infected brew

I did a blonde ale and racked it to a secondary carboy. 4 days later i noticed that a white film substance was forming on the top surface of the brew. I tried to shake the carboy to see if any fermentation was still active, but no bubbles came out of the air lock. When disturbed, more of the white film substance was floating to the top. The so called blonde ale no longer has a blonde color. It looks more like a red ale. I swore i sanitized everything, is this worth bottling? Thanks

In a word, yes. Not knowing how much hops and alcohol are in the beer, I would still say that you have no infection that will kill you.

I, too, have had a white film floating in my beer (and in primary, yet). It looked like a cross between a solidified oil and perhaps a mold... but there were NO off tastes to that beer... I even tried to make sure none got in my bottles, but that didn't work, either.

I had no problems with it.

So the color of the beer actually changed from yellow to red??

Do you have any pictures of the film on top?

808beer said:

. . . . . , is this worth bottling? Thanks

Click to expand...

Wait a couple more weeks, then taste it . . . .

Did it go from yellow to red because the yeast fell out? It'll darken as they drop. There's a good possibility that the foam is simply a lesser krausen due to mixing the solution during racking and the yeast churning on the last little bit of sugars... I can't say it for sure but that'd be my guess. Can you keg instead of bottle? That'll save you the pain of bottling if it isn't worth saving. That said, don't dump it, it'll be good.

send some pictures, and taste it. beer can looks alot dark when there's alot of it (five gallons instead of one pint). if it tastes good then you should be fine. if you send a picture someone can probably ease your worrying.