My first pellicle

Northern Brewer General
1

I brewed this Irish draught March 27th. The carboy has been wrapped in a towel so I literally haven’t looked at it in months.

I decided to keg it today and as I dropped the auto siphon in I thought - huh, that looks kind of like a pellicle forming on the surface.

After the keg was full I took a taste from the end of the auto siphon hose. It didn’t taste half bad but definitely more of a sour than the honey brown it was intended to be and it has a significant vinegar aroma.

Would be interesting to see where it goes so I may carb it up and fill a few bottles but I’ll need to get rid of any plastic it touched right?

edit: Forgot my question…

In a glass carboy with a bung and 3 piece airlock that never went dry, how did the acetobacter get enough oxygen? It’s aerobic right?

2

Bumping this because it appears I have another pellicle on a beer I brewed the day after I found this one referenced above.

July 11 I brewed an IPA and fermented in a bucket. I just opened the bucket today to dry hop it and found this.

This one doesn’t smell like vinegar as a mater of fact it has a great hop aroma.

WTF? I’m anal about my sanitation. Why am I getting these? Anyone??

3

Has it happened to subsequent batches? May be time to ditch the buckets, tubing, and siphon and buy all new?

4

No the last one was in a glass carboy. I replaced anything plastic that could have come in contact with it. This bucket is going to get tossed out.

5

Boy that is gnarly looking. How does it taste? If you can rack to a keg and crash it it might be worth a try.

6

Wow I’m stumped. I know you mentioned sanitation, but do you mechanically (ie scrub) clean all surfaces too?

7

Is there any chance that fruit flies got into it? I’m told they carry acetobacter…

8

I thought I might try it later today but then i’d potentially have to throw out another auto siphon…and beer lines if it got that far…I have 3 other beers in fermenters so might not be worth the risk.

9

[quote=“dannyboy58”]I brewed this Irish draught March 27th. The carboy has been wrapped in a towel so I literally haven’t looked at it in months.

I decided to keg it today and as I dropped the auto siphon in I thought - huh, that looks kind of like a pellicle forming on the surface.

After the keg was full I took a taste from the end of the auto siphon hose. It didn’t taste half bad but definitely more of a sour than the honey brown it was intended to be and it has a significant vinegar aroma.

Would be interesting to see where it goes so I may carb it up and fill a few bottles but I’ll need to get rid of any plastic it touched right?

edit: Forgot my question…

In a glass carboy with a bung and 3 piece airlock that never went dry, how did the acetobacter get enough oxygen? It’s aerobic right?[/quote]

an irish draught, a sour, a honey brown? Im just confused on what it is supposed to be. Ha.
Anyways, nothing is airtight in homebrewing, bungs let oxygen in, airlock can let oxygen, carboys, sampling etc…
By the second pic you have some sanitation issues, throw out all your soft stuff and I mean everything don’t try and skimp by on something or it will happen again. Auto Siphons crack so damn easily. If you Keg go to those soft pieces to
Clean everything else really well.

Good time to switch to stainless racking canes so you can rack with c02 and clean easily

10

If you mean fermenters and equipment, yes. Glass carboys get scrubbed free of visible trub, etc with the carboy brush, then soaked usually overnight in PBW or oxy. Buckets I wash out with a sponge and then soak the same way. Sometimes I use a double mesh strainer to collect trub and aerate when transferring wort to the fermenter. That strainer and funnel get cleaned with hot soap and water or PBW/Oxy and always sanitized before use.

If this is acetobacter, which I’m pretty sure the first one was due to the vinegar odor and taste, then it’s air borne right? So could it have still been in the air when I brewed this one the day after finding the first one? Should I scrub down the entire brew cave?

11

I haven’t noticed any fruit flies in the house but I live in Virginia and we are prone to gnats in the summer months.

12

If you mean fermenters and equipment, yes. Glass carboys get scrubbed free of visible trub, etc with the carboy brush, then soaked usually overnight in PBW or oxy. Buckets I wash out with a sponge and then soak the same way. Sometimes I use a double mesh strainer to collect trub and aerate when transferring wort to the fermenter. That strainer and funnel get cleaned with hot soap and water or PBW/Oxy and always sanitized before use.

If this is acetobacter, which I’m pretty sure the first one was due to the vinegar odor and taste, then it’s air borne right? So could it have still been in the air when I brewed this one the day after finding the first one? Should I scrub down the entire brew cave?[/quote]

there is wild yeast blowing around EVERYWHERE. Betting you have a piece of equipment post boil that is dirty.
Do you do wort stability tests?

13

[quote=“grainbelt”][quote=“dannyboy58”]I brewed this Irish draught March 27th. The carboy has been wrapped in a towel so I literally haven’t looked at it in months.

I decided to keg it today and as I dropped the auto siphon in I thought - huh, that looks kind of like a pellicle forming on the surface.

After the keg was full I took a taste from the end of the auto siphon hose. It didn’t taste half bad but definitely more of a sour than the honey brown it was intended to be and it has a significant vinegar aroma.

Would be interesting to see where it goes so I may carb it up and fill a few bottles but I’ll need to get rid of any plastic it touched right?

edit: Forgot my question…

In a glass carboy with a bung and 3 piece airlock that never went dry, how did the acetobacter get enough oxygen? It’s aerobic right?[/quote]

an irish draught, a sour, a honey brown? Im just confused on what it is supposed to be. Ha.
Anyways, nothing is airtight in homebrewing, bungs let oxygen in, airlock can let oxygen, carboys, sampling etc…
By the second pic you have some sanitation issues, throw out all your soft stuff and I mean everything don’t try and skimp by on something or it will happen again. Auto Siphons crack so damn easily. If you Keg go to those soft pieces to
Clean everything else really well.

