Holy Pellicle, Batman!

The 1-2-3-4 is brewing away strongly, and the huge brett pitch combined with the use of a semi-open fermenter has led to the formation of one heck of a pellicle (click picture for the full-resolution glory). I wish I had grabbed a shot a few days earlier – flocks of Saccharomyces were duelling for space with Brettanomyces  doing its best to setup shop on top of the beer.  Primary fermentation is complete, so the Saccharomyces lost the battle as it always does, but it fought a valiant fight!

Some may wonder why I’m using a “semi-open” fermenter for this (by semi-open I mean a large bucket with a loose fitting lid). The reason is simple – many of the wonderful esters made by Brett require the presence of oxygen – the loose lid and large surface area will ensure plenty of oxygen makes it to the pellicle.