Peculiar Specks of White Film in Bottles. - Fruit Beer.

Hi, so I recently made up an all grain 6 gallon batch of herbal apricot ale that is now conditioning in bottles. All glassware was cleansed with proton glass cleaner and One-step, all other equipment was sanitized with solely One-step. However, I have noticed what appears to be some sort of white film floating at the top of the bottles, it is not hairy or cloudy but resembles what i describe as minisicule shreds of white plastic grocery bags. The film does not coat the entire surface at the top but roughly 20 percent of the surface and it tends to adhere to the side of the glass. I speculate that considering this is a fruit beer it may possibly be resident gelatin.

Brewing Procedure (JUNE 12th):

GRAIN - - -

11# 2-Row
1# Munich Malt
.5# Honey Malt
.25# Crystal 60

HOPS - - -

.25 oz Warrior @ 60 mins.
1 oz Ahtanum @ 20 mins.
1 oz Ahtanum @ 5 mins

FRESH HERBS (Picked the day of) - - -

2 oz rhubarb
4 oz Rose Petals (Rosa Nutkana)
4 oz Sheep Sorrel (Slight acidic and lemon like flavor)
0.5 oz Rosemary

Mashed at 155F for one hour.

Vorlaufed for clarity

Boiled for one hour

.25 oz Warrior - Rose Petals - Sheep Sorrel - Rosemary @ 60 mins.
1 oz Ahtanum - Whirfloc T @ 20 mins.
1 oz Ahtanum - Rhubarb @ 5 mins

Cooled to pitching temperature - Wyeast 1968 -
Initial Gravity Reading 1.051 (JUNE 12th)

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JUNE 27th

TRANSFERED TO SECONDARY FERM.

5lbs of Apricot Halves added to carboy.

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JULY 16th

TRANSFERED TO TERTIARY FERM.

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SEPTEMBER 1st


RACKED INTO BOTTLES (4.2 oz corn Priming Sugar)
FINAL GRAVITY 1.010

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ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Check out the pictures below.
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Hrm...a few questions:

-Did this stuff appear only after bottling or did you notice it in the primary/secondary?

-What was your procedure for adding the apricots? I'm no expert on fruit beers, but if they were simply tossed into your secondary & you then racked on top, there's a high probability of infection coming from the apricots (though I haven't seen an infection that ever looked like this...could easily be congealing apricot fibers.)

-Crack one open & see how the smell/look/flavor is. Anything off-kilter there?

could be pulp coming together from the apricot or small particals or pollen from the herbs or natural oils from the fruit anything like that in the secondary

I have had a few batches that had some stuff like this in it. My most recent was a pumpkin ale. It almost looked like clumps of onion skin or something. Either way, it was only when it was young in the bottle (first 10 days or so). After that it all dropped, the beer cleared up and it is delicious. Hopefully yours yields the same result.

I simply pitched the apricots into secondary, note that they were pasteurized and I drained the syrup. I cracked one open and didn't smell anything off, It tasted great besides being a bit yeasty( expected for a beer so early in bottle conditioning) and uncarbonated.

chaitobar said:

I simply pitched the apricots into secondary, note that they were pasteurized and I drained the syrup. I cracked one open and didn't smell anything off, It tasted great besides being a bit yeasty( expected for a beer so early in bottle conditioning) and uncarbonated.

Click to expand...

In that case, I wouldn't worry too much. After zooming in several times, it seems to be a small amount of fibrous pulp coming from the apricots.

Hi, did that white film ever clear? I have what appears to be the same stuff, only it's not a fruit beer, nor all-grain -- mine is an IPA from extract with steeped grains. And mine is still in the secondary - a Better Bottle (first time I used it, rinsed, and then sanitized with One-Step). I wonder whether it has to do with the One-Step?

I was going to bottle last night, and when I saw this, I didn't.

So, chaitobar, did that film clear?

Thanks,
RevZen

well, first of all you don't sanitize with one step, its good for cleaning and removing gunk deposits. And about whether or not it cleared, it did. I just would give me cases of bottles a shake every now and then to help it sink. Ill be drinking it here in a week or two once it carbs up.