Brett or something else?

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twohands

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So I opened my Belgian IPA to see if gravity had stopped, and to my initial horror I found this...

Is this Brett? Is this some nameless evil which will cause me to dump and then cry into my (other) beer? I've never done a sour, so I don't know.

pellicle.jpg
 
No tasting yet - it was clear yesterday AM, and now this today. If it looks like lacto I'll wait a while and see, even though I've been told that a Belgian IPA isn't the best sour beer base. I mean, there's nothing but upside from here right? Its infected, so either I dump here, or I wait and see...

Thanks for the response.
 
that doesnt look like lacto to me, that looks more like an oxidative yeast ie brett

the only way that I have seen lacto is small bubbles on the surface and an extremely turbid wort

I say taste it, and see how it is

do you keg or bottle? if it doesnt taste horrible, but at the same time your not interested in funk, rack keg and drink
 
do you keg or bottle? if it doesnt taste horrible, but at the same time your not interested in funk, rack keg and drink

I'm happy to try funk, but am I gonna have to dedicate that keg to sours?
 
~2weeks - primary ferment w/ White labs Saison yeast was just finishing up. Krausen dropped couple days ago, and this AM i got the scary film.
 
that doesnt look like lacto to me, that looks more like an oxidative yeast ie brett

the only way that I have seen lacto is small bubbles on the surface and an extremely turbid wort . . .

I stand corrected, I know nothing:mug:
 
Seems like I'm gonna dump it - its got the dreaded "nail polish remover" smell.:(
 
That looks a bit like pediococous. I say age it for a few months and see what happens. Might end up being mighty tasty!
 
2 weeks with a pellicle like that already? That seems awfully fast, especially for an accidental infection. Was it a repitch?
 
But it's in a bucket with lots of O2 available. Nail polish means acetobacter. It has that ropey look from pedio... which is known to "clean up" after a few weeks. I would never dump! Taste it, and then taste it again in two weeks. Also the dupont saison strain which I think it what you are using is known to taste like crap for about 2-3 months and then tastes amazing after it ages.
 
I'd be careful with that bucket. Plastic is a lot harder to get completely sanitary after it gets infected. If you're going to try any other purposefully sour/brett beers you may be able to use this, but it's usually a good idea to have any plastic gear that comes in contact w/ bacteria and/or brett set aside just for that use and maintain a seperate "clean" set of plastic for everything else.
 
Don't toss it out. If it's not brett, you could add some. My guess would be lacto.

Either way taste it. If it's not too great (tastes sorta-infected) BOTTLE don't keg. If it tastes fine, keg it. If it's completely undrinkable, wait another two weeks, or add brett and wait another four weeks.

Just an extra .02
 
nail polish aka ethyl acetate, does not go away with time, nor will any bugs convert it to anything tasty

it really sucks when that flavor happens, i had a flanders red that was amazing one week and I planned to bottle, but didnt get around to it for ~3wks more (pellicle dropped) and from then on all you could taste or smell was nail polish remover, couldnt even blend it with something else to cover the taste, as ethyl acetate is noticeable on the palate at very very low levels
 
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