Pellicle Photo Collection

[yoop89]

Baby pellicle in a 9 mo 1 gallon Brett beer

 

[brownni5]

Like the above photo, I only have ever seen this spaghetti-like pattern of pellicle on fermentation with wild microbes. Does this match everyone else's observations?

Yes, I see pellicles like that occasionally, only ever in places where they don't belong. The couple times I've sampled/packaged, I haven't noticed a problem. I usually dump though - I often see this sort of thing in harvested jars of yeast next to my sourdough starter. Now I'm more of a segregationist.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

a view into one of my barrels, makes excellent sours - currently a super saison is in there

 

[TwistedGray]

 

[SourLover]

These are my first two aged sour beers, and I'm 99% sure both are pellicles. One is bubbly, whereas the other is flat. Both look like they are just getting started. I was hoping for a confirmation from some of the more experienced sour beer brewers on this forum.

 

[RPh_Guy]

These are my first two aged sour beers, and I'm 99% sure both are pellicles. One is bubbly, whereas the other is flat. Both look like they are just getting started. I was hoping for a confirmation from some of the more experienced sour beer brewers on this forum. View attachment 676634 View attachment 676635

Yup, pellicles! I wouldn't say they're just getting started; they look pretty extensive to me.

 

[SourLover]

Yup, pellicles! I wouldn't say they're just getting started; they look pretty extensive to me.

Awesome! Thanks for the confirmation.

 

[brownni5]

Here's my most recent. A traditional (or as close as I can get) Berliner Weiss fermented with the Bootleg Biology Beta Berliner Blend. Brewed about a month ago, no signs of a pellicle before today.

 

[OldDogBrewing]

Hi

I'm new here so I thought I might show my pellicles

This one is a brett saison fermented with The Yeast Bay's Saison & Brettanomyces II blend and a few days ago I added the dregs from a Cantillon Kriek

And this one is a saison made with active wort from the other beer, so it's just TYB's Saison Brettanomyces II, oh and it has a mesh bag with some wood chips in it

I know, plastic buckets, eew, but due to space requirements it's what works better for me, I can only brew 1 gallon batches, I might get some glass carboys if I'm ever able to get them in that size (not really common where I live)

 

[Beer666]

Lambic no boil fermented with wlp655. Racked with oak chips and WLP650.

 

[Harleybrew32]

Cherry sour 2.5 years in the making.

 

[MightyTrustKrusher]

24 hours after I pitched wild yeast (and bacteria probably) that was cultivated from Dame's Rocket and Clover flowers that were placed in pre-acidified wort, it developed this.

I pitched it into 3/4 of a gallon of extra wort from a different brew that was hopped to ~20 ibus.

 

[brownni5]

This pellicle didn't show up until I dry-hopped, almost certainly after exposure to oxygen. Now 3 weeks in the fermenter, probably will bottle tomorrow. No known bacteria, only weird stuff is cultured dregs from a 3- year old bottle of Orval. I call this one "Orvali-ish."

 

[Beer666]

A sour red, couple of weeks old. The dj is not air tight. Roeselare slurry, WLP4203 beersel brett, wlp644 and WLP pediococcus.

 

[OldDogBrewing]

I think I got a new pellicle, this was a triple chocolate stout I saw here, I added the cocoa nibs after 1 day in whisky and when fermentation was still going, but I guess there was something in there that survived, it's bubbling so I will check the gravity and see if it has dropped

The texture looks a bit like lard, maybe from the fat of the cocoa? Anyway the nibs where adding some metallic taste to it (do nibs oxidize?) So maybe this will make it good, I will let it roll for a bit, the beer contains lactose so I will leave it for a while before bottling

 

[dnr]

 

[Amadeo38]

Latest batch. The bubbles are attached to the oak spiral.

 

[BrewMan13]

Captured wild yeast batch 5, lambic style grist. Brewed last April. Will wait nearly a year before doing anything.

 

[Brewbuzzard]

I've been growing this mother for a few months. It has changed into this in the last month. I was worried it has morthed into something bad but after seeing the pictures on this thread I'm not as concerned. Does this look like a problem to the experienced sour brewer?

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Another unintentional infection. This one sat a while apparently the lid seal is not very air tight, once the active fermentation was done and I let it sit O2 moved in. Oh well. Small partigyle from big brew day.

 

[sweetcell]

I've been growing this mother for a few months. It has changed into this in the last month. I was worried it has morthed into something bad but after seeing the pictures on this thread I'm not as concerned. Does this look like a problem to the experienced sour brewer?

that does not look good. i'd bet on mold. personally, i'd dump

 

[Brewbuzzard]

that does not look good. i'd bet on mold. personally, i'd dump

.thank you

 

[RPh_Guy]

I've been growing this mother for a few months. It has changed into this in the last month. I was worried it has morthed into something bad but after seeing the pictures on this thread I'm not as concerned. Does this look like a problem to the experienced sour brewer?View attachment 694559

+1 Looks like mold.

 

[Brewbuzzard]

+1 Looks like mold.

Yes, I sent a picture to a friend of mine and he said mold. He was the sour dude for Deep Ellum Brewery in Dallas. So back to the drawing board.

 

[gaburko]

Brett B pellicle of my Belgian Saison just before I transferred to the barrel

 

[Stas StoLat]

Captured wild yeast batch 5, lambic style grist. Brewed last April. Will wait nearly a year before doing anything.
View attachment 691864

I am not a scientist, but have brewed sours since 2014. I manage 2 sour barrels, solera since then and have never developed anything that resembles the round balls on top of my pellicus.

 

[BrewMan13]

I am not a scientist, but have brewed sours since 2014. I manage 2 sour barrels, solera since then and have never developed anything that resembles the round balls on top of my pellicus.

It's a captured wild culture of unknown composition. This is the 5th iteration, so I'm sure it's fine. It seems to go through phases: first 2 weeks are like a regular sacc ferment, then it seems to be doing nothing, then a pellicle starts and stays relatively stable, sometimes with bubbles like that. This one was brewed in April.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I am not a scientist, but have brewed sours since 2014. I manage 2 sour barrels, solera since then and have never developed anything that resembles the round balls on top of my pellicus.

The "round balls" are bubbles. You can see them in most of the photos in this thread.

 

[Stas StoLat]

Hmm. I have never seen bubbles that didn't dissipate. I assumed they were more rigid, firm even

 

[BrewMan13]

They'll "pop" eventually I suspect.
Just by coincidence, the gueuze-ish blend I have going had a firm, white pellicle with no bubbles for months, then a couple weeks ago it started blowing bubbles, they popped, now the pellicle is almost gone. This is my longest sour project, so assuming age is a factor.