Ring around the bottle

[dragonbiker]

Does a ring aroung your bottle neck always means a bacterial infection? I've noticed that a couple batches that i brewed in the summer time have rings. They gush a little bit but I blamed it on super high priming temps (up in the 80s). They taste okay, one porter, one stout, so if they went lactic it wasn't that perceivable. Anyway, all opinions are welcome.

I'm not quite as obsessive these days, I only brew in colder months.

[Danno]

Not always. Sometimes priming with malt extract can leave a ring.

[dragonbiker]

AHHH, thanx man, I was getting worried. I'm pretty annal about keeping things clean and the thought that its not good enough and need to be even more annal is a real drag.

[Danno]

I should have added that bottling in the summer versus winter shouldn't have anything to do with priming level. Eventually, the yeast will consume all consumable sugars. It will happen faster with the warm temps but the end result is the same. I suspect you either over primed or were not completely attenuated when you bottled.

So did you prime with malt extract? If so, there's no need to. Just use table sugar (adjust for the difference in fermentability).

If you ever think you have a lacto infection, save one bottle for 6 months down the road. It will get worse and you can confirm it when you taste it months latter.

[ionia_ales]

I have had a few rings around the bottle. one didn't seem too bad, the other turned into gushers. If you do notice a ring, or a oily-pellicle film on the top of the beer in the bottle, it's likely you have a wild yeast. Another indication is a hazy brew, when it should be clear.
These wild yeasts will eat up your unfermentables, and leave you with overcarb'd beer with little body.

[yodar]

I have haf it twice. I bottle a few in Cornoa bottles for the very pupose of identifying clarity issues prior to refrigeration

Once it was fungi (bad santitation-I could SEE the green penicillium nottaum growig happily there
I threw the beer out (sob!) :>(javascript:emoticon(':(')
Sad

The next time the bottle ring deposit looked like a mineral pellicle and I tested the beer cautiously and it was excellent, and I consumed the entire batch with no ill effects.

I wonder if it is a mineral component of my hard water coming out of solution during bottle cleaning-sanitation in Star San which is a phosphoric acid product

Dad, a chemist, would know, God rest him

Yodar