clear slime on beer: help/info needed

[Harold]

Hi Guys,

I began another experimental batch of beer last Sunday with hopes of doing a run in the middle of next week. For the sake of making things short I did the following:

1. Began with 3.5 gal of water at 165F and introduced 5 pounds of flaked corn.
2. Allowed temp to drop to 152F and added 1 lb of 6 row Barley
3. Stirred every 15 minutes for 90 min and allowed pot to set and settle
4. 10 hours later mash had cooled to slightly less than 100F. Conversion complete (no blue) and SG=1.062
5. Dissolved 20 pounds of sugar in sufficient water to bring total water used to 14.75 gal
6. New SG= 1.072
7. Pitched 3 packages of EC 1118 yeast
8. Aerated soup off and on for 30 hours using oilless air-pump and stone. Soup temp is stabalized at 72F.
9. Observed several days for continuous activity. Observation positive to include today but activity is slowing.

This makes day 6. When using a ladle to remove liquid for testing, a clear string of slime was noticed clinging to my ladle. The string of slime breaks from the surface of my soup at about 1.75 inches. Stated differently, touch the surface of my beer with a spoon, carefully lift the spoon from the surface and a string of very clear slime will adhere to the spoon and communicate between the surface of the liquid and the spoon until a distance of ~1.75 inches has been reached and then the string of slime breaks. The soup has begun to have a slightly sour taste (as I would expect) and sweetness has decreased considerably.

I don't know what this slime is. I have never experienced this in the past. I still see particles rising and falling in my soup (but not as quickly nor as abundantly as day three) and there is a strong smell of alcohol. I allowed the few drops of liquid in my ladle to evaporate leaving a clear, nearly sticky, oil-like residue that easily dissolved (washed away) in running water.

Has anyone ever experienced this? Should I feed my yeast?

Harold