Flocs or pellicle?

[beertroll]

I just got one of those Cool Brewing coolers and I've been trying my first cold crash. I opened the cooler to add more ice to discover that at some point in the last 36 hours the cap came off the carboy (I suspect one of my cats tried to jump on top of the cooler), and there are white splotches all over the surface of the beer. I'm hoping that these are just yeast flocs forming as I drop the temperature, but I fear that's wishful thinking. Is this likely an infection?

 

[Yooper]

It sure doesn't look good. I'd go ahead and chill it and hope for the best.

 

[beertroll]

That's what I was afraid of. Those thin white strands connecting the islands make me think I'm not going to luck out on this one. I guess I'll skip dry hopping it and save the citra cones for another brew.

 

[bierhaus15]

I'm usually the one to say "wtf, that's definitely infected" when everyone else is saying its normal, though I'm not so sure on this one. Can you get a better picture?

If the white patches are just lots of little bubbles from the krausen breaking apart, your probably fine. However, if those patches break up into smaller angular ones, or if it has a film on the surface... infected.

 

[TzeentchPlayer]

It looks like bubbles to me. I racked a beer to secondary once and got lots of bubbles after everything had settle. It could be degassing or possibly entering a small fermentation with some residual sugars. Here's the quintessential "is it infected thread:"

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/post-your-infection-71400/

 

[RobertRGeorge]

It looks like an awful lot of stuff to have bacteria grown over the course of just 36 hours. Is that your primary, because it looks like there's a lot of head space in there. How long has it been in that vessel?

 

[OldWorld]

It's fine...Infected beer? Acid loving bacteria...you don't know what "infected" beer is until you test the no. I would go right ahead and dry hop your beer as planned. It's probably fine. I have had many beers with white stuff...I have never had a beer sour on me and most of my beers had that same stuff you are fearing.

Just keep on trucking. It's likely yeast or hop particles pushed from the CO2...It could bee little grain particles...If you must know if your beer is "infected" send it out to a qualified lab...but that will likely cost you the same price as another batch of beer

 

[Stauffbier]

It looks like clusters of tiny co2 bubbles to me!

 

[beertroll]

I transferred it on the 14th. I also pulled a sample a few days later (17th, maybe?). I did get a little rekrauesening after transfer, but the surface had been clear until at least Friday evening. Hopefully the CO2 optimists are correct and I just stirred up some gasses moving it into the cooler. I'll let it ride for a few days and see what happens. I've only had one infected batch prior to this, and that one was obvious; the bottles gushed like crazy and tasted like vinegar and despair.

 

[beertroll]

The CO2 camp appears to be correct. When I checked it this morning, there were about half as many islands, and the connections between them are gone. I don't imagine many infections just get bored, clean up after themselves, and leave. I must have jostled the carboy more than I thought when I moved it. The hops are in, and the temperature is dropping.