Film on beer?

Dougan · 01-10-2009, 09:04 PM

I brewed a beer and all seemed well when i racked to secondary but now i'm getting ready to bottle and there's a strange white film on top of the beer. You guys think I'm infected? What do you think I should do? It doesn't seem to smell abnormal.

**Revvy** · 01-10-2009, 09:15 PM

How soon after you pitched you yeast did you rack to secondary? I think you racked too soon and you you have fermentation still going on and it is making a krauzen...and I definitely would not even consider bottling unless you want bottle bombs.

Did you use your hydrometer to tell you when to move it to secondary? DId you take 2 readings over three days to see if the gravity was staying the same?

If I'm right and you racked too soon...then I would leave it alone for at least 2 weeks...

Dougan · 01-10-2009, 09:45 PM

yeah i would worry about that but i left it for a couple weeks before racking because fermentation was a bit slow. Gravity now is my expected FG.

**Yooper** · 01-10-2009, 09:48 PM

It sounds like mold growing on the top. You'll probably just fine with gently racking out from under the mold, leaving all that white stuff behind.

**Revvy** · 01-10-2009, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dougan

yeah i would worry about that but i left it for a couple weeks before racking because fermentation was a bit slow. Gravity now is my expected OG.

I've still seen krauzens form after racking even if it's been a couple weeks in ther primary before racking...just the act of agitating the beer kicks the yeasties into gear...The other normal film I have seen happens druing dry hopping...the oil from the hops trap rising co2 and forms a scary looking, but still normal film. Were you dry hopping?

Did you have a rise in temperature? That could kick the yeasts a bit as well.

Take some pics so we can see it. Honestly without good pics anything anyone here says will just be conjecture...

Dougan · 01-10-2009, 10:54 PM

Dougan · 01-10-2009, 10:55 PM

the foam's kind of everywhere because of me moving it. It was originally just a small film on the very top.

Dougan · 01-10-2009, 11:10 PM

**Revvy** · 01-11-2009, 12:34 AM

From that angle to me it just looks like fizzy yeast colonies that sometimes get kicked up from the bottom with the co2...they come to the surface and fizz around a bit...But like I said, it really is hard to tell...

If it tastes and smells fine..then rack under it at bottling time...

Dougan · 01-12-2009, 02:27 AM

I can see why you think that by the picture-- it's not really that great of a picture, though. The film itself looks a lot like pictures of infected batches I've seen when I googled it. I definitely don't know what I'm talking about but just based on the pictures I've seen I really think it's the same thing as what I saw in those pictures.

I racked under the film into my bottling bucket and tasted a sample. It tasted as I expected the batch to turn out when I brewed it. So I bottled it with my normal bottling sugar... and put all the bottles in a plastic bag and put that plastic bag in a plastic bin which now resides in my bathroom

. We'll see how it turns out. Thank you for the input guys.