I may have had an infection, but...

This past Sunday I bottled a BlackberryAle which was a total experiment. I didn't follaw any recipe, I just put together a very simple beer ,and added some fresh Blackberry puree into the secondary. It had a nice steady secondary fermentation. I racked it to a tertiary where it sat for about 7 days. I always try to be as sanitary as possible when racking, I use StarSan. When I opened the lid to the tertiary, I thought it smelled a little sour, not horrid but slightly sour. I also noticed a very slight film on top of the beer, almost like an oil slick. This "film" was not across the entire top of the beer and could only be seen when looking at the right angle while the light was reflecting it. The beer tasted okay (obviously green, and it finished drier than I hoped).

So, is the "film" an infection, or does fruit lend something to the beer that would be similar to what I describe?

I have never had an infection to date, so I really don't know what to look for.

ive had that film "oil" look to a irsh red before..........no infection.

You would have known when you tasted it if it was infected.

I've gotten that on a few batches before and they turned out fine! Give it some time in the bottle and RDWHAHB!

I've had a slightly sour taste to all the beers I've tried to make with "green" or "fresh" fruit/plant ingredients, don't worry, if it's like mine, it will get worst before it gets better.

COLObrewer said:

I've had a slightly sour taste to all the beers I've tried to make with "green" or "fresh" fruit/plant ingredients, don't worry, if it's like mine, it will get worst before it gets better.

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Yeah, the fruit was obvious in the flavor, I added no sweetener whatsoever, I toyed with the idea of adding some lactose, but I didn't have any on hand so went ahead and bottled without it. I guess one could say it had a bit of pucker to it, kinda like fruit that wasn't quite ripe.

I have a feeling that bottle conditioning for this beer is gonna take some extra time.

Thanks for all of your feedback!