Mold Growing on the Surface of My Beer ?

What do you do if you find mold growing on the surface of your home-brewed beer? This is an easy one...toss it.

Let's talk a little bit about how beer is made...

When you brew your wort, you are creating a rich environment for yeast to grow and ferment, and in turn, produce alcohol. This same rich environment for your brewing yeast is also a perfect environment for any airborne yeasts, mold spores or bacteria.

If your brewing environment is not as sterile as you can possibly make it, the chances of a wayward organism overtaking the yeast is high. The results can be varied, but include the following home beer making problems: ...

• Beer that doesn't ferment properly
• Beer that turns into vinegar
• Mold growing on the surface of your beer

There is only one (sad) solution in each of these cases, and that is to toss the beer, resterilize everything and start over. Both Mr. Beer and Coopers sell beer brewing sanitizer that can make the process of sterilizing your equipment easy and painless!

And impecible cleansing is the single most important part of home beer making!