Pellicle after 2 weeks on Cocoa Nibs

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by pweis909, Sep 10, 2015.

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  1. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,250) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    My sweet stout has developed a pellicle while sitting on cocoa nibs. A quick google shows I am not the first person this has happened to. I figure odds are it's the nibs as the cause, because otherwise I have never had a pellicle except while using bug blends. This is the first batch in a new bucket fermenter, so crossover contamination from a previous batch is not a possibility. I know @VikeMan has talked about oils, and while this looks a little like a film of fat, it looks more like the pellicles I have seen on my bug beers.

    Getting ready to rack it.
     
    #1 pweis909, Sep 10, 2015
  2. JohnSnowNW

    JohnSnowNW Initiate (0) Feb 6, 2013 Minnesota

    Pics or it didn't happen.

    I know, I know, you don't post pictures.
     
    #2 JohnSnowNW, Sep 10, 2015
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  3. GreenKrusty101

    GreenKrusty101 Initiate (0) Dec 4, 2008 Nevada

    What did you sanitize/prep the nibs with?
    Did you taste it yet?
    RDWHAHB (preferably this one) : )
     
    #3 GreenKrusty101, Sep 10, 2015
  4. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,250) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    It may turn out to be the beer that didn't happen. It doesn't want to rack out of the fermenter. Too much nib cloggage. Going to have reach into my bag of tricks to see if I can rescue it. Seems like an old date or two must have left a nylon stocking somewhere...
     
    #4 pweis909, Sep 10, 2015
  5. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,250) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    Sanitize/prep? Was I supposed to do that? I just figured the beer environment would take care of this stuff. Anyhow, I'm going to claim bullshit because I followed the Northern Brewer kit instructions and they wouldn't steer me wrong. There's a lot about nibs that I don't know, I guess. EDIT: Not calling Bullshit on GreenKrusty101 -- on this whole kit nib thing.

    How does it taste? Like a sweet stout that I might have made with any number of roasted malts. Nothing special. No taste of brett, lacto, etc. EDIT: But this experience has left a sour taste in my mouth.
     
    #5 pweis909, Sep 10, 2015
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2015
  6. JohnSnowNW

    JohnSnowNW Initiate (0) Feb 6, 2013 Minnesota

    The last time I followed a recipe (wine kit) that said I could add something straight to the ferementor, instead of adding it to a muslin bag, also ended in tragedy.
     
    #6 JohnSnowNW, Sep 10, 2015
  7. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,250) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    Remember that stainless steel hop spider that I found kind of worthless? I found a use for it. Racking cane inserted into sanitized spider. Siphon started. Spider slowly lowered until I could rest it on the bottom of the fermenter. Kept the nibs from clogging and racked in 5 minutes. Unfortunately for me, I didn't think of this right away and spent about 30 unproductive minutes trying to get my siphon started. Sort of got my undies in bundle over the frustration.

    As for the pellicle, maybe it was all just fat from the nibs after all. There was a lot of white goo mixed in with the nibs and yeast. And no, I still don't have a picture.
     
    #7 pweis909, Sep 10, 2015
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  8. JohnSnowNW

    JohnSnowNW Initiate (0) Feb 6, 2013 Minnesota

    Congrats on figuring a way out of it. I ended up dumping the last 1.5 gallons of wine into secondary through a funnel. It was less than ideal...and I was pretty hacked off about the whole ordeal.

    Glad you think it's just nib juice.
     
    #8 JohnSnowNW, Sep 10, 2015
  9. ChuckHardslab

    ChuckHardslab Maven (1,251) Jan 25, 2012 Texas

    It truly was most likely fat. Nibs contain about 40 percent fat.
     
    #9 ChuckHardslab, Sep 10, 2015
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  10. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,250) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    If I were an octopus, it would have been an easy fix. It was one of those operations that would have gone easier with extra arms. Guess this beer is naming itself Chocolate Octopus.
     
    #10 pweis909, Sep 10, 2015
  11. telejunkie

    telejunkie Savant (1,107) Sep 14, 2007 Vermont

    I'm a fan of making a chocolate extract with nibs....but that means soaking in vodka for 6-12 months. Get a bunch of nibs...toss em in a mason jar, cover with el cheapo vodka and stick in dark corner for like a year. I try to keep two going, one active and one soaking (same with vanilla).
     
    #11 telejunkie, Sep 10, 2015
  12. CurtFromHershey

    CurtFromHershey Initiate (0) Oct 4, 2012 Minnesota

    Choctopussy.
    [​IMG]
     
    #12 CurtFromHershey, Sep 10, 2015
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  13. Brew_Betty

    Brew_Betty Initiate (0) Jan 5, 2015 Wisconsin

    You can sanitize the nibs by dumping boiling hot water on them and letting them sit in a mason jar for a while.
     
    #13 Brew_Betty, Sep 10, 2015
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  14. CADETS3

    CADETS3 Initiate (0) Dec 3, 2014 Texas

    What is wrong with spraying the hell out of them with starsan? I have a chocolate oatmeal stout that I added coffee beans to it and I sprayed the crap out of them and the bag with starsan.
     
    #14 CADETS3, Sep 10, 2015
  15. corbmoster

    corbmoster Pundit (848) Dec 15, 2014 Texas
    Trader

    I remember reading recently @VikeMan said in another post that cocoa nibs have a junk ton of fat in them. Somewhere around 40%. That is most likely what is on top of your fermenter. Next time try cocoa powder, I've heard of people getting good results from that.
     
    #15 corbmoster, Sep 10, 2015
  16. corbmoster

    corbmoster Pundit (848) Dec 15, 2014 Texas
    Trader

    Most likely the membrane is fat, and not an infection. If it was an infection, you would have to use a crap ton of sanitizer to the effect that it wouldn't really be beer anymore. Even if it only needed a small amount of starsan, the byproducts of an infection would still be in there, and beer would be trashed.
     
    #16 corbmoster, Sep 10, 2015
  17. Scumbag81

    Scumbag81 Initiate (0) Sep 10, 2014 California
    Trader

    I'm going to be the downer here and say it likely was a pellicle. To get a good extraction and phase separation of the fat you'd need a fairly high percentage of ethanol in your beer an likely need to grind the nibs to increase the surface area for good extraction.

    The other reason thinking its a pellicle is from prior experience... one of my two infected beers used nibs (the other was bad ECY mild yeast). I've taken to adding my nibs at flameout and bringing them through the entire fermentation process.
     
    #17 Scumbag81, Sep 10, 2015
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  18. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,250) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    The more I think about it, the more I think that bugs and fat were involved. Doesn't matter. It's all a learning experience. The bugs are now in the keg at 35 F
     
    #18 pweis909, Sep 10, 2015
  19. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,250) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    Dr. Choctopus?
     
    #19 pweis909, Sep 10, 2015
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  20. mugs1789

    mugs1789 Zealot (611) Dec 6, 2005 Maryland

    thread of the day.
     
    #20 mugs1789, Sep 10, 2015
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