Pellicle Photo Collection

[jtakacs]

You could always keg it, brew another batch to be less sour and blend the two together. A $40 keg is a good investment for something like this I think. I will be picking a couple up over time myself for eventual blending reserves.

i'll probably bottle half of it and blend the second half... i do have a flanders red scheduled to be brewed soon so it might be a nice way to temper it down...

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I finally have some pellicle pictures to show off.

This is my brett saison. I bottle harvested from Foret. It either had brett in it or I did a poor job of keeping it sterile and it got some brett. No sourness, just funk. This is in a corny keg. It's two months old.



This is down the mouth of my lambic solera. This is the second year filling at about three months old. The pellicle is very thin but starting to get thicker. It started as six gallons, I siphoned out four gallons and replaced it with four gallons of fresh wort.



This is a gallon of the first year lambic on its own. It's going to be used for blending in a couple of years to make gueuze. The picture sucks but you can kinda see the pellicle. It's also building up to a nice thick layer.



This is another crappy picture but it's another gallon of the first year lambic on raspberries. The pellicle is extremely thin, presumably because the raspberries fed enough sugar to build up a thick CO2 layer than delayed pellicle formation.



Continuing in my crappy picture skills, this is a sour brown fermented with WLP575, racked to secondary with bottle dregs from a bottle of the first year lambic. I was concerned the dregs would take forever to form a pellicle but this is only a couple weeks old.



My last crappy pic. This is just one day old. It's an oud bruin-ish sour brown with WLP575 and a blend of probiotic bacteria. It's just an experiment to see if I could produce a flavorful oud bruin-like beer that's sufficiently sour without having to introduce pedio and commit to a long wait. The picture is probably more krausen than pellicle but it's definitely not the usual appearance for WLP575 krausen.

 

[jamesjensen1068]

This is from a wild yeast strain I got from some cedar berries. 3 gallon experimental batch that fermented out really clean so I decided to add a mason jar of my aunts homemade raspberry syrup for the hell of it. The raspberry addition then helped to create this monster. This is my first wild yeast batch so if anyone can tell me what kind of "bug" I caught I'd appreciate it.

 

[jessup]

This is my first wild yeast batch so if anyone can tell me what kind of "bug" I caught I'd appreciate it.

This is great jamesjensen!! This is exactly why I started this collection. The only problem is now you have to go through 37 pages to find the match if there is one. Hopefully whoever contributed a matching photo added what strain it was (if they know), how old it was and any other pertinent info.

 

[stubbornman]

ECY02 Flemish

 

[passedpawn]

This is from a wild yeast strain I got from some ceder berries. 3 gallon experimental batch that fermented out really clean so I decided to add a mason jar of my aunts homemade raspberry syrup for the hell of it. The raspberry addition then helped to create this monster. This is my first wild yeast batch so if anyone can tell me what kind of "bug" I caught I'd appreciate it.

Fantastic. It's like looking out of the window from 5 miles up.

 

[H-ost]

This is another crappy picture but it's another gallon of the first year lambic on raspberries. The pellicle is extremely thin, presumably because the raspberries fed enough sugar to build up a thick CO2 layer than delayed pellicle formation.

Interesting... So does this mean if you choose to not rack after fermentation and before infecting the beer you would have a less chance of getting a large pellicle or a no pellicle for a while? Some people report hardly getting a pellicle or it taking a few months to form, could choosing to leave it in primary impact the beer this way?

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Interesting... So does this mean if you choose to not rack after fermentation and before infecting the beer you would have a less chance of getting a large pellicle or a no pellicle for a while? Some people report hardly getting a pellicle or it taking a few months to form, could choosing to leave it in primary impact the beer this way?

Pellicles form in the presence of oxygen, so the less oxygen exposure the slower it will take for a pellicle to form. Because oxygen will still permeate a fermenter even with CO2 in the headspace, eventually you should get a pellicle at some point.

Pellicle formation isn't bad and it isn't a problem if it's not showing up right away but I would rather see a pellicle form and limit oxygen than worry about the beer getting more oxygen exposure than I want. That's especially problematic when you have a beer that has aged for a while and probably has some acetobacter in it (which converts oxygen and ethanol to acetic acid). So I wasn't concerned with this beer forming a pellicle immediately because I knew a CO2 layer would form initially.

I find that beers left on the primary do form a pellicle more slowly but I don't know for sure how much the CO2 in the headspace is the key factor versus anything else going on in the beer. There's a research that the pellicle acts as a barrier not only to limit oxygen exposure to the rest of the beer but also as a surface area where a lot of the more interesting flavor compounds are being formed. Brett produces interesting flavor in the presence of oxygen so depending upon the flavor profile you want, you may not want to keep hitting a fermenter with CO2 to keep out the oxygen.

 

[H-ost]

This purging with CO2 is new to me so sorry for derailing but how long would you need to be aging for to consider it necessary?

Example: I was planning on leaving mine alone for 6 months after pitching bugs then adding fruit and sitting on it for maybe 2 months. Would you recommend purging at any point in this process?

 

[jamesjensen1068]

This is great jamesjensen!! This is exactly why I started this collection. The only problem is now you have to go through 37 pages to find the match if there is one. Hopefully whoever contributed a matching photo added what strain it was (if they know), how old it was and any other pertinent info.

