First sour about done...few concerns.

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

So, I brewed a flanders red back in December of 2010. It's been aging on oak for the past 14 months. I decided to add some fresh cherries to the beer since it's not quite sour enough for me...but I had a bit of a concern.

I moved to a new apartment last year, and so I had to move all of my brewing to my dads house since I don't have the room. He knows nothing about beer other than how to drink it...

I haven't been able to make it to his house for a few months, and noticed that my airlock had dried out when I went to add my cherries today. Now...I'm not overly concerned since it is a sour beer afterall. But what concerned me was the "foam" on top.

I've seen pelicles...and mine never really formed one since there wasn't a whole lot of headspace in my carboy. A month ago when I checked it, there was no signs of anything on top. Today, it has a wierd, "cooked-egg" like substance floating on top.

I went about adding my cherries...and I'm going to let it sit for another few months before bottling, but I was hoping someone could easy my concerns about this floating stuff.

 

[ryane]

cooked egg? like a gelatinous mass? with a dry airlock fruit flies could have gotten in and you could have acetobacter, did it smell like vinegar at all?

 

[louie0202]

Did you take any pictures so we can see this?

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Acetobacter doesn't form a pellicle. It forms a mother (a gelatinous pad) that floats beneath the surface.

It is probably ok. All that air exposure probably caused the active bacteria and brett to thicken up the pellicle to defend against oxygenation.

 

[ryane]

Acetobacter doesn't form a pellicle. It forms a mother (a gelatinous pad) that floats beneath the surface.

It is probably ok. All that air exposure probably caused the active bacteria and brett to thicken up the pellicle to defend against oxygenation.

Yah I know, but it could be described as a cooked egg floating at or near the surface. Ive got quite a few going right now in all my vinegar batches. Its the closest anything Ive seen is to a cooked egg

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Gotcha. I read his description and thought he meant more like a pile of scrambled egg on top rather than a fried egg hovering around the top.

 

[passedpawn]

a picture would help a lot

 

[ryane]

a picture would help a lot

^^ This

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

I wish I would have taken a picture. It did look a lot like a fried egg white floating on top. No vinegar smell, and it tastes great. I would just like to know what was happening for future reference.