Film in bottle neck

[CEversole]

Just bottled my blonde a few days ago. I checked the bottles today and a few have a small ring of film in the neck (about the size of a wedding band). Is this a sign of contamination? Is there anything I can do about it?

 

[watersr]

It's normal. Since you primed the bottles with sugar there is a mini fermentation going on in there so you have what I guess could be called a tiny bottle krausen.

 

[jmprdood]

Happened to me on the Cream Ale I brewed last month - no worries!

Cheers!

 

[Revvy]

The illusive mini krausens. Happens sometimes.

 

[Pilgarlic]

I've been reading lately about guidelines for judging in competitions and have seen more than one reference to this "krausen" ring representing an appearance flaw. In fact, this appeared in the BJCP Exam Study Guide. Seems odd, since it's not all that unusual in a bottle conditioned beer.

 

[Rahahb]

I have it in almost all of my beers. It will even break apart as white flakes and float back to the top.

 

[bierhaus15]

Wow, don't want to sound like a **** but rings forming the bottle neck is not really "normal" at all. 99% of the time it is due to an infection, even if the beer might taste fine. And any white film that breaks apart into smaller bits on the surface of a beer is indicative of a pellicle.

"One of the best and simplest ways to recognize whether or not your beer is contaminated with bacteria is to take a look at your bottles of beer. Look at the surface of the beer where it contacts the sides of the bottle. Is there a deposit ringing the neck? Every gusher, hazy beer, sour-smelling and sour-tasting beer I've had the pleasure of evaluating invariably has a "ring around the neck"- a sure sign that there is bacterial or wild yeast contamination."

-Charlie Papazian (Joy of Home Brewing)

 

[passedpawn]

The only time I got rings in my bottles was in a sour beer, a berliner wiesse. Rings = bad in my experience. Good luck. It's possible this is normal and I haven't experienced.. I've brewed a few beers tho. I'm talking about a little sticky film, especially where the beer meets the bottle. That was the lacto doing its dastardly deed souring my beer.

If you tilt the bottle and the little ring stays on the bottle I'd bet you've got some lacto working there.

 

[Pilgarlic]

This is something I'll pay more attention to going forward. I have seen a ring, particularly on my higher carbed wits in champagne bottles.

 

[LLBeanJ]

When I read the title of this thread I was expecting it to be about how someone got a roll of film stuck in the neck of a bottle. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed.

 

[watersr]

You mean it's not a tiny little krausen? But it's so cute! Hey little krausen, what a cute krausen... It's what? An infection?!

I think I'm gonna be sick... :x

Guess you learn something every day.