I'll never understand the pellicle flex, I present my 3-day old tasting glass

[goodolarchie]

I took a sample of a still-active fruited mixed culture beer, went looking for my hydrometer, and forgot about it. Here's the pellicle that formed three days later, complete with dead fruit fly's final swim.

The point I'm making - pellicles don't really tell you anything about the underlying beer. People love their pellicle porn, but whenever I see a monsterous pellicle I just think this is evidence your yeast and bacteria are in the presence of oxygen and that thing is probably acetic as hell. It's like showing off the scratched paint on your rally car, or scuffs on your sneakers. Not that a little oxygen isn't good, most of my magic happens in barrels these days, it's the reason wood vessels and that micro-oxidation produce such nuanced beers.

But I find it way more impressive if you have a 3-year old mixed culture beer sitting in a carboy that has virtually no pellicle. If I see that beer still has a light color -- that beer has been babied, properly sealed and the airlock tended to (or stoppered). It shows a discipline that tends to make better beer with fewer oxygen-derived off flavors than a thick, brainy pellicle. /Endrant

 

[RPh_Guy]

Are people "flexing"? I just figured they're maybe sharing a little of their excitement waiting for a beer/whatever that's been sitting for years/months, and the pellicle is just an interesting visual.

Nice pellicle photo! Thanks for posting it.

 

[mashpaddled]

They are interesting to look at--far more than the flat surface of beer. I agree people who think a pellicle is a good sign of mixed culture fermentation have misplaced goals. Quick pellicle formation is often a sign of oxygen exposure but inevitably most vessels will develop some kind of pellicle.

 

[sweetcell]

The point I'm making - pellicles don't really tell you anything about the underlying beer. People love their pellicle porn

agreed and agreed. i don't think anyone is saying anything about the underlying beer, except that it has something pretty/cool/gross floating on top of it. not much else you need (or should) do to an aging mixed ferm, so taking pix of gnarly bubbles is all we have to share.

whenever I see a monsterous pellicle I just think this is evidence your yeast and bacteria are in the presence of oxygen and that thing is probably acetic as hell.

i'll take issue with that one piece of ranting, lest anyone take away the wrong message: pellicles are not indicative of acetic acid. i age in glass, keep my air locks topped up, and eventually every carboy will develop a pellicle in the neck. never had an issue with acetic, nor have i tasted it from fellow brewers who also had pellicles in their necks of their carboys. hell, pellicles often form inside the bottle after packaging - luckily none of the bottles become acetic, in my experience.

 

[goodolarchie]

i'll take issue with that one piece of ranting, lest anyone take away the wrong message: pellicles are not indicative of acetic acid. i age in glass, keep my air locks topped up, and eventually every carboy will develop a pellicle in the neck. never had an issue with acetic, nor have i tasted it from fellow brewers who also had pellicles in their necks of their carboys.

How would you describe those pellicles? Are they a thin white film? I agree, I get pellicles in almost all of my long term fermentations at some point. But when I said "monstrous," I chose the word carefully - my point was that when you practically have a SCOBY mother sitting on top of your mixed ferm beer, I'll be damned if the brett didn't produce acetic acid, it's just what happens with brett + oxygen, on top of big, beefy, bragging-rights-level pellicles. The more mosntrous your pellicle porn, the more I'm pre-puckering on trial.

I may be in minority opinion here, but my feeling on acetic acid in beer is like democrats on a certain, divisive political issue - it should be rare, safe, and legal... like flanders reds and oud bruins.

 

[sweetcell]

But when I said "monstrous," I chose the word carefully

ah, valid point. thick thick pellicle = high chance of ick

I may be in minority opinion here, but my feeling on acetic acid in beer is like democrats on a certain, divisive political issue - it should be rare, safe, and legal... like flanders reds and oud bruins.

i'd be OK with flanders reds and oud bruins being less rare