powdery looking

junkyard dawg · Post by **junkyard dawg** » Wed May 10, 2006 6:46 am

what in the world???

I took some of the mash from the recent oat/ rye whiskey and set it aside in the closet to preserve the yeast. When I went to get it, it had become covered with a layer of what sort of looks like a mold. Its white, powdery, dry, and spread over the entire surface. looks pretty cool, but what is it? Anyone seen this before? The yeast is safeale us 56 and bakers. When I put it in the bottle, I added some sugar and yeast nutrients (wyeast) and bubbled a little oxygen in there

pothead · Post by **pothead** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:09 am

I have seen it before. I had a grape wash do this. I ran it anyway, and the distilate smelled like nail-polish remover, so I dumped it all away. I haven't seen it since, but it was kinda cool lookin...but nasty

hornedrhodent · Post by **hornedrhodent** » Wed May 10, 2006 3:41 pm

It sounds like the stuff I used to get on home brewed beer occasionally - I've heard it called 'the white lady'. It occurred when I wasn't able to bottle the brew quickly after fermentation was complete in hot weather.

Improved sanitation and not leaving it more than a few days before bottling in hot weather solved the problem.

possum · Post by **possum** » Wed May 10, 2006 9:31 pm

I've seen what is called "flower" or "bloom" in wine....wine with these floaters tastes gross, and goes down the drain. I have only seen this in quite old bottles, with an impropper seal on the cork or screw.

Watershed · Post by **Watershed** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:44 pm

I've had it in a cherry wash - it's cause by some bacteria or other that converts ethanol to ethyl acetate. You can sometimes recover it by chucking in a few campden tablets, leaving for a week and then reinnoculating with yeast - it's probably not worth it for a spirit wash though.