Im bottling a sour today (hopefully). I keep a starter of Brett C to use on sours over a year old. Never saw these white floaters on the surface before. Should I be concerned and not use it? Smells and tastes like a normal bretted beer.
Looks like broken up pellicle, but the depth of the material below the surface could plausibly be mold. I would say you are good as long as your sanitation practices are solid. Are you familiar with different brett pellicles? It should usually almost shatter with the change in surface tension. Clumpy gelatinous material that hangs around after disturbance could be a contaminant. Based on that input what do you get from your sample?
I would invest in an erlenmeyer flask and . Lab glass (borosilicate) for the flask can be sterilized in an oven at 250F for 60 minutes and a loose foil barely over the lid and allowed to cool on it's own. If some chunks are mold that could be from spores that can even survive boiling. An autoclave hits the same temps. 15 dollars of glass in my opinion is worth the assurance it comes with.
If it smells bretty then i would personally go for it. If you cold crash it and see it settle powdery as usual that would be an easy test.
I have few flasks but keep them for my clean brews. Since this starter stays out at room temp it never goes in a stir plate. I have it in the fridge and will give it 36hr to see what happens. Thanks.
I have few flasks but keep them for my clean brews. Since this starter stays out at room temp it never goes in a stir plate. I have it in the fridge and will give it 36hr to see what happens. Thanks.
I wouldn't worry about mixing cultures in lab glassware. Borosilicate, not Pyrex, is able to withstand a lot of heat shock well above your needs to sterilize your vessel, not sanitize. I simply run a low and slow run with all flasks at once with foil at 135C/275F and let them cool in the oven over night. Please don't take offence since I cannot convey tone in text, but by avoiding a solvable problem it is possible you are creating new ones for yourself.
Thanks xico. I tend to keep a yeast on hand in flasks for a few brews. I'll make 3 different batches of saisons with the same purchased yeast and just keep building it in between brews. 1 more won't hurt.
