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Definitely looks like a pellicle to me too. You could have picked up the infection at many points. I would be careful using any plastic equipment that touched that beer in upcoming batches for fear of repeat infection.

Mashing in on a Best Bitter right now. 9# maris otter, 1# homemade invert #2 will go in the boil along with some EKG. 1469 will be the yeast!

The gravity of your wort, pitch rate and temperature will all affect the flavor the finished beer. Higher gravity, higher temperatures and lower pitch rates will result in more yeast character. IME, fermenting a moderate gravity wort 66-68º to start will yield a very nice yeast character. Higher...

I have a few sours that are 3 years old. I have an old ale and barleywine that are approaching the two year mark. All of them are tasting VERY good.

I've done a lot of sours without hops and they always end up aggressively sour. I have switched to always using hops in my sours and I'm seeing great results with the acidity. If you do not have access to aged hops, using low aa% hops like strisselspalt or saaz would be fine.

I like to keep the temp at the lower end of the range for this one. It gets very fruity (read: major banana) at higher temps. The character is much more balanced for my tastes when fermented in the 60's. I'll hold it there until fermentation seems to be slowing down considerably and then slowly...

Brett is yeast and can be easily cleaned! If your cleaning regimen is strong I wouldn't worry about it, especially when using glass.

I think 3522 is beautiful in a blonde or pale ale. I just didn't care for it in a dubbel. I hope you find different results.

If you're aiming for a FG of 1.017 I would recommend trying to get your IBU to at least 25 to achieve a nice balance. 16ibu would be okay if your beer ended at 1.010 or lower. Hop varieties and timing looks fine. I used Ardennes in a dubbel and it was my least favorite strain I've tried for...

72º is great.

I would definitely recommend warming it up and leaving it alone. I've had this yeast slow down around 1.014 and end up at 1.006, continually chewing through sugars slowly for two weeks.

I don't think I'd be worried about the wind in a spontaneous. What are you protecting it from? Isn't that sort of the point? I feel the same way about rain in the forecast. Other than maybe some extra volume (very, very slight increase), not really a problem.

Between that OG and mash temp, I'd say it's probably done. I don't think pitching another yeast at this point will make it drop much further. Someone mentioned 3711 and I don't know if I'd agree unless you're looking for an estery/spicy belgian character in your beer. FWIW, 1.030 is not unheard...

Taste the beer before freaking out. It's beer and probably not terrible!

My brew closet is very cold in the winter (~60ºF). I have an old cooler that I keep my carboy in during primary fermentation. I fill it halfway with water and use a cheap aquarium heater to warm it up. The settings go from 66º-82º and it works beautifully to warm fermentation up and is...

Brewing a Wee Heavy, Best Bitter, and Dark Sour this weekend.

That's the highest temp I'd want for a spontaneous. If that's as cold as it gets, I'd say go for it. Ideally you'd want the high temp to be under 70ºF. 30's are ideal for a low, but low 40's work too.

I've not attempted this but I would be worried about the brett drying it out and leaving 100ibu of harsh bitterness with no sweetness to balance it out. This is purely anecdotal but it might be something to think about. Hopefully someone can chime in with some insight. This sounds delicious!

Did the cranberries impart a tannic character to the final beer?

I would enter it in 28c just to be safe.