Hey guys,
i brewed an Irish Red Ale and it just finished carbonating. The strange thing is it has formed a thin white film layer on top. It doesn’t smell, and it seems like the taste is ok. I’ve sanitized with 0,8% solution of Iodophor. Could it be a contamination? Should I dump the batch?
Thanks
That is a classic pellicle. Did you use Brett in the recipe? If not, you have some contamination going on there. You can still drink it, but you left a lot of headspace it appears and that might have been the culprit.
Agreed - it is a pellicle. I have had it before, and coincidentally, two of the three times it was in an Irish Red. Unfortunately, it can’t be corrected. I recommend cold crashing the beer after it’s been fully conditioned. The pellicle may sink to the bottom. Taste it and see how it goes.
My issue was caused from my white plastic “food grade” bottling bucket. I have since changed to a big mouth bubbler with a bottling spigot. Problem gone.
Looks like a pelicle to me
What was the prior use of that bottle? Clear embossed glass with a label still on it? I’m assuming a beer bottle? I’ve gotten to the point now where I’m real hesitant to reuse bottles, even my own blank bottles I buy from the store. Just too many chances for bad bugs.
A humble correction: Bret is a yeast and will not develop a pellicle.
You are probably correct, technically. But the few times I used Brett it developed a dusty bubbly film just like that. Not saying it’s Brett, but it doesn’t look like normal sac either
I have had a pellicle form from using Brett. Specifically Brett B.
Even after bottling I have seen a pellicle form in the bottle from Brett B and from mix fermentation sours.
Lacto can also form pellicle.
Absolutely do not dump without tasting first. Even then if the contaminant is Brett, the flavor will change over time so you may get something “better.” Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder so you may hate it, you may love it.
Brett is indeed a yeast but can definitely develop a pellicle. In my experience, headspace and perhaps more importantly oxygen ingress play a role in pellicle development.
http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Brettanomyces
I have a wheat ale with prickly pear syrup in a glass carbon in my basement on a Brett Lambicus pellicle at the moment. I will keg it shortly and it looks very much like the OP’s photo. If it isn’t technically a pellicle , then I stand corrected, but I would compare it to a Flanders pellicle, only lighter and thinner.
Looks like brett for sure
The taste doesn’t seem much different. It has a very subtle sourness in my opinion. But it smells good and it’s drinkable. I have yet to find out if it messes my stomach up haha. I don’t think I’ve mixed the priming sugar very well, and some bottles haven’t carbonated enough and are completely fine
What could I do to avoid this in future batches? Something happened during bottling because fermentation went fine. Should I start leaving less headroom?
I’ll just be quiet over here in the corner.
An Irish Red should not have any type of sour taste to it. Someone asked abut your bottles. What type are they and how did you clean them. Yes to the headspace question.
I’ve reutilized from commercial beer. They are 600ml. I’ve washed them prior to bottling with regular detergent. Then, on bottling day I filled them with Iodophor solution, waited a few minutes and bottled. Obviously the priming sugar fed some kind of contamination that was in the beer. I don’t think the problem was the bottle, since I’ ve been doing this way for some time and never had problems. After fermenting was done, I noticed a subtle smell of fish, but there was nothing wrong visually so I decided to continue anyway. Also it’s worthy noting that during bottling and racking some members were infected with a flu virus, although they didn’t really do anything. This is the first contamination I had so I don’t really know what to do. I’m probably dumping the batch
sounds like it was clean during fermentation then got dirty… bottling bucket? siphon? how about your caps? it’s in every single bottle right? that rules out dirty bottles i’d vote.
I would see how they taste instead of throwing them out. You may have accidentally made something interesting.
+1 stash 'em, forget about 'em, and find 'em in a year or so.
Its in most bottles but not all of them. The ones that are fine, haven’t carbonated well.
