Does Dry Hopping create a white film with bubbles?

Question

Does Dry Hopping create a white film with bubbles?

Simon Lapointe

2016年4月6日 08:25

Might be a weird question!

I have brewed, with a friend, 6 batches of beer so far. An IPA, then a Stout, a Saison, a Doppelbock, an Baltic Porter and finally, the same IPA. All grain, always.

Of all these, only twice we had that weird white film over the beer in the carboy, in the second fermentation. It comes with a few white bubbles. there are some lines of that white that are traced, a little bit like a spider web.

Either we got infections in both, or... the dry hopping creates that? Is that possible?

At least I know now that even if it's an infection, I just bottle the beer underneath the pellicle :)

EDIT: Here is the picture

Topic dry-hop contamination carboy beer homebrew

Category Mac

Mr_road · Accepted Answer · 2016年4月6日 08:25

Dry hopping has a chance of introducing the bacteria that have formed this film, but does not itself cause it. If the brew is still tasting good, keg it and drink it, so long as you have alcohol in there then no pathogens will be able to replicate. I would not bottle as there is a chance of them going Bang!

Sometimes these accidents can create great sours. I have had a English IPA get a bad lactic case of lacto contamination, and I decided to try something new. I treated it with Brett, as Brett would turn some of the lactic acid into esters. I had to leave it an extra 6 weeks for the Brettanomyces to do its thing, but once it had been left and settled, it was one of the best beers I have ever made.

Well I didn't really make it the Lacto and Brett made it.

NLemay · Accepted Answer · 2014年3月25日 17:06

Yes I think this infection can be cause by hops because I already got the exact same situation. I boiled the muslin bag, but not the hops (I didn't want to lose flavour). It never happened to me before or after, so I don't think it was a cleaning problem.

As I remember, it was smelling really good, like fresh bread! I tried to remove the white film with a spoon, which didn't work well.

Try to bottle it anyway, and with the smell and taste, you will know really fast if it is good or not. In my case, it was one of my best beer ever! But may be I was just lucky.

Mark Johnson · Accepted Answer · 2014年3月21日 16:38

If you bottle the beer under the pellicle, make sure you open one every now and then to check for gushers. If you get them, pitch it all--otherwise you may end up with bottle bombs.

Or, put that in a glass carboy and leave it in a closet for a year or two. Maybe it will turn into a good sour. You can always throw it out later.

jsled · Accepted Answer · 2014年3月10日 11:53

1

jsled answered at 2014年3月10日 11:53

Dry hopping does not on its own create the conditions you describe, which sound very much like a pellicle.

Does Dry Hopping create a white film with bubbles?

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