Good time to switch to stainless racking canes so you can rack with c02 and clean easily[/quote]

I know right? I wanted to let it age and call it an irish honey saison but decided not to run it through my beer lines.

I tossed the auto siphon that one was in contact with. This IPA hasn’t been out of the bucket so far.

Which takes me back to my question to Pietro. If it’s airborne have I now released it into my brew room by opening that bucket?

14

[quote]

an irish draught, a sour, a honey brown? Im just confused on what it is supposed to be. Ha.
Anyways, nothing is airtight in homebrewing, bungs let oxygen in, airlock can let oxygen, carboys, sampling etc…
By the second pic you have some sanitation issues, throw out all your soft stuff and I mean everything don’t try and skimp by on something or it will happen again. Auto Siphons crack so damn easily. If you Keg go to those soft pieces to
Clean everything else really well.

Good time to switch to stainless racking canes so you can rack with c02 and clean easily[/quote]

I know right? I wanted to let it age and call it an irish honey saison but decided not to run it through my beer lines.

I tossed the auto siphon that one was in contact with. This IPA hasn’t been out of the bucket so far.

Which takes me back to my question to Pietro. If it’s airborne have I now released it into my brew room by opening that bucket?[/quote]

it is not airbonre and contaminating your whole room (never got where that homebrew mantra came from). I brew sours and open them up so by that thought there is brett and lacto and pedio everywhere in my brew room but I do not get cross contamination to my clean beers that are right next to the sours.

You probaby have something dirty post boil, throw out siphon, hoses, racking canes, keg seals, popits, etc any thing and everything plastic.
Brew again and do a wort stability test

15

Another thing to consider is the valve in your brew kettle and any pumps/tubing you might use to transfer to your fermenter. I know I’m tempting fate but i have yet to take apart and clean my three piece ball valve on my kettle. I may do that when I get home today :slight_smile:

16

If you mean fermenters and equipment, yes. Glass carboys get scrubbed free of visible trub, etc with the carboy brush, then soaked usually overnight in PBW or oxy. Buckets I wash out with a sponge and then soak the same way. Sometimes I use a double mesh strainer to collect trub and aerate when transferring wort to the fermenter. That strainer and funnel get cleaned with hot soap and water or PBW/Oxy and always sanitized before use.

If this is acetobacter, which I’m pretty sure the first one was due to the vinegar odor and taste, then it’s air borne right? So could it have still been in the air when I brewed this one the day after finding the first one? Should I scrub down the entire brew cave?[/quote]

there is wild yeast blowing around EVERYWHERE. Betting you have a piece of equipment post boil that is dirty.
Do you do wort stability tests?[/quote]
Trying to think of a joke for wort stability…strikes me as kind of a funny term. No I haven’t. I may do one with my next brew now.

I mentioned some other equipment above. The irish draught probably got poured through the strainer and funnel into the glass carboy. The IPA would have definitely gone through the strainer as well. Thinking back the strainer has probably never been PBW/Oxy soaked just cleaned by hand with soap and hot water then sanitized before use. I just got a plate chiller and pump so it’s likely the strainer will be eliminated from my process.

A stainless racking cane sounds like a great idea. I’ll have to do some research on the CO2 transfer. I think I’ve seen you mention it before.

17

Like I said everything plastic gets tossed, everything else a good cleaning

18

These were transferred the old fashioned way. Lift kettle, pour wort through strainer/funnel.

The funnel was a new one since the irish draught was brewed. I’m starting to suspect the strainer but it’s stainless and gets washed and sanitized.

19

These were transferred the old fashioned way. Lift kettle, pour wort through strainer/funnel.

The funnel was a new one since the irish draught was brewed. I’m starting to suspect the strainer but it’s stainless and gets washed and sanitized.[/quote]
what do you use to sanitize? STar San I assume?
Are you positive it was effective? (ph in check) I use distilled but If I mix the normal amount of star san with my tap water it is not effective

Do a wort stability test on the rest of your batches

20

[quote=“grainbelt”][quote]

an irish draught, a sour, a honey brown? Im just confused on what it is supposed to be. Ha.
Anyways, nothing is airtight in homebrewing, bungs let oxygen in, airlock can let oxygen, carboys, sampling etc…
By the second pic you have some sanitation issues, throw out all your soft stuff and I mean everything don’t try and skimp by on something or it will happen again. Auto Siphons crack so damn easily. If you Keg go to those soft pieces to
Clean everything else really well.

Good time to switch to stainless racking canes so you can rack with c02 and clean easily[/quote]

I know right? I wanted to let it age and call it an irish honey saison but decided not to run it through my beer lines.

I tossed the auto siphon that one was in contact with. This IPA hasn’t been out of the bucket so far.

Which takes me back to my question to Pietro. If it’s airborne have I now released it into my brew room by opening that bucket?[/quote]

it is not airbonre and contaminating your whole room (never got where that homebrew mantra came from). I brew sours and open them up so by that thought there is brett and lacto and pedio everywhere in my brew room but I do not get cross contamination to my clean beers that are right next to the sours.

You probaby have something dirty post boil, throw out siphon, hoses, racking canes, keg seals, popits, etc any thing and everything plastic.
Brew again and do a wort stability test[/quote]
So it’s not floating around a leaping in my wort unless it’s on the legs of fruit flies? That’s somewhat comforting.

Guess I’ll burn all the plastics and PBW everything else when I get home today.

Bummer I was hoping to do a side by side of my centennial IPA, one with 2 row and one with maris otter. Alas poor maris we never knew ye…

Thanks for the support guys!