Is this a Pellicle or Infection?

[kwilson16]

Hello All,
I have a Spiced Cherry Dubbel in the fermenter for Christmas. I split the 10gal batch into two 5gal fermenters after soaking each of them on 5lbs of hand picked cherries. One of the fermenters developed a white-gray film on top. The beer still smells good but do you think this is an infection or some sort of pellicle?

I still have 5gal that is separated for the 12 beers of Christmas.

Thanks for any info/advice!

 

[mashpaddled]

Very likely a pellicle from an infection. Looking at the pellicle won't tell you what it is. Could be lactic acid bacteria, could be wild yeast, could be a combination of yeast and bacteria.

You can roll with it and take your chances that you will like the end result. You can package it and try to drink it before it starts to develop character you don't want. You could attempt to kill off what's in there, pitch new yeast and hope it comes out ok. You can dump it.

 

[hottpeper13]

We had a barrel go off and filled 5 kegs with it. One was camdened to kill it and it stayed the same for the time it was dispensed. One was kicked at a fish fry a week later and enjoyed by all. The other 3 were eventually dumped within 2 months on tap.