HELP, White Film on beer in Secondary??

Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:00 pm

I have an Amber Ale that the primary fermentation went perfectly at 68F. After 10 days I racked to the secondary and crashed it down to 60F to lager for a few weeks. After 5 days, I opened my freezer to check on it and there was a white layer of film on top. I had checked it two days ago and it was fine.

This is the second time this has happened to me. The first, the liquid in my airlock dried up so I assumed I picked up something from the air to cause it, but this time the airlock was secure and the carboy was inside my freezer.

I tasted the beer and it tasted fine, so I racked it to a keg, but I had a hard time trying to leave the film behind.

When this happened to me before, the beer tasted fine then as well, but there was a white layer of film inside every one of my bottles.

Does anyone out there have any idea a) what the white film is b) what could be causing this c) if the beer is any good?

I need some help.

Thanks,
Mt Wheat-
Mt Wheat
 
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Re: HELP, White Film on beer in Secondary??

Sat Aug 08, 2009 3:31 pm

It could be :

1) mold
2) yeast
3) bacteria (ie, forming a pellicle)

1 is rare but not unheard of. 3 normally takes a bit of time to form. (ie, more than just a couple of days).
Was it stringy or sort of snotty? 2 is pretty normal. Sometimes some yeasts will float up when they are flocculating and clump up on the surface before settling out. This happens often enough that it falls into that "weird but not unheard of" category, and is fine.

Can you post a picture of the carboy?
HTH-
-B'Dawg
BJCP GM3 Judge & Mead
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