Slight oil film a problem?

[tomaso]

Does anybody see a problem / possible infection with this slight oil film on the surface of the beer?

View attachment 1462305980306.jpg

 

[flars]

It doesn't look good. At what stage is this beer at?

 

[day_trippr]

That's definitely a pellicle, not an oil slick.

You might consider racking half the beer out from under that and consuming it in the near future, and let the rest go through whatever metamorphosis that pellicle has in store.

btw: why so much head space?

Cheers!

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Odd,I started this thread yesterday.It looks just like yours and the general consensus was its fine.https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=581066

 

[day_trippr]

These two images really give you the same impression?

The first one is clearly infected - that's what's often termed "ice", and it's A Bad Thing.

The second one could be infected, but it's not so totally obvious.
Could just be random oil/resin swirls, could be the beginning of something...

Cheers!

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

These two images really give you the same impression?

The first one is clearly infected - that's what's often termed "ice", and it's A Bad Thing.

The second one could be infected, but it's not so totally obvious.
Could just be random oil/resin swirls, could be the beginning of something...

Cheers!

Is does actually,must be my eyes but they both look like an oil slick to me..now I might have an infection AND need glasses..this sucks

 

[day_trippr]

Is does actually,must be my eyes but they both look like an oil slick to me..now I might have an infection AND need glasses..this sucks

lol!

Still, there really is no comparison in those two images.
There's still hope for your beer...

Cheers!

 

[tomaso]

I'm quite surprised! thought there wouldn't be any problem with it. Actually, I almost always have this kind of film and my beer doesn't seem to have any problems that I'd relate to it; especially recently they've come out very clean. Maybe it's just that layer that infects the bottle that receives it...?

It doesn't look good. At what stage is this beer at?

That's at bottling

That's definitely a pellicle, not an oil slick.

You might consider racking half the beer out from under that and consuming it in the near future, and let the rest go through whatever metamorphosis that pellicle has in store.

btw: why so much head space?

Cheers!

Because I only brew 2-3 gallon batches

lol!

Still, there really is no comparison in those two images.
There's still hope for your beer...

Cheers!

Wow, they seem quite similar to me. Actually mine looks somewhat cleaner to me (just my personal observation).

Could it be that the image is somewhat misleading? It looks almost a bit as if there were a shard of ice/glass in the middle but that's just reflection.

Anyway, if it were an infection, that 'ice' problem you're mentioning, what should I look out for or is it just general sanitation procedure?

Thanks for your help!

 

[day_trippr]

Both pictures are actually way better than most that show up on HBT.
And there's zero doubt that one is infected.

There's no real way to know what the infection agent is. A SWAG would say lactobacillus, particularly if the recipe used actual grains and not entirely extract, because you can almost guarantee that base grains are loaded with lacto, and grain dust can carry far.

Still, it could be any number of critters, and could have been introduced at any point post-boil. Which makes sleuthing out the point of infection that much more difficult.

But, generically, if you work backwards through all your gear and processes from the FV back to the BK, sanitize the hell out of all cold-side gear that this batch saw, and in the future take extra caution when grinding or handling base grains to not contaminate cold-side gear (along with all the other sources of infection) you'll likely avoid a repeat...

Cheers!

 

[JohnSand]

I recall seeing a slight slick or sheen on beers that were not infected. When did you brew it?
I would wait and see what happens.

 

[MaryB]

I have seen an oily sheen in the brew pot from hop oils... never in the fermenter.

 

[tomaso]

Both pictures are actually way better than most that show up on HBT.
And there's zero doubt that one is infected.

There's no real way to know what the infection agent is. A SWAG would say lactobacillus, particularly if the recipe used actual grains and not entirely extract, because you can almost guarantee that base grains are loaded with lacto, and grain dust can carry far.

Still, it could be any number of critters, and could have been introduced at any point post-boil. Which makes sleuthing out the point of infection that much more difficult.

But, generically, if you work backwards through all your gear and processes from the FV back to the BK, sanitize the hell out of all cold-side gear that this batch saw, and in the future take extra caution when grinding or handling base grains to not contaminate cold-side gear (along with all the other sources of infection) you'll likely avoid a repeat...

Cheers!

Thinking about where I could have a problem then it might be my mill. Using a corona mill to grind the grain and I'm not so happy with it; the metal coating is coming off slowly but surely; I also never clean it with water, just shake the grain off after use and store it in the closet like that; could that be a problem?

I recall seeing a slight slick or sheen on beers that were not infected. When did you brew it?
I would wait and see what happens.

I brewed it about a month ago; about 3 weeks primary and then bottled; FWIW I had the first bottle a few days ago and it is one of the best beers I've made so far; no noticable contamination. I'll see how the other bottles turn out...

Thanks for your help!

 

[MaryB]

The metal coming off the mill is a concern but won't cause an infection. Looked like hop oil to me...

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

My beer turned out fine.(the other picture)No infection.I didn't chill it for another 6 days after the pic either.Did you drink or dump yours?

 

[tomaso]

My beer turned out fine.(the other picture)No infection.I didn't chill it for another 6 days after the pic either.Did you drink or dump yours?

