Thin white layer on top, infection?

So a few weeks back I posted about my beer stinking up a storm after a month in primary. I racked to secondary and the smell died down significantly but this thin layer of white (looks like thin, solidified lard on top of water)!!!

I am freaking out. I am supposed to bottle this weekend but am wondering if I should even bother with it? I attached pictures let me know if any of you have had this before, and when bottled everything was fine.








I really hope I can bottle, I don't want to waste the beer

Yeah looks like you have something in there. Doesn't mean it's ruined though. Carefully pull a sample from under the skin and taste it. If it's nasty it's lost but if it taste fine even a little funky, you can still bottle it and drink it quickly.

Yeah, that's definitely got some bugs in it. What sort of style of beer is this? Have you taken a hydrometer sample? If you've still got fermentables in this, you can change the character with added bugs/yeast. If you taste it and it's too funky or weird, maybe add some sour bottle dregs, or other yeast/bacteria and let it sit.

I am making a Nut Brown Ale, used English Ale Yeast. I took the hydrometer sample when I first transferred the beer into secondary, it had not reached final gravity so I assume what you are saying is correct. I was planning on adding more yeast 3 days before bottling, wondering if I should do this now. I will taste it later today or tomorrow and take second hydrometer sample to see if anything has changed.

Why were you gonna add more yeast 3 days before bottling?

I added whole hops to the primary one time and got something similar. It was mold. Open it up and smell for stale moldy smell. On a brighter note, I transferred all but the top few inches into a keg and the beer came out ok. If I recall correctly, it did have a faint mold taste initially, but once cooled and carbonated, it was fine.

[Revvy] My recipe book told me to??? lol. I think the concept is add yeast three days before bottling to ensure carbonation in the bottles. Three days is supposed to give it enough time to make sure yeast is suspended in the beer before bottling.

rgarcia128 said:

[Revvy] My recipe book told me to??? lol. I think the concept is add yeast three days before bottling to ensure carbonation in the bottles. Three days is supposed to give it enough time to make sure yeast is suspended in the beer before bottling.

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You don't need to do that. If the beer's sat in secondary for like a year you might need to add more yeast BUT you just add some into your bucket when you are bottling. Not days before.

Just bottle normally.

Toss that better bottle, and anything else plastic that touched that wort. You don't want to cross contaminate any other batches.

I know it means throwing away about $50 worth of stuff, but it's not worth rolling the dice.

scottland said:

Toss that better bottle, and anything else plastic that touched that wort. You don't want to cross contaminate any other batches.

I know it means throwing away about $50 worth of stuff, but it's not worth rolling the dice.

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There's really no need to do that, a strong bleach solution will kill everything. I'd toss the hoses and get new because they're cheap but there's no reason to toss a better bottle.

dmckean44 said:

There's really no need to do that, a strong bleach solution will kill everything. I'd toss the hoses and get new because they're cheap but there's no reason to toss a better bottle.

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Yep. I'd bleach bomb the better bottle. I wouldn't toss it.

Or you could dedicate it and all that gear to brewing sours.

Revvy said:

Or you could dedicate it and all that gear to brewing sours.

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That's my vote. Or you could just clean it really well...

Yeah no need to use bleach, just give it a good oxy/PBW soak and clean followed by a nice soak in sanitizer. I've done that with buckets after infections and come out clean in following batches.

scottland said:

Toss that better bottle, and anything else plastic that touched that wort. You don't want to cross contaminate any other batches.

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Yah, no. I am a student brewer, meaning: I am broke ass hell! Tossing it out is not an option for me. If I had money to throw out maybe I would.

dmckean44 said:

There's really no need to do that, a strong bleach solution will kill everything. I'd toss the hoses and get new because they're cheap but there's no reason to toss a better bottle.

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Thanks I think I will try this and the other not throwing away methods

Revvy said:

Or you could dedicate it and all that gear to brewing sours.

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What is a brewing sour?

Andrewtherooster said:

If you taste it and it's too funky or weird, maybe add some sour bottle dregs, or other yeast/bacteria and let it sit.

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What are sour bottle dregs? What does it do?

rgarcia128 said:

What is a brewing sour?

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Sours are just that sour beers. Things like lambics. There's a whole section of the forum devoted to them. They are often really complex and funky beers.

rgarcia128 said:

What are sour bottle dregs? What does it do?

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Sour bottle dregs are the slug of stuff at the bottom of a sour beer. They contain Brett and other "bugs" that can eat sugars that standard beer yeast can't. The impart different flavors.

Orval is a popular beer to use the dregs in, as are the beers by Jolly Pumpkin.

The object would be to turn the beer into something still drinkable.

I'm a newbie to sours myself. A few of my brew buddies are into them now and brewing them and schooling me on them..I'm trying to get the guts to brew them myself/

This is a very good blog on sour beers, by one of our members- The Mad Fermentationist.

I don't know if they're in california, but you might want to see if there are any Jolly Pumpkin Beers out your way. And see if you like them.

Jollly Pumpkin Artisan Ales.

If there are, get a couple beers, drink them and if you like it, then you could just pitch the dregs into your fermenter, OR make a yeast starter and pitch the dregs into that and then jar it for later and start playing around.