White film on top of my brew before bottling

[wgardner]

When I took the lid of my fermenter today ready to bottle, the brewe was covered in a sem--transparent white film, that when roused was kinda brittle.

I bottled regardless, and notcied the white film stuck to the syphoning tube...

Any ideas? Is it mold or an infection?

If so, what are the dangers of drinking the beer if it tastes okay?

[flything]

sounds like a pellicle, which possibly means your beer is infected by a wild yeast, it still might be ok to drink but it might be 'interesting' (like a Lambic), the only concern I might have is that the yeasts can continue to ferment for months and this might cause over carbonation and bottle bombs, I'd try a bottle on a weekly basis (it's a tough job but someones got to do it) to see how carbonated they are getting

[wgardner]

Okay, like you said it won't be hard trying it every week!

Could this be casued by slack sanitation? I remember once through the brewing process I did not sanitise my trial jar, and dipped it straight into the FV....

Shame if it is off though, it's my second brew ever and out a lot of effort into it...

[yashicamat]

What does it smell like? Beer tends to smell off a long time before it tastes off. Keep an eye on it, check a bottle regularly and I'd also move the bottles somewhere where if they go bang they won't make too much of a mess (e.g., plastic storage box with a lid).

If you taste any that are a bit iffy, think carefully . . . if you get a bottle bomb, the problem isn't so much the bottle that just exploded, but more than 30-odd bottles waiting to explode, each which have to be dealt with somehow.

[Barley Water]

Oh, you for sure have an infection. My suggestion is to drink the stuff quickly because over time what is going to happen is that the beer will dry out and start to get sour (along with perhaps some other less than desirable properties). The bigger problem you now have this that you now have the stuff in all your equipment. Glass and stainless steel is easy to clean but if you ferment in plastic, your fermenter needs to be disinfected along with all your racking equipment. I would consider just throwing out any tubing (since it's cheap and hard to get santized) and also watch out for any plastic or rubber fermentation locks etc. I have an Oud Bruin going right now and I have seperate equipment for dealing with that stuff, I really don't want those wild bugs getting into my regular beers.

Now for the pep talk: Everyone who engages in this hobby has this happen to them occasionally. I will never forget once when I was a neophyte brewer, I proudly gave a bottle of what I though was my finest to a friend. He popped open the bottle and took a great big swig. I will never forget the geyser of beer coming out his nose it was so carbonated due to infection.

[wgardner]

Well thanks for the info guys, bit of shame, but I'm going to crack a bottle open tonight and see how it is... I'll get back to you.

Thanks for the sanitising tips too, looks like I'm going to be spending a large part of my weekend washing everything over and over

Tbh though, this hasn't discouraged me, in fact it's just made me more excited about getting it right next time!

[Invalid Stout]

I have had this occasionally. Your description of it is exactly what I get. I was particularly annoyed the last time as I was sure I had put a good sanitation regime in place, involving lengthy soaks in a soda solution and then in bleach and sanitising again before use.

Is it Brettanomyces or something else?

The good news is the beer is still drinkable.

[wgardner]

I have had this occasionally. Your description of it is exactly what I get. I was particularly annoyed the last time as I was sure I had put a good sanitation regime in place, involving lengthy soaks in a soda solution and then in bleach and sanitising again before use.

Is it Brettanomyces or something else?

The good news is the beer is still drinkable.

Yes I tried a bottle at the weekend and it was fine, great in fact! I'm going to give it another couple of weeks then drink it asap