Mold on barley mash

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850stealth
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Mold on barley mash

Post by 850stealth »

So I made 2 x 50liter mashes on April 1st, I checked on them a few times and all was good. Today I went to take a reading and one still had the grain on top and bubbling away slowly, the other had all grain dropped out and was covered with a thin white mold. I'm thinking I just need to dump this and take the loss but the reading is still good and it doesn't smell horrible. Pics attached. Never had one turn like this on me. Maris otter and honey gambrinus malt. I tried to attach pics but not sure how. No matter what I do it says file to large.
tiramisu
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Re: Mold on barley mash

Post by tiramisu »

No pics attached.
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NZChris
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Re: Mold on barley mash

Post by NZChris »

Sounds like Lacto., I've never let that stop me running anything.
850stealth
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Re: Mold on barley mash

Post by 850stealth »

20210406_174901.jpg
850stealth
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Re: Mold on barley mash

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20210406_175107.jpg
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Demy
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Re: Mold on barley mash

Post by Demy »

Do not throw away, try to distill the same, sometimes you will be amazed to get good things from "suspicious" ferments. If the FG allows it, distil.
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still_stirrin
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Re: Mold on barley mash

Post by still_stirrin »

850stealth wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 1:06 pm...the other...was covered with a thin white mold.
Probably not really a “mold”. More likely, a bacterial pellicle, from lacto-bacillus. This will sour the mash but will add a nice “signature flavor” once it’s distilled.
850stealth wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 1:06 pm...I'm thinking I just need to dump this and take the loss but the reading is still good and it doesn't smell horrible...
I suggest waiting a while until it has finished fermenting. And then run it. In the end, you might just like it. Sometimes “mistakes” turn out nice.
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850stealth
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Re: Mold on barley mash

Post by 850stealth »

Ok well this is better news than I was expecting. I think I'll strain it off tomorrow and let it all settle out then run. I'll be combining 3 runs to fill a 5 gallon barrel.
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Demy
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Re: Mold on barley mash

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Now I see the images, it seems an infection from "Candida Mycoderma" which is also common on wines. I believe your fermentation has been completed for a long time. Distill this as soon as possible
850stealth
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Re: Mold on barley mash

Post by 850stealth »

Demy wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 1:27 pm Now I see the images, it seems an infection from "Candida Mycoderma" which is also common on wines. I believe your fermentation has been completed for a long time. Distill this as soon as possible
it's strange for it to be done so fast. The one beside it is still going. Either way I strained it off and now it's settling and I'll possibly get a chance to run it tomorrow night.
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8Ball
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Re: Mold on barley mash

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Run it. I’m interested in how it works out for you. Did you do 50/50 Maris Otter & GHM?
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850stealth
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Re: Mold on barley mash

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8Ball wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 3:05 pm Run it. I’m interested in how it works out for you. Did you do 50/50 Maris Otter & GHM?
hopefully it will settle out by tomorrow night and I can run it. I did a 75% maris otter and a 25% honey malt. The wash was much darker than the previous 2 row I had made
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8Ball
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Re: Mold on barley mash

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850stealth wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 3:08 pm
8Ball wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 3:05 pm Run it. I’m interested in how it works out for you. Did you do 50/50 Maris Otter & GHM?
hopefully it will settle out by tomorrow night and I can run it. I did a 75% maris otter and a 25% honey malt. The wash was much darker than the previous 2 row I had made
Man, thats a lot of honey malt. I bet it will be sweet. I’m using 3% honey malt and the sweetness carries over nice. Looking forward to your updates.
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850stealth
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Re: Mold on barley mash

Post by 850stealth »

8Ball wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 6:11 pm
850stealth wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 3:08 pm
8Ball wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 3:05 pm Run it. I’m interested in how it works out for you. Did you do 50/50 Maris Otter & GHM?
hopefully it will settle out by tomorrow night and I can run it. I did a 75% maris otter and a 25% honey malt. The wash was much darker than the previous 2 row I had made
Man, thats a lot of honey malt. I bet it will be sweet. I’m using 3% honey malt and the sweetness carries over nice. Looking forward to your updates.
I will get a chance to run this tonight, it settled out nice last night in the cold temps. I just don't have anything to compare it to taste wise. I've never used these grains, all I really used was 2 row and that was a year ago.
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Demy
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Re: Mold on barley mash

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I'm sure you'll get a good product. While in homemade beer it would be a failure, in distillation the fermentation of yeasts and indigenous bacteria can create a favorable aromatic profile.
850stealth
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Re: Mold on barley mash

Post by 850stealth »

I'm currently heating it up now, hopefully it turns into something good. My other one that's now ready also has the same thing starting on top and the cap just dropped last night. I've never seen this before. I'll need to run that one asap too, but at least it's moved to a cold area.
850stealth
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Re: Mold on barley mash

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Well I started running it last night and tan into all kinds of issues. I was running 2 pates and all was good and coming off at at 70% ABV. Then the power went out so I lost both pumps but heat stayed on because I use propane, I got the generator going and went to restart and the pump for my dephlegmator failed so I had to go into a stripping mode. I have 2 more mashes to run so I think I'll just strip the next one and then get a new pump and on the last one I'll dump all the low wines into it and run 2 plates for the final spirit run. The stuff I ran last night smelled great until the power went out then everything after that recovery just smelled like tails.
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