Pellicle in Belgian IPA

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ploppythesausage

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I have a pellicle forming on my Belgian IPA - a dusty, bubbly pellicle. Not sure where it came from, nothing was deliberately added to the beer to wildify it.
Given the amount of hops used (200g+) would this not have kept certain infections at bay?
 
Yes it would keep certain infections at bay, commercial lacto cultures i believe, but not all.
 
What does it taste like.

What alcohol level.

I suspect only Brett would be able to do much to it.

Orval make a nice beer. Might be interesting to see if it changes over time.

..... Might be nothing.
 
I'd be quite pleased if it was brett - the alcohol level is around 9%. I think i'll bottle soon and drink quicky to enjoy at least some of them dry-hopped.

Taste is good, hoppy fruity and belgian yeasty (T58).
 
I've yet to taste it since the pellicle formed but it smells distinctly like pineapple. My only hope is that the dry-hops do not fade too much. I'm going to bottle this weekend, it smells amazing. I'm thinking it is brett although I have no idea where that would have come from. Or possibly lacto from spent grain leftover from using my bucket as a mash tun...either way, smells awesome!
 
+1 High hopping rates do not make up for inadequate sanitation.

I was asking whether it would keep 'certain' infections at bay. I am under the impression that a high amount of hops favours sacc over other yeasts (such as lacto - hence low hopping rates in lambic), and am trying to establish what 'infection' it could be.

Brett seems the likely one - no brett has come into contact with this bucket and it was sanitised before use, however it may have come indirectly from somewhere else (i did make a mango sour with orval dregs a while back). So it's possibly been sitting chewing its way through a badly-washed piece of kit.
 
I was asking whether it would keep 'certain' infections at bay. I am under the impression that a high amount of hops favours sacc over other yeasts (such as lacto - hence low hopping rates in lambic), and am trying to establish what 'infection' it could be.

Brett seems the likely one - no brett has come into contact with this bucket and it was sanitised before use, however it may have come indirectly from somewhere else (i did make a mango sour with orval dregs a while back). So it's possibly been sitting chewing its way through a badly-washed piece of kit.

The acids in hops have preservative qualities, and will hold back many forms of both Lacto and Pedio. I'm not sure how much of the oils you get in solution by dry hopping. Most hop oils are insoluble in wort, that's why we boil them, to try and isomerize the oils to get them to dissolve.
 
Bottled this yesterday and poured myself a wee glass of flat beer. Seriously tasty stuff - like a citrusy Orval (with Cascade and Nelson hops). Definitely Brett going on in there, fruity funkiness mixes well with the hops and grape juice, and there is a slight sourness that is difficult to tell apart from the hoppy bitterness. Tastes like the best white wine I never had. Saved a gallon in a glass demijohn (I ran out of bottles), might toss some oak in there and see how it goes.

As to where the brett came from all I can think of is that I made a mango ipa with orval dregs 6 months ago. The only piece of equipment in common was the siphon wand which i left in one of my ferementing buckets. I can only assume i didn't wash either of them thoroughly enough and the brett from the siphon wand has been chewing it's way through some sugar in the bucket. And i'm quite happy it did :D
 
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