American Stout - Possible Infection?

[bmckee56]

I brewed an American Stout a short time ago and everything went well. I transfered the beer to a secondary which I cleaned out and sanitized using iodophor and air dried. All equipment that came in contact with the beer was also sanitized after cleaning. The carboy had an airlock attached and has been covered and stored in the cellar right next to several other carboys filled with wine and held at 66 - 68 degrees. Last night, I removed the covering from the carboy and noticed a white translucant bubble on top of the beer. It did not appear to be oily or growing, but it concerns me. I gave the carboy a bit of a shake and the beer inside began to foam up a bit, the bubble burst and there was bubbling in the air lock.

This morning, before leaving for work, I checked the carboy again and I only see a slight ring of bubbles around the top of the beer inside the carboy.

I am trying to get this beer aged about 2 1/2 to 3 months before I keg it for consumption. Is the white bubble a possible infection begining to take hold in the beer, or am I just to nervous about the possibilities?

Should I keg the beer now and allow it to age (this worries me, cause I will not be able to see a possible problem)?

I can't post a picture of the original bubble, so hopefully my discription will be sufficient.

Thanks for any input.

Salute!

 

[david_42]

Sounds fine to me and 95% of what can go wrong with homebrew aren't visible anyway, ropey being a major exception. So, keg it.

 

[Revvy]

The only possible flaw I could see that POSSIBLY could be a source of concern is that you let your secondary dry after using iodophor...Iodophor and Starsan, are no rinse wet contact sanitizers meaning that as long as there is sanitizer still in contact with whatever you sanitized anything that comes in contact with the sanitizer will be killed, but if you let it dry anything that comes into contact with the surface then possibly contaminates that object.

Basically by letting sanitized objects dry, you reduce the efficacy by half, you've killed what's on there already, but you have removed the deadly barrier of wet sanitizer from the surface of the object.

Having said that, it would halp us if you posted a picture of it. We can't really tell you anything simply based on words.

Did you dry hop in secondary? Often hop oil will form a slick on the surface and co2 rising from the beer will get trapped below the film and it looks scary when in reality it is fine.

But apicture would help, and in the future don't let your sanitizer dry. At proper dllution, neither starsan or iodophor contribute any off flavors to the beer when using we, so don't let the stuff dry, the minute you do, you run the risk of letting any airborn contaminant rendering the object unsanitized.

 

[bmckee56]

If I have time this evening when I get home (I work, then teach a 3 hour class) I will post a picture of the carboy with the Stout.

I have not re-checked it for a few days, so if the bubble re-appears, I will snap a picture and get it up here.

I did allow the carboy to airdry, but I don't think it was completely dry inside when I racked. It is possible, but it only sat inverted for about 20 minutes, so I hope it still had some protection.

Also, I did not dry hop the secondary, so this should not be a concern.

Thanks for the responses so far.

Salute!

 

[RedIrocZ-28]

Counds like there was a slick film on top from residual hop oils in the wort, and the wort was outgassing possibly from a change in atmospheric pressure. I have not had a single beer that didn't have at least a bubble or 2 on top after fermentation is done.