WTF! first batch with wild yeast. infected?

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killsurfcity

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hello. i caught some yeast in my yard a while ago and i decided to use it to funk up some robust porter i was brewing. so i split the boiled wart between 5gal and a 1gal fermenters. the 5 gal i did with regular yeast, the 1 gal with wild yeast. the idea was that i would sample the wild when it was done and if the flavor seemed like something that would work, i'd add it to the 5 gal.

well, when i sampled it it tasted pretty fantastic, so i racked them into a separate fermenter and let it sit. i was planning to let it sit for a while too, because i figured it would taste best if it matured some, so it has just been sitting in this fermenter a couple weeks.

now the fermenter is not transparent, so i couldn't see into it this whole time and today i decided to give it a look, and well, it looked pretty f-in weird.
kind of like one of those alien egg collections from sci-fi movies.

first thing i thought, of course, was infection, but doesn't that smell real bad. this looks awful but smells fruity and delicious.

anyone ever seen anything like this? what should i do?

wtf.png
 
Looks like a pretty characteristic brett pellicle. When you say "i caught some yeast in my yard" were you expecting it to be like brewers yeast? Most wild yeast is what people refer to as "infected."
 
That is the most beautiful 'infected' beer picture I've ever seen. Perfect circles of CO2 bubbles. Just wonderful. My sour beers never look as cool as that.

It looks like nothing is wrong if you just took some random bugs from outside. If it tastes good then all is well and you're set up for a kick ass beer.
 
When I first looked at that picture, my thought was "This guy has an electron microscope at his disposal? COOL!"
 
phew! that's good news. i thought i was probably ok, because it didn't look like any of the stuff you're used to seeing like mold, etc. and it does smell great.

so do i wait for this to fall like krausen? or can i just rack and bottle?

ChshreCat said:
When I first looked at that picture, my thought was "This guy has an electron microscope at his disposal? COOL!"
yeah, i thought the same thing when it popped up in iphoto. it came out better than i expected.

thanks for the input guys!
 
To me, that looks like a picture taken by a scanning electron microscope! Did you actually take that picture?
 
phew! that's good news. i thought i was probably ok, because it didn't look like any of the stuff you're used to seeing like mold, etc. and it does smell great.

so do i wait for this to fall like krausen? or can i just rack and bottle?


yeah, i thought the same thing when it popped up in iphoto. it came out better than i expected.

thanks for the input guys!

yeah you're going to want to wait and make sure the brett attenuates out fully before bottling.
 
It's possible to do it without capturing the pellicle forming critters but you didn't do anything wrong...it will just be sour & funky.
 
You have got to let it sit for a long time now, brett attenuates further than normal brewers yeast, and slower too.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I guess I'll let her sit for a while. I'm good to bottle once the pellicle is gone?

And to whomever asked, I did actually take that pic. It blew me away too when I loaded it on the computer. I thought man I know I was shooting in macro, but this is ridiculous! D'dunt-tssssssshhhh!
 
Just an FYI, a while means at least 6 months, I would wait at least 8 to sample. If not good, wait a few more months and sample again.
 
31-15-BuddingYeast.jpg


well... they look similar, it's probably yeast...

wait ! this isn't a microscope pic ??!?!?

wow these are the biggest yeast cells ever :D
 
I would let it sit 8 months before bottling. Brett will slowly keep feeding on the other bugs as they die off so it takes a long time for full attenuation. Besides the beer will need that long for the flavors to meld.

I bet it tastes awesome when it's a year grain to glass.
 
Just out of curiousity, if he captured random bugs from his yard, why do you automatically assume it's brett? There are lots of different strains of wild yeast around, although brett isn't uncommon.
 
Not sure where this guy is from but I heard on TV that the ohio valley area has the largest concentration of wild yeast and mold in the entire country. Probably because it seems to never quit raining here. They claim there are "many" different strains.
 
Awesome pic! Do you have a larger version for wallpaper purposes? And maybe some shots from farther away? :)
 
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