Anyone know what is going on here?

I'm figuring this is a drain pour but I'm curious what is happening here. I dont have a way to test Ph but this beer was at 1.000 when I sent it to this carboy a little less than a week ago.

The grain bill was about 45% wheat 45% pils and 10% acid malt. We put an ounce of EKG in the mash and let it sit on a starter of lacto for about a week.

After that I put a 2L starter of conan yeast and it fermented out. It has been pretty odd looking the whole time but this is the first Ive seen a dark cloud on top.

As things continued I put some dregs in there from Trinity 7 day sour and CS surrett.


@rainerschuhsler

 

Thanks for pointing that out, I should have mentioned taste and smell. It has somewhat consistently smelt and taste like cream corn for a while, though it does seem to be coming down a bit. It was more tart the last time I tried it but not pleasant to drink and the main taste was not tartness.

Im a little nervous about this beer because I used a couple ball jars of starter wort on starters it. From that same batch of starter wort, I had some real odd slimy growth. Naturally I didnt notice this strange growth until after things were moving along with this beer and I didnt see it in the jars I used. This beer also had some slimy growth on top earlier in its life. Im not planning to pour it right away but Im also not expecting it to come around (that would be cool though).

The dregs I put in this beer were about the same color. It makes sense that settling would cause it to look lighter, especially since the yeast in this beer does not floculate well and it has been getting cooler in the garage lately.

Slimy starter from another jar:

Strangeness from this beer:

After pitching Conan in this beer:

 

@OldSock any ideas of how to up the tartness with it down so low in gravity? Any concerns for nasty things being in there after seeing those pics and hearing how it has progressed? Honestly, Ive kept it around this long and put those dregs in as inspiration from Chad Yakobson's story about the first batch of petite sour in his BN interview a few years ago...

 

Fair enough, Ill leave it be for now and take a look around for some maltodextrin. Cant say Ive used that one before but Im happy to try something. I would really like to see some of the odd flavors go away before sacrificing fruit to this beer, as well as the slimy ink cloud haha.

I wouldn't be too surprised at some DMS as it was a no boil, I did heat it up to 200 for a few moments but stayed just shy of boiling and cooled to 100 before heading to the fermenter.

Well Im excited to document something new and exciting on here. Sounds like none of us has seen anything quite like this so it will be interesting to see how it goes. If it comes around maybe Ill send some out for you guys to try.

 

I did taste it, and I dont usually get into being worried about what it looks like. There is crazy slimy looking stuff floating in this though man haha

 

Yeah I will be letting it sit. This is at my house, I think Andy wouldn't like that level of strangeness and bugs at the shop haha.

 

Yeah I was waiting for someone to bring up pedio, Im not familiar with a beer being "Ropey" only on the top. I was also unsure that was it since it showed up within a week or so and I have heard that is uncommon for pedio.

I know there are "nasty things" in there because I put them in technically haha. I was more so meaning things that could be harmful to consume. I know there are people on here who have done quite a few no boil beers and some microbiologists, so thought I would see if anyone had seen/knows what this dark topper is. I had the second half of the surrett dregs left on a small starter and since the beer was still tasting DMS'y when I transferred I tossed it in to see what the ink cloud would do. Im expecting the Brett to clean up the DMS and likely other odd flavors. Here are a few pics...

Before:

After: