I’m fermenting my kettle sour Gose . I racked to a secondary of black currents which I brought to a boil. The beer is at .008 but the fruit hasn’t dropped which is no big deal. I noticed a little opaque layer on top similar to what I get on sourdough starter. At first I figured it was some lacto fermenting out but then I thought no since everything was boiled. Sooo I cold crashed anyway but now I’m thinking maybe let it go. I tasted it and it tastes fine but It wouldn’t hurt it to sour more. Any opinions?
Do you punch down the cap like making wine with the fruit in your beer? Im sure you know brewcat what that means. But for the other brewers. Punching down the cap is a wine makers procedure term that should also apply when brewing with fruit. It is exactly as it sound punching down the cap. Most fruit floats and this what they refer to as the cap. Think of it kind like making a cup of tea with a bag. If you just let it set on top the tea is weak and has little color or flavor. When you dunk the bag you extract more flavors (punching down). When your brewing with fruit and the fruit is floating on top and not getting exposed to the yeast and in clumped together on top you have created a place for mold and other bad bugs to grow. It can be just as simple as a swirling it and allowing the fruit to be exposed to more yeast to prevent mold and other bugs to grow
I will clarify my process. After racking on to the fruit I did punch it down a couple times. After a week in the secondary the fruit was no longer floating. I took a taste and a reading. It was at .10 but still tasted sweet so I tossed in some champagne yeast. I just swirled it every once in awhile. After a week I checked it again that’s when I noticed the fruit back up with the opaqueness. The gravity went down to .08. I’m cold crashing it at 0 deg c now and the fruit dropped. Still a little opaqueness on top but tastes good.
Do you have a picture of it. Im curious!!
I would expect this when souring with the lacto but boiled the wort and the fruit. Anyway kegging it today
That would be a pellicle… make sure to sanitize the heck out of everything that touches!
Definitely a pellicle. DON’T DUMP THIS. I’ve had this happen a few times with fruit additions.
Rack it off the fruit, and let it sit at least a month before you put it in bottles to ensure any residual fermentation activity is done so you can carbonate accurately. If the plan is to keg, it can go straight to the keg. This will change the flavor some, making it not as “fresh” as you might have expected from a fruit beer, but it get more complexity that will more than make up for that.
And yes, sanitize the hell out of all your equipment.
That is what I figured. Just surprised since I boiled the fruit. Anyway it’s in the keg and tastes great. I’ll rinse everything with a bleach solution then wash with oxyclean and then some starsan. Maybe not the keg though.
Reading about the pellicle formation on beer. The pellicle needs oxygen and punching down the fruit into the beer limits oxygen and also the presence of alcohol retards it’s groth. No problem here since I was making a sour.
Heat works too. If you can hold temperatures at 180F for 20 minutes or so with hot water, that’ll effectively sanitize your plastic bucket. Oxygen in the headspace really promotes pellicle formation, so every time you opened it there was enough oxygen introduced to get the pellicle going again. But I’ve also had pellicles form without opening a glass carboy. Seems that some strains of brett will make one regardless of oxygen in the headspace.
