White film on the side of carboy.

[McUbermensch]

I started a cherry mead about a month ago and checked on it today only to find a white film growing on the side of the carboy. There is zero film on top just on one section of the carboy "wall".



This is the best picture I could get currently. Is this something I should be concerned with?

 

[McUbermensch]

I understand that's not a great picture but it's the best I could do given lighting. I don't want to move the carboy too much so whatever that is stays on the side.

 

[botigol]

Honestly, it looks like the reflection of the wall on the glass...really hard to tell. That said, it very well could be yeast. I have had a film of yeast stick to the inside of my carboys, but only with saisons so far. So that's my best guess barring a better photo and/or description. Hopefully one non-disaster possibility will help.

 

[McUbermensch]

Honestly, it looks like the reflection of the wall on the glass...really hard to tell. That said, it very well could be yeast. I have had a film of yeast stick to the inside of my carboys, but only with saisons so far. So that's my best guess barring a better photo and/or description. Hopefully one non-disaster possibility will help.

The photo is pretty bad I will admit. The film does act like a yeast cake would when disturbed I just didn't think yeast would stick the carboy like that.

 

[zippybasher]

Tilt the carboy 45º and bring back to level (Without sloshing). If the white "FILM" moves and starts to break up fall off the side toward the bottom, its yeast. Every one of my brews does this when it starts dropping the yeast. It catches more especially on my 6gal carboy because the "Ribs" in the glass.

EDIT: Actually I do the tilt thing everyday when crash cooling for a week because yeast always sticks to the sides. After a couple days of cooling and tilting once every 24hours, my brews are really clear of yeast.

 

[pghfett]

I had the same light film on some batches and everything turned out fine.
There is alot of activity going on in that carboy chemically don't sweat it, It looks fine.

If you get tight over it call me over I'll take the first sip from it

Seriously, I've seen this and everything turned out fine


Mike

 

[botigol]

You can also give the carboy a quick quarter turn to dislodge yeast/lees/sediment from the sides. As far as the issue at hand, beyond our guessing, give it a smell...so long as it doesn't smell like something rotting or Band-Aids it should be perfectly fine.

 

[McUbermensch]

Thank you all for the info! I was seriously disheartened when I saw the film. I'm really looking forward to this batch of mead.

 

[Yooper]

Thank you all for the info! I was seriously disheartened when I saw the film. I'm really looking forward to this batch of mead.

I have yeast that sticks to the side of the carboy in all my batches. Don't worry! I think it has to do with static electricity on the outside of the carboy or something. If the yeast never falls off the side, that's fine. When you rack to a new carboy, it will stick there and you can just leave it behind.

No problem at all!

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Yup, +1 to yooper and the rest. This happens to me a lot, sometimes it looks streaky because bits of it avalanched to the bottom. It's just yeast.