Thin, white, bubbly film on secondary

[ferman]

I have read over most of the threads that talked about film and possible mold contamination but didn't see any pictures that looked like mine. Anyone know what may be causing this? It only seems to happen when I dry-hop in the secondary.

This particular brew is a Rye IPA that has been dry-hopped with Sorachi Ace from Japan. Brewed on 7/31 and racked to secondary on 8/10. I soaked the muslin bags in my Iodophor sanitizing solution before adding the hops. However, I've encountered the same film when using Star-San sanitizer. It is a ten gallon batch split evenly into two glass carboys and the other carboy does not have any film on it. Go figure.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53343638@N08/4920218002/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/53343638@N08/4919619119/

 

[TipsyDragon]

yea thats an infection. good news is it wont kill you. in the future don't use the muslin bag. it's not necessary and is probably whats giving you the infection.

 

[passedpawn]

Ouch. Maybe you can turn it into a sour beer. Don't think you have much choice there.

 

[ferman]

As I said, this has happened before. I think you may be right about the muslin bags. However, I did sanitize them thoroughly. I've experienced this same infection in the past without the bags, just threw the hops directly in. Can the hops themselves cause this infection? Does anyone know what type of infection it is?

 

[TipsyDragon]

the current wisdom is that hops can not cause infections. they are a natural preservative which is why they where added to beer in the first place. if its not the bags then its something else your missing. and don't say "i sanitize everything" because you are obviously missing something somewhere.

 

[ferman]

Good point about the hops. I am back to believing it is the bags. I am so sick over it that I am already thinking of staying away from my favorite style -- IPAs -- because I cannot take it.

 

[Naked_Eskimo]

What about just boiling your muslin bags?

 

[ferman]

Boiling is an option, I suppose. But I think I will just stick with no dry-hopping at all. LOL.

 

[ferman]

Well, I kegged this beer the other day and it was force carbonated over night. I brought it to a home brew party on Saturday and everyone loved it. It came in at just a hair under 8% abv, which I think helped the infection. After more research, it appears that the problem was an acetobacter infection. According to Papazian, this is a less common infection that makes vinegar out of your beer by producing acetic acid. Well, luckily no vinegar tastes in this one. The whole keg was gone in a few short hours.

I am still convinced that the culprit was the muslin bag that I dry-hopped with. In the future, I am going to simply add the hops and forget about using a bag. I've been trying to avoid that to make clean up easier but I would rather spend an extra few minutes with that than to have a large carboy full of vinegar.

 

[HenryHill]

Not dry-hopping an IPA is a huge mistake. Maybe the cause is an entry of infection when opening the vessel, and not the bags, as you've stated you soaked in iodophor. A hair falling in, something floating in the air, who knows, **** happens.

But not dry-hopping an IPA? Brewer Failure.

 

[ferman]

Maybe the cause is an entry of infection when opening the vessel

Maybe you are right, Henry. We'll never know. But I have no intention of omitting IPAs from my current brewing repertoire. I love hops. I am a hop head. I also love the thick, malty goodness of a rich IPA. I couldn't imagine not brewing them. I simply feel that eliminating the bag from my dry-hopping procedure may help reduce the chance of infection.

 

[malkore]

seen any flies/fruit flies around? They carry acetobacter like the damn plague.

 

[ferman]

Yes. We have had flies in the house this summer. Those little farts are probably what infected my beer.