Film ontop of 2ndary, should i bottle?

[kylelp]

Hey folks,

I have a nut brown ale in a 2ndary that was transferred this past saturday. I noticed today it has a film on top of the beer. It is very thin and hard to see from a distance (hence there is not a picture) and does not look as intense as some of the infection photos i have googled.

I'm worried that it might be an infection since I have alot of head space, 4 gallons of beer in a 5 gallon carboy. Should i bottle it tomorrow to prevent the infection from continuing?

Thanks- KP

 

[max384]

If there is an infection, bottling won't prevent it from continuing. However, if the film is so fine that it can't be picked up on a modern camera, I suspect it is fine.

If you're unsure, pull a sample and taste it. That will tell you whether or not it is infected.

 

[mng8r]

Does it look like an oil film? If so, I wouldn't worry about it. I've had an oily looking film on the top of mine previously and it has never been an issue. Hop oils perhaps?

 

[PADave]

I'd bottle it just because of the head space issue. You did more harm than good to your brew transferring to secondary, and then a double whammy having that much head space. In the future, skip the secondary, unless you got a really good reason to use one.