I have a lambeek/sour in a plastic bucket and don't want to break the pellicle but I want to sample it. Does anybody see any drawbacks to poking a stainless steel nail in the plastic to sample from?
Some well known breweries due SS nails in barrels so that they sample below the pellicle. Good technique there. Having the lambeekin a bucket will give too much O2 diffusion over a short time, that does not allow the flavors to develope at the right rate. I would say sample, and move to a carboy if it has some sour/funk.
If you have a "wine thief" I think it is OK to break the pellicle to get a sample as the pellicle will re-form / cover up the "hole" the thief made. But, for the reasons stated above, I also suggest fermenting in a more air tight vessel (glass or better bottle carboy) so if you were to do that you could simply get a sample while racking it to the carboy. It would also be beneficial to get the fermenting liquid to the neck of the carboy if you rack it, so you can add boiled and cooled water, sugar water, or fruit as needed to accomplish that.
