Pellicle Photo Collection

Bretted berliner Weisse on peach purée. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1433432557.565687.jpg

 

I've been to the Pilsner urquell brewery and they still do small batches in open wooden vats and secondary in huge wooden barrels in their lager caves. The beer was amazing

 

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Another berliner Weisse. 2nd generation wyeast L. brevis. Still pretty slow to sour.

 

Wow! Just lacto in this one?

 

And today. Opened it to take a reading.

 

As far as I know!

 

That is awesome, do you have photos of the lager cave?

I would love to see what they look like. (Although, I suppose I could Google it.)

 

The newly grown pellicle on a 6-7 month old sour brown with dregs from a few belgian sours and Jester King



This is 2 weeks later

 

I like your style.

 

Cantillon has the huge advantage of sheer volume to blend from.

It's not like they're doing single batches that consistently come out the same, they're blending 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year old beers together to create the final product. That's how they are consistently getting something that tastes good, I'd wager there's more then a few barrels in Cantillon's cellar that if tasted alone would not be so appealing.

 

Is that the one from Cascade that you sent me?

 

I have been to the Cantillon brewery multiple times, so was able to do the tour and have a few really interesting conversations with Jean Van Roy. I am familiar with how they do things. I was actually there the day after the last public brew day, which was bad timing on my part. I wish I would of realized that prior to booking flights, that would of been a cool experience. Anyway, I was just pointing out that they may have more variation than some breweries such as Rodenbach and New Belgium due to some reasons that are outside their control. They all do a lot of blending, but Rodenach/NB do things such as pasteurization to control the final product and the effects of aging it, where as Cantillon does not. Obviously, once bottled, the storage conditions will have an impact on final flavor.

Personally, I liked NB La Folie better before they started pasteurizing it, but have not tried multiple vintages of non-pasteurized side by side to see how much it actually did vary. The pasteurized ones are fairly consistent year to year.

 

No, the cascade isolate is relatively fast. I used it in a BW and at 2.5 months, it is quite tart and very clean. The other two i used at the same time (2nd gen Brevis and grown-up bottle dregs from Hottenroth) still have some sulfur. In that one, the starter (what I sent you) had a decent pellicle but the BW didn't.

 

Brett blend from The Yeast Bay. The surface was completely clear when I woke up yesterday, so I got to watch this develop throughout the day.

 

Brown porter, with a Crooked Stave starter that turned to vinegar. So I decided to go with it and pitched it with the dregs from a bottle of apple cider vinegar.

I gave it a good stir right after taking this picture.

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Ride the lightning!

 

why would you do that? you want more vinegar in your beer?

 

This is a gallon of porter in a ceramic crock, so yes. As awesome as that pellicle looked, it had to go. :cross:

 

not often that you hear of someone wanting more vinegar...

 

Yep, I should have been more descriptive. The mixed starter overflowed and got an acetobacter infection (slimy, wort was almost entirely vinegar). I had some porter lying around that didn't come out quite right, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to give vinegar a go...in a completely different room from any of my equipment or fermenters, of course.

The pellicle was unintended, but probably inevitable, given the mix of organisms.

 

I think he wants more beer in his vinegar...

 

One might even say I want more vinegar, and no beer, in this instance.

 

Ah yes, the old Reese's riddle. Is it peanut butter with chocolate, or chocolate with peanut butter?

 

My 6 month old Flanders red or something close to it. It's also my first attempt at souring. I now have a few other funky beers in the works, but this one has a special place in my heart...I can't wait for it to have a special place in my tummy.

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Lambic after 4 mo in primary. Already nicely funky and lightly tart. Racked to secondary with more dregs and wine (Chardonnay & Pinot noir soaked oak)

Fresh wort went on the cake, of course.

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This sucker isn't even fermenting yet!
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C'mon Cage! you're comin' with me!

 

Not the best photo, but you can kinda see whats going on.

Left: Extract lambic, brewed in Dec 2014. Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend and numerous bottle dregs in there. It has a pretty pellicle going, but its hard to get photos of it. It went to town during primary, so the majority of top of the carboy is caked in krausen still. Nice sharp sourness already.

Middle: Flanders Red brewed in March 2015 I believe. Just some bubbles forming, but not much of a full Pellicle. I've only opened it once for a quick sample. Seems to be souring already, though just slightly. Plenty of time left for this one.

Right: Botched Beliner Weisse turned golden sour? I ended up fermenting a basic Berliner with US-05 in March, then pitched Wyeast 5335 Lacto after I racked to secondary about a week later. I later realized I messed up the order of pitching, and couldn't expect much souring. I tossed in some maltodextrin, and pitched Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend. As you can see, it appears to be working haha.

 

Berliner pellicle. Lacto Brevis w/ TYB Amalgamation.
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Sour saison after almost 2 months in primary. Belgian saison yeast, Brett C, dregs from Mikkeller spontansweetcherry, as well as a sour red from Marz Community Brewing. Racked to secondary after I took this pic. Smells and tastes funky and already a tad sour. My first attempt at souring. Giving it another year or so in secondary.

 

Petite brett saison. Pellicle creeping up from underneath the dry hops. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1435807168.374903.jpg

 

The Yeast Bay's Melange.

 

Gnarly. How long has it been fermenting and at what temp? Have a batch w that going now. 7 days in.

 

I brewed it June 7 and have been keeping it at 70 degrees. I get a heavy smell of strawberries, I haven't tasted it yet though.

 

Wow, she's a real beaut Clark!

 

Took a hydro sample of one bucket of my berliner today. 7 weeks in primary. This got a home grown lacto culture, followed by US-05 four days later.

Somewhere a few pages back is the lacto pellicle before the yeast.

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This is a Dupont saison inoculated with Vieille Crooked Stave dregs... I've never seen pink beer or pellicles before, have you? View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1436131603.060004.jpg View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1436131620.572505.jpg View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1436131635.190660.jpg

 

Btw it got extremely oxidized (for a sour) and now tastes like vinegar...

 

The pink is from oxidation. Really light beers that oxidize often turn pink or even darker red/purple. I get that sometimes just from leaving a light beer in a glass in the fridge for a day or two. I think I read someone saying it might be an oxidative yeast changing the color.

 

Wow. Weird. I've read to never, ever throw out a sour beer, bc age can sometimes make it better. Is vinegar beer an exception?