Line of something around the beer bottle top

Hi Guys,

I read in the Charlie Papazian book that a line around the beer in the top of the bottle was a sure sign of bad beer. I've tasted one of the offending bottles, and it's sweet (I believe I bottled it too early) but it's not vinegary at all, just a bit fruity (which I attributed to the early bottling).

I was wondering if this is just good old yeast (it certainly is yeast colour), working at carbonating the beer and getting rid of that excess sugar?

Can anybody shed some light on this. Should I be worried?

Cheers, Adam!

You don't say how long it's been in the bottles (or anything about the beer), but if it tastes sweet I'm guessing it's been one week or less. But anyway if it doesn't taste bad and you think it's too early, just wait. Don't touch it for a week, then try one. Also, does every bottle have this yeast ring, or just some? If it does turn out to be an infection, it may be that only some of the bottles are infected.

As much as I love Charlie P., his laid back, informal style does lead him to make some broad generalizations, and this is one of them. I've had the same thing happen, and it freaked me out the first time, too. But from my experience several batches later, a ring around the bottle neck is definitely not a "sure sign" of bad beer.

While a ring around the bottle neck can be a sign of infection, I've had rings in my bottles that turned out to just be a mini-krausen ... after all, what goes on in your bottle is just a miniature version of what happens in the fermenter (yeast eating sugar and turning it into alcohol/CO2) so it makes sense that you might see a krausen in the bottle once in a while. I seem to see it more with bigger beers - maybe it's because there's more malt proteins and stuff left over in the beer by the time you bottle it?

If you bottled early, the yeast may not have been completely done, so there'd be more of a chance of seeing a krausen in your bottles as a sign of active fermentation. Depending on how early, you might get some overcarbonation or some bottle bombs; I'd probably be more concerned about that than infection, personally.

I agree with the previous poster - keep an eye on it, try one every week or so. It will continue conditioning in the bottle and may be delicious in a few weeks to months. Just be careful opening bottles if you have any reason to suspect overcarbonation.

And remember that Charlie Papazian says many things, but one is more important than all of them: RDWHAHB! (i.e., you definitely SHOULD NOT be worried )

@Captain Damage: The beer is a Munton's Trad Bitter kit with a Brewcraft enhancer. It's been in the bottles around 1-2 weeks. Virtually every bottle does.

@shawnbou: We have a bathroom with a tiled, wall to ceiling, walk in shower (not as posh as it sounds). This is where I keep my bottles for a period after bottling just in case of explosions!

Consider me not worrying, but it's a little early in the day for it!!!

Hi All, thanks for your responses. It turns out the time can cure anything. I've been enjoying this brew for a few weeks now. It was perfect, an old skool English style bitter like I used to order in the pubs back in the UK. I was worrying for nothing.

What you more than likely had was what papa charlie failed to mention and that was one of those elusive bottle krausens that happens quite a lot.

Carbing beer is similiar to fermentation...Yeast eats sugars and poops co2 and alchohol....Since ale yeasts are top fermenting, it works just like in your fermenter...Krauzens often get formed and then fall through to the bottom during the 3 week process... Some yeasts are more apt to do it more dramatically than others...and priming with dme sometimes makes it noticeable...

I actually have a theory that it happens all the time, but since a lot of us (except noobs, that is) just stick our bottles in a box, in a dark place and forget about them for 3 or more weeks, (instead of staring at them obsesively), we never notice it occuring.

But I've caught a few of them.