Weizen/Weissbier Fermenting Question

[ScrewyBrewer]

I opened the top of the fermenter t remove the hops sack before bottling and saw this light feathery foam on top of the wheat beer. The beer tasted ok, maybe a very slight hint of lemon and I've got it carbonating now.

Has anyone seen something like this before, if so what is it?

 

[borden]

Yikes. If the beer tastes OK, maybe it's better to not know exactly what it is.

 

[Bentpirate]

I don't have an answer, but I am following this thread. What were your base malts? I have some 50/50 (Pils / wheat) conditioning in bottles now that have a white coating on top. I took as proteins and drank it. No ill effects.
Did you touch any of the white stuff between you finger and thumb? Does it feel greasy?

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

I don't have an answer, but I am following this thread. What were your base malts? I have some 50/50 (Pils / wheat) conditioning in bottles now that have a white coating on top. I took as proteins and drank it. No ill effects.
Did you touch any of the white stuff between you finger and thumb? Does it feel greasy?

The recipe was pretty straightforward...it tasted ok and had a slight lemon like taste. The link below has all the pictures and details...I didn't touch it though.

Click for more details

Recipe:
Size 2.13 gallons: Estimated IBU=16, SRM=4, OG=1.050, FG=1.013, ABV=4.9%
2 pounds Muntons Wheat DME
1/2 pound Golden Blossom Honey

1/4 ounce Halleteur pellet hops boiled for 30 minutes
1/2 ounce Halleteur pellet hops boiled for 12 minutes
1/4 ounce Halleteur pellet hops finishing

11.5 gram Fermentis Safbrew WB-06 yeast
Pitched at 65F and fermented at 65F

Directions:
Boil 2 quarts of filtered water
Boil 1/4 oz. hops for 30 minutes
Boil 1/2 oz. hops for12 minutes
Stir in DME and honey boil for 10 minutes
Place in ice bath until wort temperature cools to 70F
Add 6 quarts cold filtered water to Mr. Beer fermenter
Pour cooled wort into fermenter keg, including 1/4 oz. finishing hops and pitch yeast
Ferment at constant 60F temperature for 21 days

 

[skeeordye11]

That looks like an infection. Drink it quick and store it somewhere that it won't ruin anything important if bottles start blowing up.
What are you fermenting in? Do you just have a thermometer poked through the lid? Is it sealed, cause it doesn't look like it from the picture. That could be how the bugs got in. Where's your airlock? Perhaps a better picture of the fermentation vessel is in order to further diagnose possible issues.

 

[wonderbread23]

Thats a gnarly pellicle. Definitely an infection of some sort. Drink it quick and store the bottles cold once carbed.

 

[dogma9]

That looks like an infection. Drink it quick and store it somewhere that it won't ruin anything important if bottles start blowing up.
What are you fermenting in? Do you just have a thermometer poked through the lid? Is it sealed, cause it doesn't look like it from the picture. That could be how the bugs got in. Where's your airlock? Perhaps a better picture of the fermentation vessel is in order to further diagnose possible issues.

looks like a mrbeer keg which don't use airlocks

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

It is a Mr. Beer keg, they have the airlocks built into the top of the keg where the top screws onto the neck. I drilled a hole thats smaller than the diameter of the thermometer probe, sanitized it all and had to really push to get it through the top. I've actually been using this setup in 3 other kegs without any issues with infection.

The picture shows the inside of the fermenter after all the bottles were filled and the trub looks ok. There weren't any chunks or strands or growths of any kind and the pellicle looks like it just melted away. The bottles have been carbing for a week now and the look ok too.

Click for more...Infection?

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

The results are in, the recipe and pellicle for my Weizen/Weissbier produced the best tasting most flavorful wheat beer I have ever tasted. We all sat around a nice warm fire last weekend and sampled a few of my latest beers. I anxiously poured the first glasses of the Weizen/Weissbier and waited to see how it tasted to me and the others.

That interesting lemon like taste at bottling, that not sweet but not sour flavor was still there and it somehow rounded out the taste of a really great beer. Trust me on this one there were no lemons anywhere near this recipe let alone in it. The color, body, authentic Hallertauer hopping and carbonation level all worked together nicely making this recipe hands down the best beer I've ever brewed, so far.

My next project is going to be brewing 2 more identical batches to see if the pellicle forms again as it did for this first batch.

http://www.thescrewybrewer.com

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

This is what the wheat beer looked like after spending 21 days in the fermenter, just prior to bottling it up..

This is what the beer looked like after carbonating and conditioning for a month..