Beer Forum

I bottled a California Common (wyeast 2112) a few weeks ago and now I am starting to see what looks like yeast forming at the tops of the bottles. It's white milky spots that look like yeast sediment, but floating. It is not creating a ring around the neck, it's just floating. The beer tastes fine. Is it possible that the yeast is still chewing sugars and will floc out later? Or is this an infection starting?

Hopmonkey

Unfortunately, it's likely an infection.
Yeast usually just settles on the bottom of the bottles. A miniature krausen ring only foms when there's an infection going on.

Take a couple bottles and keep them really warm. If you can put them near a heater vent, that would be best.
(Wrap them in a towel just in case). You want to accelerate any infection by warming them up.

After a week, pop one open and taste it. If its a gusher right away, you have your answer. Otherwise, taste it and see if any off flavors have formed.

You should cool down the rest now before they go infected or dump them if they get really bad. (or you can give them to your local BJCP judge to use for an off-flavor class/exam beer).

+1 to Bdawg. Try holding a bottle up to the light and look where the beer/air interface is in the top of the bottle neck. Shine a flashlight there and look to see if you have any white dots forming on the inside of the glass where the beer and air meet. This can be a huge indication of an infection in your beer.

Thanks for the responses. That is what I thought and was worried about. It is white an milky like yeast, so I was hoping.

I'll try to chill a few down and see what happens.


Thanks