Raspberry Berliner Weiss - Pellicle

[gmr]

Made my typical sour mash berliner. When fermentation was done, I added 5lb. of thawed frozen raspberries to 5 gallons, and 5lb. of thawed frozen blackberries to the other.

Racked them to secondary after a few weeks. Color is amazing on both, and they taste great. Guess I picked up something from the raspberries that I didn't notice among the fruit chunks in primary, as this pellicle formed 24 hours later in secondary.

Brett is my guess. Any other opinions?

It's a lovely little pellicle, but I wonder how much it's going to add as far as fermentation characteristics to an already 1.002 beer.

These beers were to be poured at NHC club night. Now I wonder if I should hold on to the raspberry version for awhile, and just bring the blackberry (no infection on that one). I certainly have other kegs that can take the raspberries place.

Any thoughts to if the secondary infection is going to add much to the beer? A little more complexity is always welcome, as the sour mashing does sometimes lack just that.

Would love to hear some opinions/insight

The planet's surface:

lit from below:

Here's what the beer looks like in a glass coming out of the fermenter. The slightly darker one on the left is blackberries, the lighter is the raspberry:

 

[janitorjerm]

Maybe your boil didn't kill the lacto?

 

[gmr]

Maybe your boil didn't kill the lacto?

Nah, I don't think that's it. It never showed any signs of an infection pre-fruiting, and it was in the carboy for a few weeks. I've done these beers quite a few times (without fruit) and never had an issue with lacto surviving the boil. Plus the second half of the batch didn't have this issue.

I'm sure I was too laxed with my fruit prep... thinking if something like this happens, it'll likely just make this particular beer more interesting.

 

[janitorjerm]

Nah, I don't think that's it. It never showed any signs of an infection pre-fruiting, and it was in the carboy for a few weeks. I've done these beers quite a few times (without fruit) and never had an issue with lacto surviving the boil. Plus the second half of the batch didn't have this issue.

I'm sure I was too laxed with my fruit prep... thinking if something like this happens, it'll likely just make this particular beer more interesting.

Agreed. I'd drink it either way.

 

[Brewbien]

I don't have much to add other than those are some beautiful looking beers.

 

[Ibrewaletx]

This sounds interesting and look forward to hearing your final outcome on the raspberry/infected batch. I am in the middle of my first sour mash berliner right now (~30 hours) and planned to let it sit on some blackberries when I finish my primary - I hadn't thought much of possibly getting infected from the frozen fruit...
Quick question for you, how long do you normally sour your mash for?

 

[gmr]

I usually sour mash for 36-48 hours. You just have to taste it along the way. My process is explained in this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/sour-mashing-berliner-weisse-396313/

I'm excited for the raspberry version. It's becoming amazingly clear in the carboy. Don't know if that's due to the brett. The blackberry version has a bit of a haze to it - it's kegged now, and tasting amazing. Should go over well at the NHC club night.

 

[justindustrial]

I think it's probably likely that the berries were carrying lactobacillus with them, as does most fruit. What did you do to sterilize / prepare the fruit?

 

[gmr]

I think it's probably likely that the berries were carrying lactobacillus with them, as does most fruit. What did you do to sterilize / prepare the fruit?

It was packaged frozen fruit, that was thawed. That was about it. I wasn't too worried about it, considering the style of beer it was going into.

Wouldn't it be surprising that I got a pellicle that quickly (under a day) from lacto in a less then ideal temp range (fermenter was in the lower end of the 60's)?

 

[Andrikos]

If you want some more Brett character I would just add a few liters of super high mashed wort (160F+) into your fermenter and let the yeasties go to work.
Keep it warm and let it ferment away.
It will take a while but I'll bet you it'll become more and more complex.
It's worth a try.