Hello!
I am 5 batches in and my 2nd and 3rd batch came out with the same bad aftertaste. My 4th and 5th batch were kegged. So…are my batches infected? This is a belgian saison that has been sitting in the bottle for 2 months. The beer tastes fine except for the white film on top that forms after I pour it out of the bottle.
It’s hard to say but it sounds like it to me. Go thru your equipment taking apart anything that can come apart with a fine tooth comb to try to find a nook or cranny that you may have missed in your cleaning and sanitizing routine. Kettle and fermenter spigots, keg poppets and quick disconnects, faucets or cobra taps, etc are all notorious culprits. You might even try a new cleaner and sanitizer in case your bugs got used to the ones you use now. I hope you find the smoking gun.
What do you mean by “bad aftertaste”? That could be a lot of things.
You say white film forms after pouring: how is it different from the foam? What happens to the foam between pouring and this white film forming?
A bad aftertaste could be many things…water profile, infection, too much sanitizer, etc…
Infected beers do not pour any different than non-infected beers unless they are a gusher. Meaning that white film on top of your beer does not necessarily indicate an infection. Now if there is a film on top of the beer inside the bottle between the liquid and headspace interface, that could very well be an infection. Also look for little white dots at the liquid/headspace area as well indicating an infection has taken hold…