Pellicle forming in the bottle

boostsr20 · 09-14-2011, 07:23 PM

Is this a direct sign that it was bottled too soon? I left in on the brett for 3 months and in that time it....
1. Grew a pellicle within 2 days.
2. took the gravity from 1.010 to 1.001 (checked with 2 hydrometers)
3. Dropped the pellicle after 2 months.

Its now 2 weeks in the bottle and I'm noticing a "film" in the neck over the beer. I chilled one overnight and popped it open. The carb is still really low but the taste and aroma were amazing. Gravity was checked AFTER the pellicle drop, the carboy was not disturbed in any way and the temps have only swung either way by a couple degrees.

DarkBrood · 09-14-2011, 07:33 PM

I've had a couple with a lacto pellicle that reappeared in the bottle. After a bit of longer-than-usual storage, the pellicle in the bottle fell into the yeast sediment. A little swirl once or twice to moisten the "ring" and that disappeared about a week later. Bottles look clean, pour nice, and the lacto integrated nicely in the flavors. Of course, that's lacto vs. brett, but my assumption would be that the brett will fall eventually too. I've talked to quite a few people who have done lambics and found thick, nasty-looking pellicles in their bottles....after sufficient aging, they generally fall/integrate too (but then, some lambics take 1-3yrs to age, not sure if your recipe can stand that long....)

**passedpawn** · 09-14-2011, 07:37 PM

It's getting good now. Don't worry, that pellicle will not pour out and make your beer look like vomit.

boostsr20 · 09-14-2011, 07:45 PM

Cool. thanks fellas. I was just a tad thrown off as I've never seen this before in others that I've bottle. I just went down a look at a couple of sour beers from Commercial brewers and there are a couple that have it as well.

**smokinghole** · 09-15-2011, 12:16 AM

It likely is just the effect of some oxygen ingress while bottling. I have some bottles of old ale that have a pellicle in the neck from May and some it fell.