Does this look OK?

[Patirck]

It sure seems... interesting.

This is a sour red ale made with ECY01. I made this same recipe about a year ago and it was very tasty. It is a fairly straight forward red ale grist with about 15 ibus. It has been in the bucket for two weeks now. It started at 1.058 and seemed to be stuck at 1.020 so I roused the yeast and bugs by stirring it a bit a few days ago. I went to do a gravity check this morning and this is what I found:

Is this normal? The last time I brewed this it was pretty much like normal beer in terms of how it looked.

 

[BryanThompson]

Yes this is normal. When you stirred the beer you introduced a lot of oxygen. Brett and lacto form a protective layer called a pellicle to prevent oxidation. Check out the pellicle photo thread to see more.

 

[NcBrewer35]

By opening your fermenter and stirring you subjected your beer to oxygen. ECY1 has Brettanomyces in it; so the brett reacted by forming a "pellicle" to protect itself from the oxygen.

You did not hurt your beer at all. At least in my experience.

 

[Patirck]

After looking at some photos it does look similar. It smells nice and sour - like green apple candy almost.

It is still stuck at 1.020. It's been this way for a week. Any ideas? This is part of a split batch - the other 5 gallons is fermenting and almost done with northwest ale yeast and it is at 1.015 (maybe lower today).

 

[TNGabe]

If ever RDWHAB was appropriate, it's now. You say you've used this blend before? How long did that beer go? 12 months should be a minimum with this blend. Mine has been chuggin along for 6 months and I haven't checked the gravity and I'm not planning on sampling it until it's at least a year old. Don't stir it anymore and don't leave it in the bucket the whole time or you'll get a lot of acetic acid.

 

[Patirck]

I've heard that about sours but with this blend, it was ready in a month or so last time I used it. I'm hoping I don't have to wait a year.

As for the stir - it was very gentile with a temp probe end. I mostly swirld the bottom and close to it so the yeast would come out of suspension. I certainly didn't whirl pool it or anything.

 

[Coff]

I've used Bugfarm in the past and it has dried out in a month but the beer was not finished. This blend needs no less than 8-12 months of bulk aging to fully develop. Even then another 3-6 months in the bottle for it to round out.