Pellicle Photo Collection

[saltymirv]

Have you tasted it? Where is your SG? Pellicle or no, if your SG is stable over a 1-2 months, then go ahead and bottle..

After the sacc. fermentation the gravity was 1.007 (2 months ago).

I tested the gravity about a month ago and it was down to 1.003. I'm due to test it again but the pellicle just showed up a week or two ago. I feel bad breaking up such a nice pellicle that just formed.

I did taste it at each gravity sampling. It was tasting fairly funky last time. It had a lot of oak flavor, too (you can see the string holding the oak piece in the pictures)

 

[crane]

I feel bad breaking up such a nice pellicle that just formed.

Why?

 

[saltymirv]

Why?

Its a work of art

 

[TimmyWit]

14 month cherry sour on bordeaux soaked Hungarian oak cubes + an apricot sour from the same batch on a different culture

 

[Sadu]

Went to bottle my 17 day old roggenbier today and found this waiting for me.
Don't have a lot of experience with bacteria, but it doesn't look like any other normal fermentation I have done. Does this look like a pellicle? There's a thin definite film across the whole surface although the spots could just be bits of krauesen.
Was thinking of leaving it another week or 2 to see what happens - if the pellicle grows then it's infected and I can tuck it away for long-term ageing to see what happens. Of if it drops away I guess I bottle it in PET and see what happens?
I'm getting a bit of barnyard funk in the taste, though not much, and it doesn't taste or smell offensive at this stage.
Would welcome any thoughts on this one cheers.

 

[BrewSomeMore]

Looks like you got some icebergs. I'd say it is probably infected. Either keg now if you keg, or embrace the funk. But looks as if you bottle so just embrace it cause you will have gushers. Hopefully it is a good funk, as long as it doesn't smell like nasty cheese you should be ok.

 

[terrenum]

here is mine.
Saison with 3 Brett vrai
and one with Argousier

 

[Pintabone]

This doesn’t quite seem to be the same as some of these other photos but just pitched 3944 into a Wit last night and this is the first I’ve seen a krausen with these large bubbles on top. Can someone put my mind at ease and ensure me this is not a pellicle beginning to form?

 

[thehaze]

I think that looks normal at this stage. Try to keep an eye on it in the following days.

 

[Clef051]

A brett ipa, using omegas all the brett and c2c farmhouse

 

[Easycreeper]

I get so excited when I see this thread has been updated! I hope my upcoming Brett tripel forms as nice a pellicle as those in this thread...

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I went to bottle this small batch to which I added commercial frozen strawberries (thawed and smashed in the bag ) surprise. It smells like strawberry, it doesn't taste nasty or sour, nor does it taste particularly good, just lack luster. I racked from underneath to a secondary, and capped it as it was a stable SG. I'm thinking of adding some medium toast oak soaked in burbon.

Any thoughts, suggestions? This is not what I was going for, and I haven't any experience with this type of "fermentation". (I know, contamination) Next time fruit is getting treated with alcohol, if there is a next time.

 

[TimmyWit]

View attachment 551420
I went to bottle this small batch to which I added commercial frozen strawberries (thawed and smashed in the bag ) surprise. It smells like strawberry, it doesn't taste nasty or sour, nor does it taste particularly good, just lack luster. I racked from underneath to a secondary, and capped it as it was a stable SG. I'm thinking of adding some medium toast oak soaked in burbon.

Any thoughts, suggestions? This is not what I was going for, and I haven't any experience with this type of "fermentation". (I know, contamination) Next time fruit is getting treated with alcohol, if there is a next time.

Looks awesome! What has your timeline looked like so far? If you have one, I would move it to a better bottle or glass carboy (less permeable by oxygen) and let it age. Are you sure the gravity is stable? Brett and bacteria work slower than a standard sacc strain so to be safe, you should really verify that it doesn't move for a month. It might even drop lower than 1.000. If you are going to add oak, soaking it in wine might compliment your beer better than bourbon. Be sure to save some of that yeast cake. If you end up liking the end result, you will want to have the strain on hand so you can do it again.

 

[sweetcell]

View attachment 551420
I went to bottle this small batch to which I added commercial frozen strawberries (thawed and smashed in the bag ) surprise. It smells like strawberry, it doesn't taste nasty or sour, nor does it taste particularly good, just lack luster. I racked from underneath to a secondary, and capped it as it was a stable SG. I'm thinking of adding some medium toast oak soaked in burbon.

Any thoughts, suggestions? This is not what I was going for, and I haven't any experience with this type of "fermentation". (I know, contamination) Next time fruit is getting treated with alcohol, if there is a next time.

thoughts/suggestions:
- don't give up on fruited beers - there should be a next time
- personally, i would throw in some brett. it might help liven up the flavors, and if your "fermentation"/contamination throws any weirdness the brett might be able to clean it up. some folks like to let their "spontaneous" fermentations/contaminations ride and see what happens; i prefer to ensure that there is brett playing backup. the downside is that brett will take a few months to do its thing.
- to my taste, wood and bourbon play best with a bold beer (you don't hear of any bourbon-barrel aged pilsners...). so depending on the character of your beer, adding those cubes might not be the best way forward.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Thanks for the reply Timmy. Here's an abbreviated version of my notes.

