Pellicle Formation

[The_Professor]

That's a good picture.

Here's the picture I got of mine:

[yankfan9]

Awesome! What did you end up doing with yours?

[The_Professor]

Awesome! What did you end up doing with yours?

I was afraid of it. I took the picture, dumped it out, and cleaned the keg.

[Inkleg]

Awesome! What did you end up doing with yours?

I was afraid of it. I took the picture, dumped it out, and cleaned the keg.

Ya know, a year ago I would have done the same thing. Learning is the best part about brewing........and..... well....... that having beer thing too.

[mashani]

Awesome! What did you end up doing with yours?

I was afraid of it. I took the picture, dumped it out, and cleaned the keg.

It really all depends on what it is.

I get 2-3 Brett C infections every summer because it lives in my house somewhere and wakes up then and is floating around in the air, so it falls into whatever I make at random. Those beers all get funky pellicles. I bottle them anyways, and I drink them young. They get some wet hay and pinapple like flavors, but I actually enjoy them - it's way mellower then say Orval. Since I'm always pitching plenty of good yeast, the infections are only coming into play really late in the fermentation, and the Brett C is really slow to work, so I just prime a bit lighter - and drink it in 2-4 months and it never causes bombs or overcarbonation in that timeframe, and never gets really sour.

The only down side is that it tends to coat my bottles with a film that I have to use bleach to get rid of, but since I really have to bleach them anyways at that point, it's not a biggie. Some yeast do this too, IE French Saison likes to do this and leave a coating on stuff. It's some kind of reverse polarity +/- ion thing, IE instead of the yeastie beasts clumping together (flocculating) and sinking, they fling themselves away from each other and end up stuck to every surface in the bottle.

I've been tempted to get a carboy and let one go for a long time, but I like the young flavors of my personal beer infecting critter, so I've not done it.

[yankfan9]

When I transfer mine to two one gallon jugs, how would I go about doing that? Do I stick the siphon through the pellicle and into the beer and siphon as usual, or could I just attach hose to the spigot, open up the spigot on the LBK and let it run into each jug?

[yankfan9]

Any insight on the best way to transfer this? Planning on doing it tomorrow

[mashani]

Do you have a bottling wand? Just use that in the spigot if you do, unless it won't reach the bottom of the bottle. Even so, you can use that as your "hose". I've done that to rack before. OR nothing wrong with sticking an auto-siphon down through the pellicle.

If you do it with a wand, or the siphon you will need to bleach bomb it. And the spigot regardless, which you will need to totally disassemble and bleach bomb. And the fermenter too if you want to try to use it again. If it is not scratched, bleach bombing it will take care of it.

If there are scratches in anything, all bets are off for that piece of equipment once it touches your beer, except for using it in other sours/wild beers.

[yankfan9]

Alright, I will try using the bottling wand, it should reach to the bottom of the jugs, if not I'll go with the auto siphon. And this thing didn't smell all that sour a little over a week ago but woah this thing smells souuur now! No worries though because I love when they are mouth puckering. Could it be because the LBK is so permeable it got a lot more sour so fast? And I plan on using this for another sour as well so I won't bleach it, because yes it does have a little scratch in the side of it

[russki]

Alright, I will try using the bottling wand, it should reach to the bottom of the jugs, if not I'll go with the auto siphon. And this thing didn't smell all that sour a little over a week ago but woah this thing smells souuur now! No worries though because I love when they are mouth puckering. Could it be because the LBK is so permeable it got a lot more sour so fast? And I plan on using this for another sour as well so I won't bleach it, because yes it does have a little scratch in the side of it

Just be careful that it doesn't turn into vinegar - if there's Acetobacter in there, it can work very fast when oxygen is present, leaving you with 2 gallons of malt vinegar... Mmm... salt and malt vinegar fries...

[RickBeer]

Having had a "vinegar" batch I can attest that it doesn't get better with age. Nothing worse than tasting vinegar on your teeth days later. I choked down several bottles before I chucked the batch.

[mashani]

Just so you are aware and to build upon what those other guys said:

If it's lacto then the sour will "max out" and then remain stable and mellow with age. Lacto makes "good sours".

If it's acetobacter, the "max out' is much less limited, as in it will convert every bit of alcohol created by other critters fermenting in there into acid. Acetobacter never makes good beer, by the time it's done you have 0ABV strong vinegar.

Malt vinegar is great, but it doesn't have hops in it. And is diluted to or fermented with a wort of a gravity intended to end up with a 5% acidity level. But left to rip in a big enough beer it can get to 15-20%...

So in a high enough OG/ABV beer it can make acid strong enough to blister your mouth...

So just be aware...

Note that your pellicle in the picture is NOT an acetobacter pellicle. But if you ever get what looks like a thick translucent layer/disk floating on top that gets strong enough to physically handle without falling apart then that's what you have going on. It can get 1/4" thick easily. If you have seen a "mother of vinegar" then that's what that is.

[yankfan9]

I just pulled a sample from the spigot to taste, and it does taste sour, not as much as the smell, but it tastes like CRAP! I forgot that this beer was just an old MB octoberfest can and WCPA can thrown together with some raspberry added, so do you think it would even be worth letting it ride for a year? I know that it could just taste like crap now because it is not ready, but I am wondering if this will ever turn into a drinkable beer due to the combination I created!

[russki]

I just pulled a sample from the spigot to taste, and it does taste sour, not as much as the smell, but it tastes like CRAP! I forgot that this beer was just an old MB octoberfest can and WCPA can thrown together with some raspberry added, so do you think it would even be worth letting it ride for a year? I know that it could just taste like crap now because it is not ready, but I am wondering if this will ever turn into a drinkable beer due to the combination I created!

I say rack it to glass jugs, minimize headspace, and forget about it for a year. Sours taste downright nasty for the first few months.

[yankfan9]

Alright cool, will do! I'm headed out of town for the holiday, but when I get back it will be racked and put away for a year