what the heck is this white stuff?

This bottle of cider has been in the basement for a while. I was going to try to bottle it today but there's a pretty gross looking layer of scum floating on top. As I carried it upstairs, the scum kind of broke apart into particles, dispersed through the cider, then floated back to the top.

Any ideas of what this could be? Haven't pulled the lid off yet.

Any help would be appreciated ASAP as I'm getting ready to bottle this stuff.

Kinda looks like yeast, not sure though. Does it smell/taste funky? Maybe stick it in the fridge for a couple hours and see it it drops down.

Looks like a pellicle to me, the cider is infected. If it still tastes ok rack out from under the film (leaving it behind) and bottle the cider ASAP, then pasteurize it soon to kill off the microbes. Consider adding campden tablets to protect the cider even more. Sulfites are also useful as a preventative measure when bulk-aging cider after racking.

Thanks for the info.

I tasted a bit and it was OK. I ended up siphoning it through sanitized cheesecloth to keep the big chunks out, and bottling it last night. I added a bit of dextrose because I wanted a sparking cider, but now it seems I should pasteurize it ASAP and drink it still instead.

I've got a batch of stout from 5 years ago, still sitting in a glass carboy that I am too lazy to deal with. It has a layer of that stuff on it as well.

johnny5000 said:

Thanks for the info.

I tasted a bit and it was OK. I ended up siphoning it through sanitized cheesecloth to keep the big chunks out, and bottling it last night. I added a bit of dextrose because I wanted a sparking cider, but now it seems I should pasteurize it ASAP and drink it still instead.

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If it tastes ok now you're probably ok waiting a few days for it to carb. The carbonation will actually help protect the cider in the bottle by using up some of the air in the bottle, lowering the pH marginally, and increasing the pressure, making it a more hostile environment to aerobic microbes.