lukemarsh
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I have recently discovered a strange white flakiness that is appearing on top of the liquid in my more recent bottles of homebrew... A couple of my last brews have had this happen and I can't work out what it is or how it happens.
The first time I noticed it was when I made a Heineken style lager. When I bottled the beer it was very clear and perfect in terms of cleanliness etc. I cleaned the bottles in a dishwasher using normal detergent, then used a no-rinse sanitiser in each bottle and also rinsed thoroughly (I do this with all of my bottles and have had no issues before). Once this beer was conditioned in the bottle (2 weeks) I noticed there was the usual sediment at the bottom of the bottle, but also a very noticeable layer of white flakes floating on the top of the liquid. I tried chilling a few bottles, but this did nothing. I took a bottle down to my local homebrew advisor/retailer and he said it was probably just some yeast sediment that happened to float, but wasn't detrimental to the beer and might come out with age. He tasted it and said it tasted fine and not infected or anything. This white flakiness was apparent in every bottle of the brew.
I then made a non-alcoholic ginger beer using the Coopers ginger beer kit (stirring the brew every couple of bottles to make sure it was all mixed consistently). After 2 weeks the bottles appeared fine... however the ones I drank were in the only 3 amber bottles (the rest were in green bottles), so I probably might not have seen the flakes if they were in these bottles. Now, a few weeks later, all of these ginger beers have developed the same floating white flakes!
I originally thought maybe it was because I used carbonation drops that may have been out of date or something (I rarely use carbo drops), but then I realised I also used raw sugar to carbonate some of the lagers which still had the same problem.
Has anyone had this before? Does anyone know what this is and how to avoid it?
Cheers!
The first time I noticed it was when I made a Heineken style lager. When I bottled the beer it was very clear and perfect in terms of cleanliness etc. I cleaned the bottles in a dishwasher using normal detergent, then used a no-rinse sanitiser in each bottle and also rinsed thoroughly (I do this with all of my bottles and have had no issues before). Once this beer was conditioned in the bottle (2 weeks) I noticed there was the usual sediment at the bottom of the bottle, but also a very noticeable layer of white flakes floating on the top of the liquid. I tried chilling a few bottles, but this did nothing. I took a bottle down to my local homebrew advisor/retailer and he said it was probably just some yeast sediment that happened to float, but wasn't detrimental to the beer and might come out with age. He tasted it and said it tasted fine and not infected or anything. This white flakiness was apparent in every bottle of the brew.
I then made a non-alcoholic ginger beer using the Coopers ginger beer kit (stirring the brew every couple of bottles to make sure it was all mixed consistently). After 2 weeks the bottles appeared fine... however the ones I drank were in the only 3 amber bottles (the rest were in green bottles), so I probably might not have seen the flakes if they were in these bottles. Now, a few weeks later, all of these ginger beers have developed the same floating white flakes!
I originally thought maybe it was because I used carbonation drops that may have been out of date or something (I rarely use carbo drops), but then I realised I also used raw sugar to carbonate some of the lagers which still had the same problem.
Has anyone had this before? Does anyone know what this is and how to avoid it?
Cheers!
