Seeing something on the very top of my ale??

[Ales4Ever]

The past couple of ales I have made, when I hold them up to the light, (in the bottle) I see a very very thin- like swirl on the top of the brew. There is no color or obvious odor.

Is this the starting of a contam or a characteritic of my brew itself? (maybee some speciality grains I used or something?)

 

[Chriso]

The past couple of ales I have made, when I hold them up to the light, (in the bottle) I see a very very thin- like swirl on the top of the brew. There is no color or obvious odor.

Is this the starting of a contam or a characteritic of my brew itself? (maybee some speciality grains I used or something?)

Gimme a little more info..... first, start with the beers themself... what were they, what ingredients, how'd the ferment go, how long, what sanitizer(s) did you use while brewing.....

That should be a good start. You said they're in bottles.... tell me more about that too.... what'd you prime with? any weird aroma? Any off tastes?

My first hunch is either oils from one of your ingredients (not terribly likely, unless you were using nuts or cocoa) or possibly something sanitizer related (also not terribly likely).

Otherwise, it could just be the character of the beer. How's the head when you pour? I know my porter a couple batches ago had a terrible sheen on the top of the liquid when it was in secondary.... Never noticed it again once it went into bottles, though, and the head is perfectly porteresque.

 

[Ales4Ever]

Thanks for the reply.


Its funny that you meantioned a porter, as this is the one a just bottled (in amber bottles).

The recipe:

6.6 lbs dark liquid extract
1/4 black patent
1/2 pound rosted barlely
1/2 special B
1/2 pound Crystal malt (90)

Bullion hops 1 oz (boil)

Fuggles 1 oz (aromoa)


Awesome head retention! Great tasting.

 

[Chriso]

LOL. Funny, that it should happen to be a porter too! We think alike!

I have no evidence to back this up with, BUT... I would suspect that you and I are both just seeing a characteristic of one of the dark malts, I would guess the Black Patent (I used it too) or the roasted barley (Didn't use that one)....

Maybe someone else has something scientific to back this up and/or disprove this with.

Glad it's tasty though, Mine is too! I accidentally boiled it on some "Vaporize" setting or something, so I inadvertently made a 4.25 gal batch from 7.0 gal collected wort. I was a little that day. It's damn thick, but damn tasty