A couple of month's ago I collected a few jars of wild yeast from outside my house. Two out of the three formed a pellicle after a week or so. I made a starter with all three, brewed a saison, and pitched the starter. Fermentation started within 24 hours and I was getting a very distinct belgian yeast character from the airlock. I've let it sit for just under 1 month in primary and haven't noticed a pellicle forming. My question is how long should I wait for a pellicle to form before just pitching dregs to get wild yeast and bacteria into the beer. I assumed that since my initial samples formed pellicles I had captured some brett or bacteria, but now I'm thinking I just got a wild Sach strain. Any help would be great. Thanks!
A pellicle is neither good nor bad, it's more reflective of the presence of significant oxygen in the head space. If you haven't opened the carboy, you probably have a decent amount of CO2 in the headspace, which is why you're not seeing the pellicle. Let it ride.
depending on how long you let each of the starters go the populations of the bacteria/yeasts in there will change significantly due to the acidity that develops Have you tasted your beer? You do not need a pellicle to make a tasty wild beer, if you havent tried it, taste it and see how you like it before you do anything else
Yeah I tasted it before I posted this. Tastes like a saison, I just didn't get any brett or acidity yet.