Nice to hear! Mine turned out really well(see above message)

 

[davidst]

Did you dry hop? I frequently have oils on the top if I heavily dry hop.

 

[tomaso]

No dry hopping this one. I get it on all my batches but they don't taste like they're infected

 

[Jasper18]

Mine had the same oil slick or whatever as in the second one. It's in bottles now and doing fine. Mine was an extract with some steeped grains.

 

[spank13]

Did you use starsan on the bottling bucket? Is there a chance it's just residue from that?

 

[Jasper18]

Personally I used star san for everything. After I dumped the star san out I would use a paper towel to wipe out the excess and the foam.

 

[EcuPirate07]

Personally I used star san for everything. After I dumped the star san out I would use a paper towel to wipe out the excess and the foam.

Don't fear the foam! The foam is actually a good thing, it creates a barrier Ontop of whatever surface it's attached to and actually helps keep foreign objects out :rockin: don't wipe the foam.

 

[tomaso]

Don't fear the foam! The foam is actually a good thing, it creates a barrier Ontop of whatever surface it's attached to and actually helps keep foreign objects out :rockin: don't wipe the foam.

Second that. By using paper towels you're defeating the purpose of using Starsan in the first place and create the possibility of infection.

 

[Jasper18]

Duly noted for next batch

 

[MaryB]

I accidentally racked the wort onto 1/2 inch of star san in the fermenter one batch. Taste was a bit different than the norm but it was drinkable!

 

[dsaavedra]

How is everyone so certain that is infected? I get an oil slick like that on nearly all of my batches when I rack to the bottling bucket, always assumed it was just hop oils since it is definitely more noticeable in IPAs versus lightly hopped beers. Never had an infected batch

 

[chickypad]

Someone mentioned ice pack, I think folks are looking at the sort of large whitish area with the sharply demarcated edges and thinking that is a solid part of pellicle floating on the surface. Looks to me like a shadow or trick of the light - especially with that perfect right angle on the left side. I'm not convinced either of these are infected, looks like mostly hop oils, plus CO2 bubbles on the second one.

 

[tomaso]

Someone mentioned ice pack, I think folks are looking at the sort of large whitish area with the sharply demarcated edges and thinking that is a solid part of pellicle floating on the surface. Looks to me like a shadow or trick of the light - especially with that perfect right angle on the left side. I'm not convinced either of these are infected, looks like mostly hop oils, plus CO2 bubbles on the second one.

Thank you! Thank you for explaining this much better than I did I don't think that the batches are infected either. Mine at least doesn't taste infected.

 

[tomaso]

Someone mentioned ice pack, I think folks are looking at the sort of large whitish area with the sharply demarcated edges and thinking that is a solid part of pellicle floating on the surface. Looks to me like a shadow or trick of the light - especially with that perfect right angle on the left side. I'm not convinced either of these are infected, looks like mostly hop oils, plus CO2 bubbles on the second one.

Thank you! Thank you for explaining this much better than I did I don't think that the batches are infected either. Mine at least doesn't taste infected.

It is strange though that I always get this film now, even on a very malty brew like this wee heavy (and didn't notice it in my earlier brews).

 

[Nico93]

I personally don't know what this "oil like" pellicle is, I never had it on my brew since the last 5 batch, after the batch with a pellicle like this I sanitized my fermenator with Naoh, peracetic acid and after bleach, I also changed the tap and all the hoses. Now I've got a dubbel in the fermenters, i splitted the batch into two fermenter and used two yeast. One fermenter have this "film" again, the other no. I can't understand if is a infection or something else! Maybe the hop oil was on the top of the wort in the boil kettle and this is why I've got it in only one fermenter. But why this pellicle (if is hop oil) doesn't show in the previous batch?
The two batch I already bottled with this "problem" doesn't show any strange taste that makes my thing to a infection!

Sorry guys for the grammar but I'm using the telephone and I haven't enough time to check for errors

 

[chickypad]

I personally don't know what this "oil like" pellicle is, I never had it on my brew since the last 5 batch, after the batch with a pellicle like this I sanitized my fermenator with Naoh, peracetic acid and after bleach, I also changed the tap and all the hoses. Now I've got a dubbel in the fermenters, i splitted the batch into two fermenter and used two yeast. One fermenter have this "film" again, the other no. I can't understand if is a infection or something else! Maybe the hop oil was on the top of the wort in the boil kettle and this is why I've got it in only one fermenter. But why this pellicle (if is hop oil) doesn't show in the previous batch?

The oil slick looking stuff is not a pellicle. I've seen it many times - sometimes has a bit of a rainbow reflection. I've always assumed its hop oils, maybe it's star san as someone mentioned, but it's not a pellicle. Below are some pics of those ice pack looking pellicles.

 

[Nico93]

you are right, it's not a pellicle but i don't think is star san or something like that (because i don't use star san, i use bleach or peracetic acid or oxi), i can't understand why i haven't noticed thi film until the last batch...

 

[Kiknjville]

I had this same film on my last brew for the first time. It was also the first time I used foam control (mine is from five star.) That is where I assumed it came from.