Pellicle Photo Collection

[DannPM]

It's a weird looking pellicle but yes, thanks for the pretty comment lol . It's "dusty", the pic doesn't really highlight that really well, but it formed on top of a thick stuck around krausen. It is bubbles, not cherries; is that normal? The bubbles have a dusty film over them.

 

[jsguitar]

Nice funk Dann! When do I get to try this one?

 

[ryan0914]

Funked scotch ale with White labs sour blend

Dark strong with East Coast yeast Flemish

berliner

I also have 2 blonds going with east coast brett blends #9 and #1. 3 gal of RIS with bugfarm and cherries added. Then a golden strong with bugfarm in a rum barrel. I just added a bunch of cherry puree to the dark strong and its going like crazy again.
None of my sours seem to get too crazy of a pellicle. Oh I have a brett saison, cranberry lambic, orange wheat with lacto and a blond with brett and lacto, all of them bottled and are getting better.

 

[emjay]

Me too, my sours don't really develop impressive pellicles... although that's probably actually a good indication.

 

[DannPM]

Thanks James, I brewed this about a month ago, whenever the pellicle falls! I'm guessing I'll bottle this in 5 more months, maybe 4. It'll definitely be putting this into bottles so portability will be good!

 

[drosju]

My sour brown ale with wyeast roselare at 4-5 months old

 

[milldoggy]

My sour brown ale with wyeast roselare at 4-5 months old

Is that a wood dowel in your stopper?

 

[emjay]

Is that a wood dowel in your stopper?

Yes. People buy oak dowels and toast them and put them into the stopper for sours, especially Flanders Ales, in order to emulate the micro-oxygenation you'd get from a large wooden barrel - imparting an oak flavor is sometimes a secondary purpose, as it seems to be in his case since he's made it long enough to be submerged.

 

[milldoggy]

I just got some dowels, I should toast them first?

Edit: nevermind, simple search and found a thread on it.

 

[BenjaminBier]

A little bit of Raspberry Kentucky Common. I thought this was going to be soured just in the mash, but it looks like a little lacto snuck through.

 

[passedpawn]

A little bit of Raspberry Kentucky Common. I thought this was going to be soured just in the mash, but it looks like a little lacto snuck through.

Did you boil? How'd that happen? (I'm sure you've thought about this!)

 

[BenjaminBier]

Did you boil? How'd that happen? (I'm sure you've thought about this!)

Yep, did boil this baby. There wasn't really any pellicle during primary, so I think it must have snuck back into the wort from infected gear when racking onto the raspberries. Not that I'm complaining

 

[dcHokie]

A Belgian Pale Ale that got a healthy dose of bugs and oak from a funky/sour jar'o'dregs.

 

[jessup]

I ♥ this thread.

i'm so glad to see this thread was stickied! hopefully everyone's gotten some information out of this thread as well as enough confidence to drink our scary creations, enjoying their complexity no matter how crazy the brett/pedio/lacto growth may have been. i've got to say, after bottling my 3 year old in April (moved and was forced to bottle all aging beers) and trying some recently, it was worth the wait. after 3 years it was really not very sour anymore, but had been tamed to a complex and delicious creation. carry on with your patience...

 

[winnph]

This was just an experiment to see how souring works and to play with sour mashing/grain inoculation. It started out as spent grains in second runnings from a batch I brewed on March 25 of this year. Then, on April 5, I strained out the grains and added some DME wort (1.028ish) and Cuvée René dregs. Finally, on April 20, I blended in a half-gallon of a pineapple braggoty thing that was just finishing up a month in primary, which was fermenting using second-generation WLP575 (a blend, which had undoubtedly long-since lost its original ratio by this time).

EDIT: Just realized I had already posted a couple pictures of the original pellicle back in April in this very thread. Sorry for the double explanation for the same experiment! (end EDIT)


Which brings us to today, August 3, when this picture was taken of the pellicle (click for full resolution):

 

[smokinghole]

That thing looks like a brain.

 

[winnph]

That thing looks like a brain.

Sshhhh, I think it can read minds.

 

[pbarning]

Having a hard time not classifying this ad mold. This is a side angle pic and cherries are still floating. The batch is about 8 months old.

 

[emjay]

It's not mold, I don't think, unless that greenish tint I see is actually present.

 

[FromZwolle]

Having a hard time not classifying this ad mold. This is a side angle pic and cherries are still floating. The batch is about 8 months old.

how did it start? mold grows funny on a liquid surface. i've noticed on a few of my weird experiments that mold will almost always start on the rim or on top of something dry.

 

[winnph]

how did it start? mold grows funny on a liquid surface. i've noticed on a few of my weird experiments that mold will almost always start on the rim or on top of something dry.

Agreed. It can form a "raft" of dead mold and try to expand from that, though but I think it's usually starting on some little bit of floating matter, like a stray bit of hops or something.

 

[FromZwolle]

finally got one. infected starter.

here's me: i'm not gonna bother flaming the lip of this bottle, it'll be fine. dumb.

it started with a thin brett/lacto looking bubble film, then a solid krausen formed under that overnight. sorry for the crappy lighting, but here it is:

 

[boralyl]

An updated shot of my now 10 month old pLambic.

 

[dcHokie]

An updated shot of my now 10 month old pLambic.

looks like the surface of Mars

 

[winnph]

looks like the surface of Mars

Or Titan.

 

[stblindtiger]

This pellicle is three months old. I pitched White Labs Belgian sour mix, and some Jolly Pumpkin and Russian River dregs into Jamil's Flander's Red recipe. After taking this picture, I added 1 lb of black currants and some oak cubes that have been soaking in cabernet savignon for about 2 months then racked it into a glass carboy.

This one is about 7 months old. This was my last extract recipe, but my first full 5.5 gallon batch. I pitched Cal Ale yeast into it, and waited until fermentation started to slow down a bit. I then racked it to secondary, added an ounce of oak cubes and pitched Wyeast's Roselare into it. It's not really sour at all yet. I just pitched some Red Currants into it, and I'm going to let it sit for even longer. I'm thinking around Easter sometime? We'll see.

 

[Stevo2569]

I made this one by washing yeast in a previous grain container. Apparently I didn't sterilize it enough.

 

[sleepydave]

7 month pellicle, droidx providing the lighting via the flashlight app
The condensation kind of ruins this shot for me, but I love how the brew glows against the warning on the bucket and the pellicle lit up.

High Resolution: http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/224/c/5/labour_of_lambic____by_thesleepydave-d46caav.jpg

 

[FromZwolle]

I made this one by washing yeast in a previous grain container. Apparently I didn't sterilize it enough.

this one needs a strobe light and some funky music. that's pretty cool lookin.

 

[Stevo2569]

this one needs a strobe light and some funky music. that's pretty cool lookin.

Awesome