Possible infection in secondary, need help!

[KBP]

About a month and half ago i brewed a smoked imperial porter, had an blow out after about 3 days in primary and lost about a gallon but had no problem with infection getting in due to krausen, skip to today where my buddy (it's at his house) decides to finally share he noticed a thin whitish film on top. it has been about 4 weeks in secondary as it is a very complex and rich porter, and I am attaching a picture although i haven't seen it in person, I will assess and bottle or toss on tuesday. it kinda looks like harmless fermented foam but I have never done a beer this long in secondary so i am not sure. any and all help is appreciated....I should add i used Wyeast - Belgian Strong Ale 1388, can this cause a pellicle layer?

 

[Nosybear]

It's harmless fermentor foam until you know otherwise. Taste it. If it's serious, you'll know immediately.

 

[griz]

Had small fermentation blow out with Belgian Blonde during 1st fermentation. Wasn't worried about infection since so much goo was flowing out of the carboy. Racked batch into 2nd carboy and later put into keg. Batch turned out GREAT!

 

[PZ]

That's a lot of head space. I would worry about oxidation.

 

[UgliestLemming]

That looks like a brett pellicle to me. It may be just the way the light is being bent by the glass but those bigger bubbles look a lot like it. Examples. Also, no 1388 doesn't form a pellicle on it's own as far as I know.

 

[Nosybear]

Yeah, those thready things look like a pellicle of some kind to me as well. As stated earlier, if you have this much bacteria, you'll have some indication other than the pellicle that the beer is bad. This beer will have off-flavors. Whether it's bad or not is a matter of taste.

 

[bret america]

I agree with others that it looks like a pellicle from Brett. I added Brett to a secondary last year and had the same exact film - see attached. It could also potentially be lactobacillus or pediococcus as I believe they both have a membrane as well. Either way make sure it is fermented out completely as Brett will chomp on additional dextrins that Sacc does not.