Jessup,

Thanks for the vote of coolness. I hope someone can tell me what I got. I even emailed The Mad Fermentationist: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/ and even he said he wasn't sure what it was....and he described it as "Gnarly" :rockin:

Like I said, this is my first wild yeast batch so I'll have to see if it will turn out?

Cheers

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

This purging with CO2 is new to me so sorry for derailing but how long would you need to be aging for to consider it necessary?

Example: I was planning on leaving mine alone for 6 months after pitching bugs then adding fruit and sitting on it for maybe 2 months. Would you recommend purging at any point in this process?

I wouldn't. I think it's unnecessary and probably detrimental to the flavor unless you are racking the beer frequently. Then I would probably say racking it that much is unnecessary.

 

[H-ost]

Thank you for your Reverse Apache Wisdom.

 

[bierhaus15]

Take a look at this monster! I've never seen something grow on top of the krausen before. Looks like lacto bubbles, though possibly mold too...

 

[BOBTHEukBREWER]

dump it and clean thoroughly.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Take a look at this monster! I've never seen something grow on top of the krausen before. Looks like lacto bubbles, though possibly mold too...

Looks fine. Pellicles sometimes get a real dry or powdery texture.

 

[mountainman13]

dump it and clean thoroughly.

NO WAY

 

[Machalel]

Accidental infection in a post-fermented cider... not sure what the bug is yet.
Doesn't taste vinegary or sour yet, if anything more mellow and smooth than before!

 

[barrooze]

That second pic looks alien! Crazy...

 

[crawfman]

WLP Belgian Sour Mix 1 with dregs from Jolly Pumpkin BamBier, Bruery Saison de Lente, Orval, Odell Friek, and Flemish Premitive. Little over 2 months since brewing. I racked it to secondary with chardonnay soaked french oak cubes and some additional chardonnay. Within the past day these beautiful bubbles have started popping up. Is this the beginning of a pellicle or something else?

 

[H-ost]

Is this the beginning of a pellicle or something else?

That is a gorgeous picture! Baby pellicle!

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Im still pretty new to the brew scene but I have drinkin many a beer... So I gotta ask, what the hell am I lookin at here? Whats the process? What does it do? How long does it take? Why do you guys do this?....im curious.

 

[H-ost]

What we are doing is making Sour/Funky beers that taste just darn delicious. However they are not for everybody so if you are curious about them, here is a thread of some great commercial examples. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/sour-beer-310842/

Try some of those and maybe we will be seeing some pics in here from you.

 

[passedpawn]

Im still pretty new to the brew scene but I have drinkin many a beer... So I gotta ask, what the hell am I lookin at here?

Pellicles that have formed on the top of the fermenting beer.

Whats the process?

Add bacteria to beer. Wait. You can buy straight bacteria (i.e., lactobaccilus) or blends off yeast and bacteria (i.e., Wyeast Roeselare blend); bacteria is everywhere, so you can also just throw some raw grains into your wort and watch what grows. Occasionally a brewer will get a surprise pellicle from bacteria that slipped past the wall of sanitation. These can still turn out good (and sour).

What does it do?

Bacteria sours the beer. The pellicle is good in that it forms a protective layer over the beer. This limits oxygen entering the beer which would allow acetic acid to form, and make the sour beer vinegary.

How long does it take?

After bacteria is added, pellicles can form in days, or it might take many months. Sometimes a pellicle won't form at all, and that is OK as long as the fermenter is air tight. Regardless, sour beers can take many months to develop characteristic flavors, like cherry and chardonnay.

Why do you guys do this?....im curious.

Mmmm, sour beer! Don't knock it till you try it. :rockin:

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

I see I see....very interesting. Def not knocking anything, one must admit the whole process is amusing and a bit different. None the less, cool sht guys cheers

 

[Tiber_Brew]

On that note, why don't you have a look at some more beautiful pellicles for inspiration...

This is from my 11 month old Kriek (just added cherry a few weeks ago):

 

[passedpawn]

Amazing Tiber. I love krieks. When I bottle my oud bruin I'm making a kriek like yours. What critters did you use there?

 

[Tiber_Brew]

Amazing Tiber. I love krieks. When I bottle my oud bruin I'm making a kriek like yours. What critters did you use there?

Thanks.

That's funny, since I just made a sour brown that's getting funked right now.

For the kriek I used Wyeast Lambic blend - a couple packs. No dregs in this batch.

 

[Mparsons327]

Tiber, care to share your recipe?

 

[Tiber_Brew]

Tiber, care to share your recipe?

Sure. It's nothing too special, but damn is it good so far. I didn't use the standard Pils/unmalted wheat grain bill.

For 5 gallons:

8 lbs 2-row
3.5 lbs white wheat malt
.75 Belgian aromatic

Mash at 153 for 80 minutes

1 oz. of aged Hallertau at 90 min

2 packs of WY3278 Lambic Blend

Use a blowoff tube, then forget about it for a long time. After a long time (~11 months in my case), add two 3.1 lb cans of Oregon cherry puree and 2 oz. of medium toast oak chips. Let age for another 2-3 months or as needed.

 

[dcHokie]

A couple more pics for the thread, dark saison with a variety of dregs from homebrewed sours