Wyeast Lambic Blend on cherries - pellicle or mold?

[TandemTails]

This started out as a 6% ABV tart cherry mead. I racked 5 gallons of it which i stabilized and bottled but I kept a 1 gallon test batch that I added 1 lbs of sweet cherries to.

It has been sitting on the cherries for about 5 months at this point and I'm not sure if what I see is mold or a pellicle. The white is only forming on the cherries themselves.

The airlock has been kept full and sealed the entire time as well.

Anyway, here are the pics. Can anyone help me figure out if I let it ride for a while longer or should I just dump it?

 

[MeanDeuce]

I had something similar on blackberries I had in my BDSA after I added dregs from Crooked Stave, Allagash and Avery. I just bottled it yesterday and it did't kill me after tasting. I would let it go unless it turned black. Probably just a pellicle. Mold usually looks furry.

 

[secondbase]

Hard to tell from the quality of some of those pictures, but it looks like a normal pellicle from what I can tell. If it looks fuzzy/furry, or green/blue/black then you should start worrying. Punch those cherries down(might be hard to do in a carboy) and purge the headspace if you can to discourage mold/bacteria growth from the air in the headspace.

 

[TandemTails]

Thanks. No black/green/blue spots or 'hairy' growth on anything which is the reason i thought it might just be a pellicle. Sounds like i'll just let it ride for another 6 months or so and see what happens.

 

[sweetcell]

Punch those cherries down(might be hard to do in a carboy) and purge the headspace if you can to discourage mold/bacteria growth from the air in the headspace.

alternately, you can lightly shake the jug until you get some beer to splash/sploosh over the floating cherries. you just want some beer to slosh over those cherries. ideally you would open up the jug and do a proper punch-down, but in my experience just keeping them wet is enough to get them to ferment out.

 

[BUCKNUTS]

seeing as how those cherries appear to above the liquid and that is the only place with the growth I say it's mold but it's hard to tell for sure.

 

[Dirty25]

My vote is a pellicle

 

[Yeroc]

If it's mold, what's to be done. Would a few swirls cover it with alcohol and kill the mold without adversely affecting the beer?

I have a sour beer on cherries and I have no pellicle at all, which surprises me even though I know it's possible.

 

[TNGabe]

5 months on sweet cherries? Sounds like you should have bottled it about 4 months ago. Even if it is mold, just rack off the fruit and bottle it.