white film on beer

[pp270]

I have a white film covering the top of my imperial stout in the secondary. What is this and can it be stopped? Will it affect the beer. What caused this issue?

 

[ian-atx]

Could be anything. Pictures for this kind of stuff really help.

Have you tasted or smelled the beer since the film has developed? A lot of times when a beer gets infected it will ferment out much drier than it would have with regular brewers yeast. See if there are any changes in gravity over a period of time.

Campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite) can kill brett and regular yeast, and are sometimes used to halt fermentation on wild beers. I would taste and smell the beer, verify if the gravity is still lowering (I am assuming secondary = fermentation mostly complete) before doing anything drastic. RDWHAHB.

 

[japhroaig]

Every time that has happened to me it has been mold. Granted, only two times and they had been in secondary's that had their airlocks dried out, but that is my experience. If this brew is dear to you, transfer it to a clinically-clean fermentation vessel and campden it if the gravity is low enough. White mold *in general* isn't poisonous (think dry aged sausage), and low pH/alcoholic environments generally prohibit dangerous organisms from proliferating, but that doesn't mean it won't change the flavor.

 

[pp270]

The beer is fully fermented and so far there are no off flavors. Will adding camden tablets add any off flavors to the beer?

 

[pp270]

will adding camden tablets to an imperial stour add off flavors to the beer?

Please respond

 

[Clann]

I wouldnt campden my beer. I have read on here to rack the beer out from under the mold leaving all mold and a little beer behind, that is ofcourse if there are no off flavors.

 

[jvlpdillon]

Campden tabs do not affect the flavor. It will kill all yeast in about 24 hours though. To let the campden filter through give it a few more days if you are bottling. Also if you are bottle conditioning you will need to add fresh yeast then.

 

[StAnthonyB]

I have a white film covering the top of my imperial stout in the secondary. What is this and can it be stopped? Will it affect the beer. What caused this issue?

If it's a sorta waxy looking surface, IME, it's most likely a form of lacto. Harmless, but the beer can develop a sourness eventually.