Infection?

I inspired my friend to try homebrewing, and this is his first batch. I've never seen anything like it so I assume it's an infection. If anyone knows what it is specifically, I'd love to hear it.

Picture taken while looking down the neck of the carboy:

Believe it or not, but I think your beer is fine. I get those pellicles from time to time and its never been bad. Look closely at it and see if it's just a thin film over the top of the beer that's bunched up. It may have bubbles in it from CO2 or yeast coming up from below. Smell it, and if it smells fine, take a sample and taste it.

If it has furries on top or streamers running down into the carboy, dump it. Otherwise you might as well sample it and see what it tastes like. It won't kill you.

He says that if you look at it from the side, the layer is about a quarter inch thick. I had him gently knock on the side to disturb it a bit and he said it now looks like a big layer of thick powder floating on top. I'm wondering if it's just yeast, but he says it only started this in the past couple days. It's been in the secondary for about 3 weeks.

Gonna see what I can do about having him taste it. (Sorry for all the second-hand stuff, but he's currently without internet and called to ask me what I thought)

If it's as you describe it, it's not the same as the pellicle that I've gotten. A quarter inch thick sounds like an infection to me, but I've not experienced that first hand. After three weeks fermentation is finished and the yeast is generally on the bottom of the carboy. I don't think it's going to be good news for your friend but I'll let some others comment on the issue as well.

id say infection but that doesnt nessesarily mean bad beer. If it doesnt smell badly, take a gravity reading and see where its at and post back. Try to disturb as little of the pellicle in the process as possible. If it dropped in gravity and it doesnt smell bad, take a taste. Oh and please post a side view if possible