Scotch ale second runnings 11/14

Around 2 gallons pre boil
.5 oz Czech saaz @60
.5 oz Czech saaz @15
SG 1054 +1 for fruit
Pitched "abbey yeast" from the fridge after getting it growing in a mini starter.
11/26 added 12oz thawed and crushed organic strawberries to the primary fermentor.
12/10 SG uncorrected 1020 ABV 6.88
12/27 OMG a crazy pellical has formed. It smells like strawberry, off flavor is absent, not sour.
Racked to a glass carboy and capped.

I think to play it safe I will use an airlock. No l didn't save any slurry, I'm not a big fan of sours, though at the moment this isn't sour or tart... Strawberry aroma, but that's about it, aside from a nice color. The thought of using burbon came to mind from an old 70s cocktail which I'm pretty sure was called a strawberry sting, but wine could be good too.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

@sweetcell, thanks the oak idea truly is my clutching at straws to turn this around, I could even Improve it by dry hopping with something tropical perhaps, and skip the wood. I've used fruit additions in mead, cider and stout, but luckily haven't run into trouble like this previously. The frozen fruits I've used before I don't recall how I handled sanitizing. Mulberries I had picked for mead I rinsed in campden.

 

[TimmyWit]

I think to play it safe I will use an airlock. No l didn't save any slurry, I'm not a big fan of sours, though at the moment this isn't sour or tart... Strawberry aroma, but that's about it, aside from a nice color. The thought of using burbon came to mind from an old 70s cocktail which I'm pretty sure was called a strawberry sting, but wine could be good too.

Good call on the airlock. At 6 weeks and 1.020, whatever got in there almost definitely has some work left to do. I like the @sweetcell idea of adding some Brett. That is probably the most I would tinker with it at this point. Stick it in a corner somewhere and forget about it for a few months. You have a pretty cool project going on and you will still have a chance to save some slurry from your carboy. It may develop some acidity but if it does, I'm guessing it will be mild in comparison to commercial sours you have had and you may end up finding out that you enjoy it.

If you haven't already, you may want to take some precautions with whatever equipment has touched this batch since you added those strawberries. Every piece of equipment I have that has touched a funky/sour beer is marked so it never sees a sacc-only beer again.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Thanks, the gravity reading is by refractometer and I use a correction program ( how the ABV is given) and yes I have " quarantined " the syphon and fermentor, etc. I don't like surprises like this, lol.

 

[Rhaop]

“
- to my taste, wood and bourbon play best with a bold beer (you don't hear of any bourbon-barrel aged pilsners...). so depending on the character of your beer, adding those cubes might not be the best way forward.[/QUOTE]
“



Actually i’ve had one from a brewery in Charleston, was called Smells like Rick because apparently the beer smelled like one of the locals lol I ordered a flight and enjoyed it but not back to back pint worthy imho

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

LOL, you know it's funky, because it Smells like Rick. Pretty funny.

 

[Rhaop]

https://holycitybrewing.com/beer/smells-like-rick/


I finally remembered the name of the brewery

 

[sweetcell]

@sweetcell, thanks the oak idea truly is my clutching at straws to turn this around, I could even Improve it by dry hopping with something tropical perhaps, and skip the wood.

i like the dry-hopping idea. should make the beer more interesting, with minimal effort...

I've used fruit additions in mead, cider and stout, but luckily haven't run into trouble like this previously. The frozen fruits I've used before I don't recall how I handled sanitizing. Mulberries I had picked for mead I rinsed in campden.

the higher levels of alcohol in mead, and possibly in the stout, might have provided protection against infections. i've never sanitized fruit additions for mead, and i've never had a problem.

 

[VaBrewer]

Kettle soured Gose

 

[thedon986]

View attachment 556442 Kettle soured Gose

Soured with what? I've done one with pure L. plantarum and never got even a hint of pellicle.

 

[BUCKNUTS]

Brett Saison with Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #1.

 

[millsbrew]

View attachment 556442 Kettle soured Gose

How long did you let it sit? That’s a serious growth for a few days in a kettle.

 

[twistedjosh]

2 strains of wild Brettanomyces isolated from an orchard 5 hours after pitching

 

[TimmyWit]

View attachment 557569
2 strains of wild Brettanomyces isolated from an orchard 5 hours after pitching

That is incredible for just 5 hours post-pitch. How did you go about isolating these 2 strains?

 

[twistedjosh]

I placed a couple of small mason jars of 1.035 wort, hopped with some leftover equinox hops to inhibit the lacto, out in an orchard under some peach and apple trees in March of last year. The jars had cheesecloth with a rubber band over them to keep the insects out. Left them out for 48 hours, brought them in and airlocked them. Fermentation was slow and krausen developed after about a week and half. I fed these cultures 4 more times over the next couple months to build up what was there. Then I started plating them out on agar plates and just kept streaking out to narrow down single cultures and then growing those up to see what I had and what was usable.

 

[Rhaop]

I placed a couple of small mason jars of 1.035 wort, hopped with some leftover equinox hops to inhibit the lacto, out in an orchard under some peach and apple trees in March of last year. The jars had cheesecloth with a rubber band over them to keep the insects out. Left them out for 48 hours, brought them in and airlocked them. Fermentation was slow and krausen developed after about a week and half. I fed these cultures 4 more times over the next couple months to build up what was there. Then I started plating them out on agar plates and just kept streaking out to narrow down single cultures and then growing those up to see what I had and what was usable.

That’s dedication, nice work white labs/wyeast might be calling you soon [emoji482]