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Gose fermenting with sauerkraut brine, brewed March 15 and transferred to secondary last weekend.

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Lacto starter built up from a few drops of sauerkraut brine. I just split it between a Berliner weisse and a saison.

The picture makes it look brown, but it's a white film with yellow wort underneath.

Almost hated to pour it out, as the wort smelled and tasted fantastic.

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Coff said:
Wow, blast from the past. Many a funky fermentation in my house since that photo 3 years ago. Happy to say I still have 12 bottles of that beer left, drinking really nice.
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Ha! I was just flipping through, as I do from time to time, and that one caught my eye.
 
Whatever Crooked Stave puts in their bottles is going to eat me out of house and home. Last night I pitched a yeast cake from my belgian pale, along with a bit more Belle Saison and some of the lacto from a few posts back. The lacto is climbing the walls to get away, and I'm afraid my poor saison yeast never stood a chance.

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burninator said:
Lacto starter built up from a few drops of sauerkraut brine. I just split it between a Berliner weisse and a saison.

The picture makes it look brown, but it's a white film with yellow wort underneath.

Almost hated to pour it out, as the wort smelled and tasted fantastic.
Click to expand...

And here's the Berliner weisse 3 days after pitching my sauerkraut lacto. Bubbles on top of bubbles.

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TAK said:
Crooked Stave dregs.
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Interesting, I had a big bubbly pellicle on a beer fermented with these dregs (among a couple of other things), but after transferring to secondary, a new one has formed that looks just like this.
 
burninator said:
Interesting, I had a big bubbly pellicle on a beer fermented with these dregs (among a couple of other things), but after transferring to secondary, a new one has formed that looks just like this.
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Mine is an accumulation of small starters from 8 or so bottles. My guess is that the fermentation, and thus CO2 production was pretty much done from each starter as I added them to the whole. So, there wasn't anything to push bubbles into the pellicle.
 
This is supposed to be a "clean" milk stout but it's looking like I might have picked up a little extra something from somewhere. Hoping you pellicle masters could provide some insight into whether or not I'm looking at the beginnings of a pellicle or just some suspended CO2 bubbles. Thanks in advance!

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makubex said:
This is supposed to be a "clean" milk stout but it's looking like I might have picked up a little extra something from somewhere. Hoping you pellicle masters could provide some insight into whether or not I'm looking at the beginnings of a pellicle or just some suspended CO2 bubbles. Thanks in advance!

MkQ6Ega.jpg


1vEDLgn.jpg
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Just looks like Co2 to me. Have you used that bubbler for any sours?
 
finsfan said:
Just looks like Co2 to me. Have you used that bubbler for any sours?
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This is fermenting in a brand new carboy with 1056.

I just retired my older carboy to be used for sours only after about fifteen batches in it - going to use it to play around with The Yeast Bay's Melange.
 
makubex said:
This is fermenting in a brand new carboy with 1056.

I just retired my older carboy to be used for sours only after about fifteen batches in it - going to use it to play around with The Yeast Bay's Melange.
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You should be good then. If something tastes wrong or a true pellicle forms then you would have reason to worry, but I dont think that is the case here.
 
dcHokie said:
an 'american' sour brown aged on blackberries, just before blending with some pinot noir while bottling
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Anything different about this, or did you literally pitch bugs and brett into an American brown ale? Been toying with the idea of doing something like this.
 
burninator said:
Anything different about this, or did you literally pitch bugs and brett into an American brown ale? Been toying with the idea of doing something like this.
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Nothing 'different', but built recipe as a bigger american-style sour than a traditional oud bruin. Aimed to retain a little more sweetness w/ some some crystal, chocolate & kilned malts. 10 gal batch got ECY bugs & dregs from JP La Roja, JK Ol Oi, Marveillux & LoveChild3 and some bourbon soaked oak cubes.

The other half of this batch is aging on peaches & peach puree, planning to blend w/ some dark rum at bottling. Maybe a little Citra DH.
 
This is Le Roi Rouge (The Red King), a sour red that I brewed. I took the picture yesterday morning, which was 2 weeks in primary @ 80 degrees. I pitched a 2L starter using 500ml from the "bug farm" (photos posted a few pages back), which at the time had stepped up dregs from 45 commercial sours.

I let that go (no stirring) in a 2L flask for a week before pitching on brew day. This pic is straight down the bung hole on my Speidel 30L.

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I'm going to let it go another couple of weeks in primary @ 80, and then I'm going to transfer it to a secondary with some red wine soaked medium toast French oak.
 
