I brewed a lager a while back and I'm not sure if it's infected or if I've just roused some yeast activity.
I am always very strict with my cleaning etc, and use soda crystals and then soak in a bleach solution, then lots of rinsing with clean water.
This lager didn't quite go down to it's final gravity before I went on holiday, but I had to put it in the fridge for lagering while I was away. It started at 1.050, and got down to about 1.017; It should have got to about 1.011 to 1.014 but just stopped before. (Edit: CORRECTION, I'm not sure what happened before but the definitive reading is 1.011...so, that's about spot on!)
It hasn't been clearing and part of it did freeze (only the top 2 cms), so I decided to raise the temperature, bottle, condition for a couple of weeks then chill for another few weeks to see if it might clear... or at least taste
ok.
I took it out of the fridge then checked it a few days later and it had a slight foam on top in places. It's quite thin, and doesn't seem to have got any worse, but only in the top of the fermenter (not in samples drawn from the tap) there is a slightly acidic smell.
So is it aceto-thingy, or is it just a bit of yeast activity from being moved from the fridge (and thus knocked a bit)???
I was thinking of bottling it anyway, BUT am I just wasting an evening when I could be drinking beer, and I should just pour it down the sink?
What does everyone think?
Cheers, Captain Buckfast.
PS: Here's a photo.
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