Pellicle Photo Collection

My Flanders Red at 5 months. Basically Jamil's recipe but with a half pound of Turbinado. Cup of Pinot added and french oak cubes at 2 months. Wooden dowel in the bung. Oh, and dregs from Sofie and Matilda. Not sure how the extra Brett is gonna go but, hey, all sours have a different profile.

Coff said:

BugFarm 5 in a Blonde wort.

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I've never brewed a sour, so I have nothing to add. I aspire to it some day. I mainly wanted to say this is a spectacular photo!!

ECY02 in my Flanders red before transfer to better bottle.


Lactobacillus only ferment unhopped wort.


The same beer a few days later when it started to stink like assy rotten corn.

I threw my lacto starter out when it started to smell like vomit

Silly move, sounds like it was perfect!

Native302 said:

I threw my lacto starter out when it started to smell like vomit

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It greatly diminished. I suspect it was due to EXTREMELY high level of diacetyl which lacto and pedio are known for producing. So with nothing like yeast available to reduce the diacetyl down the smell and flavors build into a real nasty rotten corn odor. Once I tossed yeast in there it started to die down, then when I blended it with a hopped and non-lacto'd portion it really died down. It's at the point now where I know its there because I tasted it before but its continuing to die off. I have a brewbelt heater on the fermentor again today in hops the T58 will finish the beer off and reduce all the diacetyl down.

The one starter I did that is in the picture smells fruity. Why such a difference?

elproducto said:

Silly move, sounds like it was perfect!

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No it was vile. I can take a lot but that almost made me sick.

Funky Belgian single with roeselare. It took three months for the pellicle to start forming.

Posted this in a question thread, but thought I'd share here. This is what formed on a homemade lacto starter I made. Used Morkin's method. 1 cup crushed malt to 1 cup 130 degree water in a jar. Covered in foil and let sit for a week. This is what was showed up after about 4 days...

Sorry for the poor photo quality, but here's my 100% Brett B pellicle at 2 1/2 months.

100% WLP Brett C at 2 months

ECY Flemmish





ECY Bugfarm V

Anybody got a clue about this one? I did a Saison/Trappist beer for 3 weeks in the primary. Then racked onto 2 vanilla beans and 6# canned peaches...here's what I saw 2 weeks later. It looks like a disease cesspool, but I grabbed a sample and it tasted like beer - a little sour but not bad by any means. Will this turn into a lambic in a few month? Any suggestions about how to proceed? THANKS!!!

Let it ride
!

That is a thing of beauty Sir! I'm completely jealous.

I'm going to let it ride then!!! Never done this before so

1. Should I ever rack off the fruit?
2. How long should I ride this bastard out?

I would leave it like it is for 9 months or until the pelicle falls, whichever comes first.

Native302 said:

I would leave it like it is for 9 months or until the pelicle falls, whichever comes first.

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What about the peaches? Isn't there a chance they will rot in there?

They were canned peaches, introduced to 5.5 gallons of 7.6% ABV beer - but you can see from the pictures, half of the peaches are hovering above the beer line...so I'm kinda worried they may go bad in 9 months.

Am I just being a nervous Nelly?

Unibrow said:

What about the peaches? Isn't there a chance they will rot in there?

They were canned peaches, introduced to 5.5 gallons of 7.6% ABV beer - but you can see from the pictures, half of the peaches are hovering above the beer line...so I'm kinda worried they may go bad in 9 months.

Am I just being a nervous Nelly?

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"Rot" is a microbial process. Keep it sanitary, and there shouldn't be anything to worry about.

stubbornman said:

ECY Flemmish

ECY Bugfarm V

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Where are you buying the ECY yeast/bugs?

Tiber_Brew said:

Where are you buying the ECY yeast/bugs?

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Princeton home brew, love2brew, and directly from Al at ECY if you are buying as a club, 20 bottle minimum order.

Had a batch of Moose Drool clone that I didin't get drank before I took off for Afghan the Trashcan so I dumped a can of sour cherry puree and the dregs of a Crooked Stave WWBG in it before I left. My wife just sent me this pic. Go figure, I finally get something to grow, and I'm not there to watch it

mountainman13 said:

Had a batch of Moose Drool clone that I didin't get drank before I took off for Afghan the Trashcan so I dumped a can of sour cherry puree and the dregs of a Crooked Stave WWBG in it before I left. My wife just sent me this pic. Go figure, I finally get something to grow, and I'm not there to watch it

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At least you can't drink it too soon! Stay safe!

Ok I'm in it for the long haul. I took out the vanilla bean you see protruding out in post 414

I told the wife this will be the hardest 9 months of our life...she didn't really see the irony, and of course, got mad and retaliated by proclaiming she won't drink it because it's covered in bacteria. She has problems seeing the big picture.

Unibrow said:

I told the wife this will be the hardest 9 months of our life...she didn't really see the irony, and of course, got mad and retaliated by proclaiming she won't drink it because it's covered in bacteria. She has problems seeing the big picture.

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Tell her that certain parts of her are "covered in bacteria" yet you have not problem eating that.

copyright1997 said:

Tell her that certain parts of her are "covered in bacteria" yet you have not problem eating that.

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Now THAT is what I'm talkin' bout

Wyeast 3278 Lambic Blend after 1 year bulk aging and 3 months aging on peaches.

Rye Saison with Brett B and some Brett C saturated oak cubes

Sofie Clone- Pitched Brett B and Belgian Saison yeast from the start. Pellicle showed up as soon as the krausen dropped, less than 3 days. Airlock still has a lot of activity.

copyright1997 said:

Tell her that certain parts of her are "covered in bacteria" yet you have not problem eating that.

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She's likely also missing that the same bacteria that's probably in the beer (lacto) is in that same place.

It's in its infancy but here it is.. Pitched dregs from (local) squatters fifth element and orval

small update in this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/pellicle-photo-collection-174033/index41.html#post3951962

My Flanders turned 6 months on Sunday. Told myself I wasn't going to taste any of the three sours until they were that old. Drew a sample and gave it a go. Very pleased as how this is turning out. The nose on it was great. Slightly sweet but has a nice sour bit to it. The body is a little week and hopefully it will mature in time. The oak is definitely present and I like it. Leaves a nice aftertaste from it.

Zante brett blonde with roselare.

2 month old WLP670...

100% Brett C Farmhouse Ale with Oak

Brett Saison

Saison w/ figs & dates that got Brett B & Brett L. These 2 pics were taken 1 week apart

dcHokie said:

Saison w/ figs & dates that got Brett B & Brett L. These 2 pics were taken 1 week apart

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Dude. Awesome pellicle. Wow. Just wow.

I opened up a fermenter a few weeks ago and saw a small pellicle-like skin on top of my CLEAN blueberry beer. Saddened, I tried to save the beer by pitched many, MANY different dregs from some of my favorite beers into it. Got some Sacchro, Brett, Lacto, even some Pedio into it, and several times.

Luckily, about a month later, I opened up to this...





*tear* It's so beautiful. It smells exactly like the lacto-rich Cascade Brewing blueberry sour ale. Can't wait to taste this guy.

Checked my lambic type beer two weeks after brewing and it looks like I have some nice green mold. Should I just dump this batch?