The old Czechs, when brewing their pilsners, fermented in open vats. OPEN vats. And still made excellent beer. Yet, we brew under strict, sanitized/sterilized, temperature-controlled, closed-container conditions. And STILL get infections.
 
Do you have a reference to Czechs making clean beer in history?

All beer throughout history would be prone to infection in some regard. However, the plisners of old Czech times were consumed at a rate that would not allow infections to be come very evident, as fermented drink was made safe from processing compared to surface or even ground water.

It also probably tasted of much cleaner fermentation when measured against beer that would have shown signs of unintended infection.

But I'm just some jackass on the interwebz, not a beer historian.
 
GHBWNY said:
The old Czechs, when brewing their pilsners, fermented in open vats. OPEN vats. And still made excellent beer. Yet, we brew under strict, sanitized/sterilized, temperature-controlled, closed-container conditions. And STILL get infections.
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Who is we? You got a mouse in your pocket? ;)

Im brewing sour beers and clean beers and I haven't had any infections so it can be done.
 
GHBWNY said:
The old Czechs, when brewing their pilsners, fermented in open vats. OPEN vats. And still made excellent beer. Yet, we brew under strict, sanitized/sterilized, temperature-controlled, closed-container conditions. And STILL get infections.
Click to expand...

Many brewers still brew clean beers in open vats. A brewery is more sanitary than a household environment. Beer is racked to secondary before krausen falls. Healthy start is important too. It is not difficult to make a clean beer - it is well worked out. Its process control not science for the most part.
 
TAK said:
Never had the pleasure of Cantillon, myself. Can't get it here. But I thought I heard Jean Van Roy say recently on The Sour Hour that they bottle pasteurize at Cantillon.
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Ive only had it 4 times. On draft in France (Kriek - Amazing) and at Falling Rock Taphouse (Iris -a little coinage tasting). In bottles I brought back from France. (Iris - very good and Rose de Gambrinus - burnt matchstick and white rubber, not good). I have seen elsewhere peoples comments about the inconsistency with Cantillon. I can appreciate why Rodenbach and New Belgium pasteurize their beers. However, If you get a good bottle it truly is amazing.

I suspect my starter is all brett at this point. It got sick the first step up. Had the texture of a non metallic nose bleed. Disgusting viscosity but not bad in flavor. Hoping there is bacteria left but not sure. Will wait a few weeks before I add this to a lambic blend beer just to be sure other bugs have a chance. Cheers!
 
505-Brewer said:
Ive only had it 4 times. On draft in France (Kriek - Amazing) and at Falling Rock Taphouse (Iris -a little coinage tasting). In bottles I brought back from France. (Iris - very good and Rose de Gambrinus - burnt matchstick and white rubber, not good). I have seen elsewhere peoples comments about the inconsistency with Cantillon. I can appreciate why Rodenbach and New Belgium pasteurize their beers. However, If you get a good bottle it truly is amazing.

I suspect my starter is all brett at this point. It got sick the first step up. Had the texture of a non metallic nose bleed. Disgusting viscosity but not bad in flavor. Hoping there is bacteria left but not sure. Will wait a few weeks before I add this to a lambic blend beer just to be sure other bugs have a chance. Cheers!
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Usually Pedio is what causes the beer to get sick/ropey. I am not sure what a texture of a non-metallic nosebleed is, so can't help you there.

As far as Cantillon goes, obviously there is some batch to batch variation, however they are consistently good. Pretty hard to make things exactly the same when the yeast/bacteria in the air, temperature, fruit/flowers/hops, etc are inconsistent every year. They are far more consistent than some others such as Fantome or De Cam.
 
skeezerpleezer said:
Usually Pedio is what causes the beer to get sick/ropey. I am not sure what a texture of a non-metallic nosebleed is, so can't help you there.

As far as Cantillon goes, obviously there is some batch to batch variation, however they are consistently good. Pretty hard to make things exactly the same when the yeast/bacteria in the air, temperature, fruit/flowers/hops, etc are inconsistent every year. They are far more consistent than some others such as Fantome or De Cam.
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Correction: yes it should have pedio too due to the ropiness. Thank you for pointing that out.

I can appreciate the diversity and challenges. It necessitates blending which they are masters at. But once its bottled its out of their control. I myself am glad they don't pasteurize as I can use the dregs (when I enjoy the beer). So far they are 50:50 in my book but luckily I have many more Cantillon bottles in cold storage to increase the success ratio with. Still a fan as I understand it is a living thing. The Iris bottle I had was truly amazing.

Never had Fantone or De Cam (yet).

Cheers!
 

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