Expert: John Snyder - 12/21/2007

Question
How do you know if you got a bacteria infection. My pale ale started to ferment.After 1 day stoped.I swirled the bucket after 2 days nothing happend.So I took a reading.OG was 1058 the was 1030.I repitched more yeast.2 days later nothing happend.It doesn`t smell bad or taste bad.I recultured yeast (white labs wlp001)it was fresh.How can I save it? Thank`s Bill.


Answer
By taste,sour or buttery tasting.By your description,it appears your problem was a big temperature variation,in the 1st day,that dropped the yeast out of solution.What was your wort temp,when you added the yeast,and what was the ambient temp of your bucket(fermenter) during the 1st days.I hate to tell you this,but trying to save that brew now,will only wind up getting dumped later in the process.If you can give me some temps you had,then I can narrow,other possibilities in or out