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Some good old brett pellicle or bad news?
 
Yes another attempt of mine of copitching brett and sach, with alot more brett this time. Thanks!
 
So are you serious about the Brett being good? Are you trying to make a sour beer? Just wondering because I have a pellicle in one of my beers and I'm trying to decide on drinking them or letting them go or dumping them. They haven't gotten bad enouph to dump but they aren't great. I know nothing about sour beers by the way if you can't tell
 
SHAIV said:
So are you serious about the Brett being good? Are you trying to make a sour beer? Just wondering because I have a pellicle in one of my beers and I'm trying to decide on drinking them or letting them go or dumping them. They haven't gotten bad enouph to dump but they aren't great. I know nothing about sour beers by the way if you can't tell
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A lot of brewers intentionally use brett. It's descriptors alone often sound something like the opposite of what you want in beer, but if those flavors are combined with other souring bacteria, or some people like it with some saison yeasts, then those aromas and flavors make for some good combos.

Just because you have a pellicle, though, doesn't mean you have brett. There are many other wild yeasts that will form them, along with many types of bacteria that will. I would just head down to your liquor store and find some lambics or any other kind of beer that's called a sour ale. Give those a try. If you like them, you might end up liking what you've got going. Although, dealing with wild infections can often lead to the wrong kind of off-flavors. This is why people who do sours will often just pitch pure cultures of whatever wild yeast or bacteria they want. If it starts to smell and taste pretty rotten, then just dump it. If it just smells and tastes a little tart, then you might have a good kind of lacto on your hands. If it starts to really smell like vinegar, then you've got acetobacter, and letting that one go will likely be unpleasant, unless you enjoy drinking lots of vinegar!
 
Wow. Reading all these horror stories makes me feel lucky. I must have 100 batches or close to it and haven't seen one yet. Of course the SS bucket prevents me from seeing anything so I guess it's possible I had one and didn't notice.

Starsan!!!!!!!!
 
Thanks for the reassurance, it wouldn't have bothered me besides the fact it appeared 5-7 weeks in and not sooner. Excited to try it and bottle
 
5-7 weeks in is perfectly normal. Pellicles are typically formed in the presence of oxygen in the headspace, so for the first month of fermentation, you had CO2 escaping from the beer and purging the headspace of oxygen. Fast forward a couple more weeks, and you don't have that any more, allowing oxygen to creep in and a pellicle to begin forming.

This would be an ideal time to rack to a carboy if you're planning on long term storage, otherwise you risk ethyl acetate and acetic acid forming in the beer.
 
roastquake said:
Update.. It looks really neat now. I may let it ride, unless anyone has other advice. Thinking about throwing in some lacto.
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Following up on my accidentally infected wheat lager. I turned out to be another example of why you should let 'em ride. I'm drinking the first bottle and its beautifully tart and crisp. This is my second lager to go sour and turn into a perfectly good sour beer, so I've decided to go ahead and start making sours
 


Is this the start of an infection? Its a mosaic pale ale that i racked last saturday and dry hopped with more mosaic. I fear the muslin bag that i used to dry hop has carried something and maybe ruined the beer. Smells ok but not as fragrant as I hoped but I was hoping to bottle it tonight. Any ideas?
 
Maybe the start of something...hard to tell at this point. Dry hop oils usually look like oil on wet pavement to me. And since it's only been about 3 days, it's a little soon to judge. Dry hopping for me is usually 5-7 days.
 
unionrdr said:
Maybe the start of something...hard to tell at this point. Dry hop oils usually look like oil on wet pavement to me. And since it's only been about 3 days, it's a little soon to judge. Dry hopping for me is usually 5-7 days.
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Sorry i wasn't clear in myself. I racked on the Saturday before last and dry hopped until Wednesday of last week. I thought i'd get a chance to bottle in then but life got in the way and my chance is tonight.

I opened it up the fermenter and although there is the oily surface, there is a bubble that i tried to picture that may be the start of an infection. Not really looking forward to bottling and only to find the batch ruined.
 
As long as it tastes ok, you should be good to go at this point. Could just be yeast floaters & hop oils. But I'd bottle it asap if it's ready. Too long & the hops could get grassy.
 
Could this be the start of an infection ? Its 9 days in first fermentor, Ive had the temperature at 18.5 degrees.

