Pelical Fell In

[crupp]

All,

I'm relatively new to sour beer brewing, so I don't really understand all of the ins and out of fermenting.

A friend of mine bumped into his carboy last night and the pelical fell into the beer. Will the pelical reform? If not, will the beer still continue to develop, or should he consider his fermentation complete?

Thanks in advance!!

[Mills]

Hey buddy, how long was the pellicle up?

Mills

[Travisty]

Hey buddy, how long was the pellicle up?

Mills

Isn't that kind of a personal question??



I have my first sour in a secondary right now too and at one point I decided to try and take a small sample to taste and the pellicle kind of dissipated, but now it's back and thicker than before. If I remember correctly the pellicle thickness is directly related to oxygen contact. Whether or no there's a pellicle, the bug will still be working until there's no more food left or something else makes them stop.

[brewinhard]

No worries, your pellicle will quickly reform itself. as said above, probably even thicker than before. I just racked half of a flanders pale on to peaches and left the other half in the carboy. Pellicle got all busted up, of course, but now it is thicker than ever!

[crupp]

Cool. Thanks for the replies! The pelical had only been up for about a month.

[Millhaus]

I too am new to sours and my pellicle has been on for 18 months. Is the theory that the beer is done when the pellicle drops on its own?

Aaron

[crupp]

I too am new to sours and my pellicle has been on for 18 months. Is the theory that the beer is done when the pellicle drops on its own?

Aaron

That's what I've heard/read, but I think it's best to let your palate make the final decision.

[brewinhard]

Agreed...not all pellicles will drop. If there is no vibrations nearby then the pellicle can remain intact for a very long time. have a taste and see if you like the flavor development. If not, let it go a few more mos and have another taste.