Is this beer contaminated?

Question

Been brewing for some years now and never had a batch go bad. But after I bottled my last brew there was a black layer on the side of the brew bucket(see picture). This layer was below the surface line of the brew when it was fermenting. It seems like there is some at the bottom of the brew bucket to.

We didn't see anything while bottling, only an hour after when we had time to clean did we notice it. Far fetched but maybe it sprouted during that time? Was fermenting with Tormodgard kveik I bought online so thinking that might be a factor.

Anybody know if its safe to drink? We had some samples before we saw the layer and it tasted fine, fruity with a maybe a little funk. Threw the fermented bucket away and the yeast i collected from the bottom.

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Not sure why this question hasn't been answered yet after 3 months, but here goes. I'm assuming the beer hasn't killed you yet... :-)

The combination of black residue in the fermenter and what you describe as "a little funk" almost has to be a mold infection, although it could be bacterial in nature as well. I can see no way for the Kveik yeast (or any other yeast including wild airborne strains) to produce these effects. The only other possibility that comes to mind is that this is some sort of sediment from the wort if you used a lot of very dark, friable grain (e.g. roasted barley) but this is unlikely to stick to the fermenter that way and would in all probability simply end up in the regular trub.

You've had 3 months to let the beer mature and the infection to get out of hand. By now it should be clear if the beer has gone off due to contamination or not. So what's the verdict?