Is this a lactose infection?

[sublimenal]

Hey hows it going, I just kegged 10 gallons of a red ale and looked inside the conical and notices a film on top which isn't normally there. Is this lactose? A thin white film with bubbles here and there. note the specs you see on the left are just pieces of hops floating. This beer fermented out to 1.010 and I used white labs english ale strain

No off flavors it actually smelled good and tastes normal, if it's lactose will it thrive in my kegs?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3p2fey7kedz6870/2014-03-04 20.36.39.jpg

 

[Yooper]

It could be lactobacillus- it's hard to tell from a picture.

Yes, if it's a bacterial infection (not lactose- that's another word for milk sugar) it will get worse with time.

 

[sublimenal]

Hi Yooper, thanks! Sorry lacto is what I meant to, this is my first infection in over 5 years of brewing surprisingly But Yeah i managed to keg both kegs without coming close to the top infection. With an infection like that does it just effect the top layer or is it a free love party throughout the whole beer with the goodies and baddies? It looks like the white coating only covered about half of the top surface so it looks like i caught it early

 

[Yooper]

Hi Yooper, thanks! Sorry lacto is what I meant to, this is my first infection in over 5 years of brewing surprisingly But Yeah i managed to keg both kegs without coming close to the top infection. With an infection like that does it just effect the top layer or is it a free love party throughout the whole beer with the goodies and baddies? It looks like the white coating only covered about half of the top surface so it looks like i caught it early

It does tend to get worse with time, thoughout the beer, so if it tastes good now, drink it before it deteriorates!

 

[sublimenal]

Mission accepted!

 

[05m50dan]

If anything, it may be brettanomyces. What you saw may be the start of a pellicle. Its a coating on top of the beer that Brett produces as a response to oxygen exposure. If that's the case, you will likely continue to have infections in anything you put in those buckets. If the beer you pulled from those buckets starts to taste"off", I'd replace the buckets.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[sublimenal]

It's a conical fermenter so it is pretty air tight, any oxygen most likely came into the fermenter when dumping trub or taking samples. I wonder if there is a way to hook up a co2 line when dumping anything.

 

[05m50dan]

Ah, then just sanitize well.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Home Brew mobile app