Bottle Infection? What's going on here?

[Cyrial23]

Hi everyone,
Long time since I've brewed and got back into this summer. First batch was a farmhouse style / quasi-saison situation. Somewhat of a mutt but I think dead on for a warm fall season. Recipe below.

I bottled nearly two weeks ago. Peaked the other day and noticed a bit of an oil / film on the top of the beer in the bottles. After inspecting further I noticed what looks like bubbles or a haze on one half of the sides of the bottles. Could be result of the recipe itself as I used some ingredients I hadn't worked with much before (wheat, coriander and corn sugar...and wyeast 3711). I just thought it odd that the stuff on the sides of the bottle are only one on half of the inside of every bottle. They are bottle conditioning in a room temp dark closet, in a box so it's not a weird temperature thing. This is a new yeast for me and from what I've read, it can do some weird stuff and is really active (fermented from 1.052 down to 1.000). Pics of the bottles attached. Sorry they are sideways, I couldn't get them to rotate.

A little anxious, I opened one yesteray and it was quite tasty. Came out exactly as I expected. Dry, citrusy and yeasty. A fall baseball beer if I ever had one. Question is, do I have an infection brewing here? If so, I'll get them cold quickly before it gets out of hand and drink it all next weekend at a party I'm hosting.

I'm sure I'll get a slew of sanitation questions, so I'll offer this: buckets were all brand new, washed and sanitized. Tubes were old but also washed / sanitized. Bottles were mostly brand new, washed, scrubbed with bottle scrubber and filled with an inch or so of sanitizer while waiting to be filled. Anything that comes in contact with my beer is either boiled, soaked in sanitizer, or both. I've had bottle bombs once before so I'm pretty meticulous, but you never know...

Recipe:
6lbs 2 row
4lbs Vienna
1lb wheat (fermentable kind)
1lb corn sugar
1oz us Fuggles
1oz us goldings
1oz williamette
.5oz coriander
2oz williamette dry hopped
Wyeast 3711 French saison activator

 

[Calypso]

The fuzz on the sides just looks like yeast to me. But that scum floating on the top is worrisome. They look like the beginnings of pellicles to me. I'd chill most and serve quickly, and maybe set a few aside to see how things progress.

 

[Erik_Mog]

I saw a thread somewhere with a similar situation. Some of the comments suggested that a film like that can happen if you use the pre-packaged carbonation drops in the bottles, instead of a sugar/water solution for priming. If you used the drops, it could be from that....just one possible cause.

 

[Cyrial23]

Unfortunately not, I used the corn sugar / boiled water solution. I am crossing my fingers that it's residual santizer from washing the bottles welling up in the necks, but that might be wishful thinking. I also dry hopped and read that some folks hypothesize it's hop oils. I guess I'll have opened most of them by the end of next weekend so I'll have a feel based on smell and carbonation. I'll probably hold one or two aside for another few weeks and see if end up with gushers. I sure don't want bottle bombs though...apart from the obvious heartbreak of a failed brew, but also because I bottle in 22oz bottles and would have quite a mess on my hand if they start blowing up.

For what it's worth, no off smells or flavored after 4 weeks fermenting and 12 days in bottles.

 

[Calypso]

In the last picture it looks like hop oil. But the one above that, there's more cohesion/structure. But time will tell!

 

[Cyrial23]

I did dry hop, so fingers crossed!