pelliculiar

paulmaybee · April 27, 2015, 02:22:48 PM

I have an interesting thing happening with my latest batch. I'm using the 4th generation of 1056, so I'm assuming it has been... compromised...

The yeast was harvested in February, so I made a starter with it, and there seemed to be some activity. When I added it to the batch, nothing happened for the first 24 hours, and then I noticed some small activity just after that. At about 30 hours, there was clearly some activity. The next day (this morning) there is definite activity, but it has a very strange (although not altogether terrible) smell. Kind of like spinach, canned peas, and a little cheesy, but not like death or feces. I also noticed a bit of pellicle forming, as you can see in the photos. Should I keep it around and see what happens or am I entering the danger zone?

jamie_savoie · April 27, 2015, 03:30:42 PM

Paul, I see nothing wrong with your pictures. Definitely not a pellicle
And the smell you describe sounds like normal fermentation smell. Fermenting beer can have really weird smell sometimes.
Funny because my friend, who just started all grain a couple of months ago, called me last night in a semi panic. He was racking a saison to a keg and the smell was really weird he said. Told him to relax and have a sample. 5 minutes later he txt me saying it tasted really great

paulmaybee · April 27, 2015, 03:35:23 PM

Quote from: jamie_savoie on April 27, 2015, 03:30:42 PM
Paul, I see nothing wrong with your pictures. Definitely not a pellicle
And the smell you describe sounds like normal fermentation smell. Fermenting beer can have really weird smell sometimes.
Funny because my friend, who just started all grain a couple of months ago, called me last night in a semi panic. He was racking a saison to a keg and the smell was really weird he said. Told him to relax and have a sample. 5 minutes later he txt me saying it tasted really great

Thanks Jamie. As I was writing this, I was thinking, I hope Jamie says it's fine and just chill.

I've never seen the larger, soapy looking bubbles before, and it smells very different than it ever has. The yeast is definitely doing it's thing though, so I may just end up with something interesting, but good. I'll keep waiting.

blisster · April 27, 2015, 03:42:02 PM

DO NOT DRINK THIS. I'll pick it up tonight for safe disposal.. haha.

It looks fine to me too.. 1056 is one of my favorite yeasts, It'll clean up really well

paulmaybee · April 27, 2015, 03:47:17 PM

Quote from: blisster on April 27, 2015, 03:42:02 PM
DO NOT DRINK THIS. I'll pick it up tonight for safe disposal.. haha.

It looks fine to me too.. 1056 is one of my favorite yeasts, It'll clean up really well

Haha! thanks for looking out for a fellow brewer's health and safety. Thanks for the experience on this guys. I was (only a little bit) worried by the long time it took to get started, and the strange smells, but I think I'll hang on to it for a while. Sorry Pierre.

robcoombs · April 27, 2015, 04:20:43 PM

I agree with @jamie_savoie and @blisster , it looks fine, fermentation smell can change from batch to batch. I also don't see a pellicle. Did you taste a sample during the transfer?

paulmaybee · May 22, 2015, 12:18:43 PM

update: this still tastes a little bit like spinach. It attenuated more than expected, would that be bacteria?... I wouldn't say I'm proud of this one, but I still may bring some to the MO for the more adventurous to tell me what you think happened. It's not carbonated, but I haven't brought myself to dump it yet, so anybody want a taste?

chrismccull · May 22, 2015, 07:18:15 PM

At $2 per pack, you should just use a pack of US-05 rather than reusing liquid yeast, it isn't worth the risk. Just my opinion.

paulmaybee · May 22, 2015, 08:44:04 PM

Quote from: chrismccull on May 22, 2015, 07:18:15 PM
At $2 per pack, you should just use a pack of US-05 rather than reusing liquid yeast, it isn't worth the risk. Just my opinion.

Fair enough. The problem though was not using the liquid yeast, but that it was the 4th generation, and probably (read: definitely) it got contaminated along the way. I started out with dry yeast, but I find the liquid yeast gives much more flexibility. This is my first bad batch after god knows how many hundreds, so I can accept that risk for sure. I usually get 4-5 generations out of a smack pack, so it ends up being the same price as S-05.

paulmaybee · June 03, 2015, 09:20:22 PM

update: this batch is not ruined at all. Thanks for convincing me to keep it. It tastes nothing like what it is supposed to be, but it's actually pretty good now that I left it a while longer.

paulmaybee · July 28, 2015, 04:47:25 PM

Update.... Once I carbed this, it tasted terrible again. Unfortunately, this had to be dumped. I left it for a good long time to see if it would get better, but indeed it did not.

On another note, here is a real pellicle (I think)! This is a sour beer I brewed back in the beginning of June, this half is using some of the dregs from our MO sour tasting marathon, the other half is just Brett L + lacto and has cleared almost completely and has very little pellicle. Amazing the visual difference between the two with so little different between them.

Roger · July 28, 2015, 05:37:36 PM

That sucks you had to dump it...

Let's hope the next one turns out better.

JohnQ · July 28, 2015, 06:44:59 PM

Quote from: paulmaybee on July 28, 2015, 04:47:25 PM
I left it for a good long time to see if it would get better, but indeed it did not.

How long?

Our barrel experiment from a couple of years back that went "bad" everyone but me threw out, then a year later I found a couple of kegs and they were A-MAZING...

JQ

paulmaybee · July 28, 2015, 07:01:17 PM

Quote from: JohnQ on July 28, 2015, 06:44:59 PM
Quote from: paulmaybee on July 28, 2015, 04:47:25 PM
I left it for a good long time to see if it would get better, but indeed it did not.

How long?

Our barrel experiment from a couple of years back that went "bad" everyone but me threw out, then a year later I found a couple of kegs and they were A-MAZING...

JQ

I left it for 3 months, which is all I could manage to tie up a keg for. It was definitely contaminated, not just a little off, but down right bad tasting.

jamie_savoie · July 29, 2015, 08:59:27 AM

Quote from: JohnQ on July 28, 2015, 06:44:59 PM
Quote from: paulmaybee on July 28, 2015, 04:47:25 PM
I left it for a good long time to see if it would get better, but indeed it did not.

How long?

Our barrel experiment from a couple of years back that went "bad" everyone but me threw out, then a year later I found a couple of kegs and they were A-MAZING...

JQ

indeed it was!

I made a saison in January and kept 3 gal for an experiment that turned out subpar. I'm still keeping it for at least a year before I decide to dump it or not