Infected? what do you think?

[vacant]

My son just emailed a pic of his latest kit which he's worried about. There little circles of mould so I suggested he try a bit and if it's vinegar he'll know and it won't kill him. I forgot to ask when he bottled it but probably a few days ago. He's a student so sanitisation probably not the best

[stevezx7r]

It could be that it's not finished fermenting and the bubbles at the top are simply yeast doing it's thing.

Your right on the tasting thing though, if it's infected he probably won't get past the smell

[vacant]

I'll pass that on thanks

[vacant]

Well, forget the possible infection, it fermented in spades

[burgo]

I leave an inch headspace in my bottles, are we saying that no headspace is the optimum and best practice ?

[vacant]

An inch is what I leave in one litre PET bottles, but they have a conical top third. Those 2 litre bottles widen out more quickly from the cap so would need a bit less I guess.

[brysie]

I leave an inch headspace in my bottles, are we saying that no headspace is the optimum and best practice ?

no burgo, you have to leave a bit of room, but those bottles in the photo had 3 or 4 inches of empty bottle [not just neck.]
if you use a bottling stick, you can fill almost to the brim before you stop. then when you lower the bottle it leaves a perfect amount of space
for excess gas to build up in.

[burgo]

Yeah, I noticed that the gap was quite big in the picture. I only fill mine up to an inch from the top as that is how commerical beers are bottled. I did not know which was the tried and tested way and thought I might be storing myself up problems that's all. Cheers for another good bit of advice.

[Benson_JV]

Even if it is infected, your son could sell it onto his student friends, i'm sure most of them wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the stuff they drink and infected ale

[rollin danny]

steve hit the nail on the head . nothing wrong with it apart from its been bottled too early.Its a learning curve.