DSCF3246.jpg


infection.jpg
 
Agate said:
5-7 weeks in is perfectly normal. Pellicles are typically formed in the presence of oxygen in the headspace, so for the first month of fermentation, you had CO2 escaping from the beer and purging the headspace of oxygen. Fast forward a couple more weeks, and you don't have that any more, allowing oxygen to creep in and a pellicle to begin forming.

This would be an ideal time to rack to a carboy if you're planning on long term storage, otherwise you risk ethyl acetate and acetic acid forming in the beer.
Click to expand...

so if I'm reading this right, then my deception cream stout with 5 weeks on it is probably pellicle? this was transferred to another fermenter on day 2 because it blew up my primary.

film.jpg
 
sven12 said:
Could this be the start of an infection ? Its 9 days in first fermentor, Ive had the temperature at 18.5 degrees.
Click to expand...
Looks completely normal to me. Just left-over krausen.
LoneTreeFarms said:
so if I'm reading this right, then my deception cream stout with 5 weeks on it is probably pellicle? this was transferred to another fermenter on day 2 because it blew up my primary.
Click to expand...

That definitely looks like the start of a pellicle. At 5 weeks, with a decent, healthy yeast pitch, it should be done. I've noticed at 5 weeks, some beers can start going bad like that. O2 seeping in through the bucket seals maybe?
 
unionrdr said:
Looks completely normal to me. Just left-over krausen.


That definitely looks like the start of a pellicle. At 5 weeks, with a decent, healthy yeast pitch, it should be done. I've noticed at 5 weeks, some beers can start going bad like that. O2 seeping in through the bucket seals maybe?
Click to expand...

That's good to hear that it's just the start of pellicle. I'm happy that it's not acetobacter. I got nervous after doing all the reading and knowing that I had to transfer after fermentation had started. this was kegged and is now on tap. has a slight off taste that I'm going to try and fix with some vanilla and additional lactose.

thanks again
 
This is a firestone walker double jack clone. Mashed at 148-149
002 stopped at 1.027 so I pitched some s05 yesterday. The 002 floced out from my new ferm chamber getting to cold one night and rousing that yeast is impossible.

It has already been dry hopped, day 7 now.

There is a bit of film on top
Kinda hardto get a good photo through the top of the spiedel. .
Tried it with and without the flashlight.
What says you?
Thanks

Edit, seems to have dropped 2.5-3 points in about 30 hours. I know the bubbles are good
The film is the concern. Possibly just a mini krausen from the so5?

View attachment 1448941967599.jpg

View attachment 1448941991516.jpg

View attachment 1448942003871.jpg
 
roastquake said:
Following up on my accidentally infected wheat lager. I turned out to be another example of why you should let 'em ride. I'm drinking the first bottle and its beautifully tart and crisp. This is my second lager to go sour and turn into a perfectly good sour beer, so I've decided to go ahead and start making sours
Click to expand...

I have never had one sour by accident, but have started brewing sours and love them .

Watch out. you will get sucked down the rabbit hole and end up with carboys all over the house. I have been brewing them for a couple of years now. Several bottled , but I now have 6 carboys with sours at various stages of aging in them. Now every time I see a yard sale I look to see if they have a carboy for sale. I picked up a couple for cheap to add to my sour program. Still want more.
 
Jwin said:
This is a firestone walker double jack clone. Mashed at 148-149
002 stopped at 1.027 so I pitched some s05 yesterday. The 002 floced out from my new ferm chamber getting to cold one night and rousing that yeast is impossible.

It has already been dry hopped, day 7 now.

There is a bit of film on top
Kinda hardto get a good photo through the top of the spiedel. .
Tried it with and without the flashlight.
What says you?
Thanks

Edit, seems to have dropped 2.5-3 points in about 30 hours. I know the bubbles are good
The film is the concern. Possibly just a mini krausen from the so5?
Click to expand...

Anyone affirm this is just re - fermentation and hop oil?
 
normonster said:
You think? I kinda scrrrd. That is only 5 days in...can't imagine the wonders to come over the next two weeks.
Click to expand...

I am no expert on rice wine. You can check this monster of a thread, but I seem to remember reading that rice wine is fermented using a combination of yeast and fungi. The fungi can get kinda funky looking though.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=361095

Then again it could be mold. What do I know? I am just a guy on the internet looking at pictures of weird things in peoples fermentables.
 
Haha. Yeah, mold & bacteria do the starch conversion and then the yeast takes over but I can't find any other images of rice wine with THIS much mold.

Posted in that thread to see what people say but just in case I fired up a new batch with a different kind of rice.
 

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