour of the liquid and taste it-if it tastes like unhopped beer you're OK. If it tastes really nasty, acidic, or pungent I wouldn't use it.
How did you harvest the yeast from the bottle? Did you sterilize the lip of the bottle, or take any extra precautions? I can't talk bad here, when I make my Orvalled saison, I just pour the beer into a glass and the dregs directly into the carboy without doing anything at all to the bottle.

[barleyburps]

seriously. . . contamination is all really about percentages anyway. . .everybodies beer all over the world most likely has some amount of contamination. . . .as long as the desired yeast strain is able to take control of the end flavors, you're ok. .. . .

[markaberrant]

Still not sure why anyone would bother to harvest that little bit of yeast in a Sierra Nevada bottle... especially when that same yeast is readily available for purchase in liquid or dry forms.

[oog]

Thanks for the input, no emergency here, I have plenty of yeasts on hand.
I have been harvesting yeast successfully from my last few batches and really just wanted to see if this was possible. For the science of it . I took no precautions getting the yeast out of the SN bottles, the starter bottle/airlock were sterilized. Theres nothing nasty on the surface, I'll just watch it for a few days and maybe do the taste test. Thanks again

[beerking]

It is hard to tell from the picture, but it really looks like a clump of yeast to me.

[markaberrant]

Rule of thumb with any yeast starter is to smell it. If it smells off, don't use it, otherwise you are goood to go.

And I agree with the poster above me, it looks like a clump of yeast.

[oog]

smelled OK, tasted OK, pitched it last night and its bubblin away, looks like its gonna be OK, I'll update on this one in a few weeks :)

[belsonc]

Minor threadjack here...


Corky - I'm intrigued by your Orvalled saison... do you get enough yeast out of the bottle to ferment effectively?

[corkybstewart]

I use the dregs from 2 bottles. Once I aded the dregs to a starter but it didn't make the beer turn any faster. My method is simle-open bottle and pour lmost all of the Orval into a glass, swirl the rest to loosen the yeast and pour drectly into the carboy. 30 minutes later repeat. But be willing to wait a minimum of 3 months for it too be ready, and it seems to continue developing flavor in the keg. BTW I have separate kegs and a tap for these beers.

[markaberrant]

I did an Orvalled Saison this summer too... in fact I'll be cracking my first bottle of it later tonight. I stepped up 2 bottles woth of dregs a couple times, but only because my Orval bottles were about 18 months old ( I wasn't sure how viable the dregs were).

I had airlock activity for about 3 months, never got a full pellicle, but got some globby white crap on the surface, bottled after 4 months, tasted and smelled great.