Pellicle in bottles

Hi guys,

Im sure i didnt handle the stress of my first pellicle properly, i kinda freaked out. I recently had an interesting pellicle show up in my Belgian Dubbel. Well, i siphoned off 3 gallons out from under the pellicle and left a couple gallons as a buffer to make sure i didnt pull anything from infected top. I primed and bottled immediately that day and a couple days later i found that my new dubbel bottles also had the pellicle showing, looking exactly like its larger parent. I saw some photos in the pellicle pics thread that led me to beleive that this particular microbe was desirable by some folks. I could be way off. Anyway, i guess my question is, do i need to dispose of these innoculated bottles? Or can i let it ride and have these be drinkable beers in some amount of time? i assume the pellicle will fall into the beer after a while. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

Edit: After some more forum research i guess the pellicle will eventually fall into the beer and all is well. Something i forgot to mention is that the beer tasted fine, the pellicle had just formed over the past 2 or 3 days before it was discovered so no change I couldnt detect any flavor changes. Basically id like to know if it is possible that a wild pellicle could be harmful to the imbiber...

My understanding is that there's very little that can grow in beer that would be harmful. That said, i you didn't plan for it, it's probably not going to taste very good once those bugs really contribute flavor. I'd recommend drinking it quickly if it tastes good.

What was your final gravity? You probably have a few cases of bottle bombs on your hands

monkeybox said:

My understanding is that there's very little that can grow in beer that would be harmful.

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Untrue. NOTHING harmful can grow in beer. Drink away

The pellicle just means the presence of a little oxygen.. big concern is was the gravity stable enough after the infection..

spenghali said:

What was your final gravity? You probably have a few cases of bottle bombs on your hands

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This would be my biggest concern as well!

Well it was steady a for about a week before i noticed the infection. I was bulk aging to develop some character and this little miracle happened. I guess what im hearing is this different microbe could drop the FG below what my White Labs bugs could do? i did bottle a few in PET cause i bring them to a guy at work. These have carbed up pretty hard already... I think these will be moved to an ice chest to mitigate the blast

So if i want to drink these, i can just pour through the fuzzy mat at the top of the bottle? i guess that sounds better than letting it melt into the beer. ill give one a try when i get home. Thanks for the input guys!

Chromebrew said:

I guess what im hearing is this different microbe could drop the FG below what my White Labs bugs could do?

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What bugs? What yeast did you pitch?

WLP500, Primary for about 2 weeks then was in secondary about 3 weeks before pelliclization. I know what happened after examining my equipment. It looks like i had just used water in airlock and it got funky. Lesson learned, i normally use a heavy starsan solution but i slipped up this time.

Yeah, no bugs in that but you definitely caught one.. wouldn't think it would be the airlock fluid unless you got a little suck back and infected it that way.. best of luck on not having bombs but if it turns a little sour you might like it more

The bugs will work pretty slow, so you could potentially get them carbed in a few weeks from the sacch left in there, then store them all in the fridge to avoid explosions.

Cool! ill carefully move them to the beer fridge tonight...i would hate to have to clean it out from a stick mess though...

Chromebrew said:

Cool! ill carefully move them to the beer fridge tonight...i would hate to have to clean it out from a stick mess though...

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Put them in a bag, then put the bag in the fridge.

Chromebrew said:

Well, i siphoned off 3 gallons out from under the pellicle and left a couple gallons as a buffer to make sure i didnt pull anything from infected top. I primed and bottled immediately that day and a couple days later i found that my new dubbel bottles also had the pellicle showing, looking exactly like its larger parent.

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it's not just "the top" that is infected - all the beer it. bugs make a pellicle to protect themselves against oxygen. since there was only oxygen on top, that's where the pellicle developed. so pulling beer from under the pellicle didn't protext you from the infect, hence the re-appearance in the bottles of the white web.

Chromebrew said:

Cool! ill carefully move them to the beer fridge tonight...i would hate to have to clean it out from a stick mess though...

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leave them out long enough to carb, tho. open testers until you hit the right carbonation, then put in fridge. bugs work slowly, so chances are you can go the usual 2-3 weeks, get normal carbonation, then chill. if you put them in the fridge too soon, the beer won't be carbonated (and it won't carbonate in the fridge - cold temps slow down all bugs)

Bugs will eat more complex sugars than regular yeast. If you got an infection the bugs will be in all of the beer... Not just underneath the surface. If your bottles sit to long at room temp they will explode due to the extra sugar the other bugs will convert. Be careful.