Yeast cells or infection?

[T-Bone]

Hi all,

I've noticed in some of my older bottles of home-brew that there is what looks like a layer of fine 'dust' clinging to the inside of the glass wall of the bottle. In some cases it's very difficult to spot unless you're really looking for it. I'm not talking the sediment at the bottom, I'm talking tiny dots on the vertical walls of bottles that have been stored upright. I didn't think yeast cells stuck to glass (the spots don't seem to come unstuck like normal sediment.)
Anybody else seen this? Is this the beer starting to turn? The batches I'm talking about are 6 months old, crown sealed and have been stored at room temperature. And to answer the obvious question, no the beer doesn't taste off (yet!)

Comments appreciated.

TB

[brewbard]

I had a similiar problem after not fully dissolving corn syrup and dry malt
in a brew and it was lumpy before fermentation began. Although if you
boiled it before adding to fermenter then this the same problem (if it is a problem).

[T-Bone]

You know Brewbard, I think you might be onto something. In each of the beers I have noticed this phenomenon, I used powdered brew enhancer (with dry malt extract). It just happens that these were my first and hence oldest beers.
Perhaps I was not dissolving the dry ingredients fully. Check out this link, it's about the only thing I can find on the net that sounds similar:
http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/262534

And thanks for the reply.
TB

[Oliver]

I, too, have noticed this, although I can't pick any pattern. In fact, I think that a thin film builds up on the inside of all homebrew bottles to some degree.

This is why I like to give my bottles a scrub before I pack them away.

I find this film is generally only visible when the bottle is dry. As soon as you wet the inside of the bottle, the film becomes invisible.

There's a similar thread here: http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... .php?t=868

Cheers,

Oliver

[T-Bone]

Oliver, thanks for the reply. I do think that what I'm seeing is a different phenomenon however. Rather than a film, this is small spots.. and in what you'd call 'advanced' cases, the spots appear larger and more prevalent (and higher up on the bottle wall). What I discovered today is that bottles stored in the fridge (but from the same batch) seem to suffer significantly less than those stored at room temp. I'll try and get a picture up. I'm hoping it is just 'protein precipitation' as someone mentioned somewhere, and not bacterial growth ..
As I said, they don't taste bad - in fact they taste better than they did at 1 month. Strange.

TB

[Oliver]

I'll try and get a picture up. I'm hoping it is just 'protein precipitation' as someone mentioned somewhere, and not bacterial growth ..
As I said, they don't taste bad - in fact they taste better than they did at 1 month. Strange.

TB

That's just maturation for you.

At three months they may well be superb. A bit of time in the bottle does wonders for most beers, in my experience, and even bad beers can surprise after a couple of months in the bottle.

On the other hand, time never makes some beers drinkable. Take Geoff's No.41 Bockin' Good Beer at http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/ourhomebrews.html for example.

Always has been pretty disgusting, and if 13 years in the bottle won't fix it, I'm not sure that anything will. We're due for another tasting soon. I'll keep you posted.

Oliver

[chris.]

I get it too. I assume it's just a protein & yeast build up. I soak all my bottle's in bleach (or equiv.) overnight after emptying.

[T-Bone]

Chris - do you mean you also get the 'film' on bottles as described by Oliver, or do you mean you get the 'spots' as described by me?
Thanks.

[chris.]

Dust T-Bone

[ex0ja]

You know Brewbard, I think you might be onto something. In each of the beers I have noticed this phenomenon, I used powdered brew enhancer (with dry malt extract).

In my batch that has this the worst I had only used liquid malt extract, no dry.