cherry sour, weird growth in bottles

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Kharnynb

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So my cherry sour is developing what looks like a pellicle or infection in the bottle, I used belgian lambic blend, but my previous batches never had this.
Is there a health/bottlebomb worry here? IMG_20220819_184005668_HDR.jpgIMG_20220819_184017842.jpg
 
It looks like a small pellicle in the bottle, which sometimes happens. It usually is a sign you got more oxygen in your beer/bottles than you probably want. Unless you can flush and fill bottles with counterpressure, you're always going to deal with some oxygen while packaging. I've been brewing sour beer for more than a decade and bottle out of a bottling bucket, so I've had enough of this to know it's not anything to worry about. Sometimes it goes away, sometimes it doesn't. Unless the pellicle becomes particularly thick it usually breaks up and integrates into the beer when you pour it.

You could have tiny chunks of cherry that got into the bottle. While not ideal, also should not be an issue. I've had fruit get into bottles that I drank years down the road with no problem except discarding a little more of the bottom of the bottle.

If it looks blobby or furry, then sure, I would dump it. The chances of mold growth in a sour beer is extremely unlikely unless there was already mold in the bottle.
 
It looks like a small pellicle in the bottle, which sometimes happens. It usually is a sign you got more oxygen in your beer/bottles than you probably want. Unless you can flush and fill bottles with counterpressure, you're always going to deal with some oxygen while packaging. I've been brewing sour beer for more than a decade and bottle out of a bottling bucket, so I've had enough of this to know it's not anything to worry about. Sometimes it goes away, sometimes it doesn't. Unless the pellicle becomes particularly thick it usually breaks up and integrates into the beer when you pour it.

You could have tiny chunks of cherry that got into the bottle. While not ideal, also should not be an issue. I've had fruit get into bottles that I drank years down the road with no problem except discarding a little more of the bottom of the bottle.

If it looks blobby or furry, then sure, I would dump it. The chances of mold growth in a sour beer is extremely unlikely unless there was already mold in the bottle.
yea, bottling from 5 liter growlers i was using as secondary, and with older gear to avoid cross-contamination, so a bit more oxigen than normal would be likely.
 
fg was below 1, i added enough to get 2.0 carbing

My guess, it that it will be fine.

Just for safe measure, store the bottles in a plastic tote or something for a while, just in case any explode to contain the mess.
After a month or two, they shold be fine to go into your usual storage location.
 
It's only one bottle. Pop the top and lets see a better pic in some other container.

It's likely still safe and drinkable. At worst it might be tasteless to disgusting. At best it might be exactly what you wanted the beer to taste like or maybe a surprisingly good sour.

Be prepared for a possible gusher. Before opening you might want to chill it almost to 32°F (0°C) to minimize that chance.
 
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cheers all, i'm leaving it for a while to see how it develops, it's in the cellar, so no worries about explosions, i draped a towel over for glass shards
 
So my cherry sour is developing what looks like a pellicle or infection in the bottle, I used belgian lambic blend, but my previous batches never had this.
Is there a health/bottlebomb worry here?View attachment 778138View attachment 778139

I got pellicles in the bottles both times I used Wyeast 3278 Lambic Blend, once when I added tart cherries to the secondary, and once when I made the same beer without cherries because I couldn't find them in 2020.
 
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