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Hi all,

I was all set to bottle a batch of Festa Brew Double Oatmeal Stout last night, but when I took the lid off my bucket (primary for 3 weeks) I got a nasty surprise of a white film with a few small bubbles on top. I took a sample (from underneath) and it tasted ok. It seems from reading that it still might be alright to bottle and drink? Since it is a Festa Brew I don't have much time invested (just money) and I don't want to waste 2 hours of bottling (and possible bottle bombs?) for nothing. That being said I don't want to waste good beer! Any thoughts?

It's fine, bottle away.

BBrianBoogie wrote:It's fine, bottle away.

+1 I've seen that myself a few times.

what's the film then?

From information I have gathered it is likely a Lactobaccillus infection. However, it sounds like I will probably get two results.
1) the beer will turn out fine with no change in taste.
2) the beer will have a different flavour which some people try to do on purpose e.g. (sours or lambic style). See http://wyobrewing.blogspot.ca/2011/10/s ... stout.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm going to bottle tonight and I will report back in a few weeks with how it turned out.

pretend you did it on purpose then...

If you drink up while its fresh, you probably won't notice a thing. If you let it sit around, you'll notice something as it ages.

A lacto infection wouldn't show itself that fast. Even if you added a whole vial of it, you likely wouldn't notice it at 3 weeks. For reference, I have a Berliner Weisse bottled as well as a saison that's been fermenting for a few months on lacto, and a half dozen sour beers besides in carboys. Even beers with Pedio/Lacto/Brett etc. added won't really show many visual signs in that timeframe. If your sanitation practices are good, the beer is almost certainly fine. Fermentation can look odd sometimes, depending on many different factors. It can restart after stalling as well. If you want, take a gravity reading now and another in a month or so. If they're the same you're good to go. If I were you I'd bottle now though

BBrianBoogie wrote:A lacto infection wouldn't show itself that fast. Even if you added a whole vial of it, you likely wouldn't notice it at 3 weeks. For reference, I have a Berliner Weisse bottled as well as a saison that's been fermenting for a few months on lacto, and a half dozen sour beers besides in carboys. Even beers with Pedio/Lacto/Brett etc. added won't really show many visual signs in that timeframe. If your sanitation practices are good, the beer is almost certainly fine. Fermentation can look odd sometimes, depending on many different factors. It can restart after stalling as well. If you want, take a gravity reading now and another in a month or so. If they're the same you're good to go. If I were you I'd bottle now though

Boogie drinks one Stella Artois and now he thinks he's a Belgian beer expert.

Hahaha....to be fair I had a Jupiler as well, so I've had both kinds of Belgian beer

I had the same thing happen to one of my batches and had no issue, just go ahead and bottle.

Hi all it has been two weeks since I bottled the infected batch. Tried one last night and it was great! It probably needs another couple of weeks to condition a bit more, but I am really happy I didn't dump it.

Fermentation often looks pretty fuckin' weird, always good to give it a chance.