what is this

[jon1163]

So I left some honey bear bourbon back set out and I think I got an infection. It appeared overnight almost. Does anyone know what this is? And what exactly do I do with it? When I first put the bottle out uncapped it smelled strongly of bourbon backset. After a week it smelled almost like nothing and had developed a few whitish balls and spots that were floating around near the bottom. then it lost most of its smell. Now it smells a little bit like wine.

[Single Malt Yinzer]

With most infections it's not one thing, it's a bunch. The major player is probably not lactobacillus. Lacto is more bubbles than ramen noodles. Pithia tends to forms little balls. I'm googling "pellicle" to see if I can find something similar.

Edit: I'm no expert so I can be totally wrong.

[SaltyStaves]

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=69971#wrap

OtisT and I had the same pellicle, plus I linked to someone who developed a similar one as an intentional infection.

I wouldn't throw it out.

[jon1163]

but what do I do with it?

[SaltyStaves]

Add it to the next finished wash that would compliment it and distill it.

[fizzix]

There's hardly any photo references for infections, but this site calls it LAB, or lactobacillus. >Scroll down for photo<
While searching, found on Reddit a guy who pitches his home beer with WLP670 American Farmhouse Blend that has Brettanomyces (a wild yeast genus) in it and has the same infection:

Reddit reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/co ... m-comments
Brettanomyces: https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/what-is- ... n-my-beer/

So scoop it out and run your Honey Bear as normal when it's done. And keep the infection in a jar if you find any value in it for future ferments.
It just may add a profile that you like.

[Single Malt Yinzer]

but what do I do with it?

You've made an unintentional infected Dunder Pit. https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/Dunder" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/index.ph ... Pit_Safety" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

After ~48 hours of fermenting add in a 1-2 cups to your wash. Let that go for a few days or your wash is dry. It will add a ton of flavor to your finished spirit.

[jonnys_spirit]

Or top up your low wines with your infected backset (acidulated) for maximun esterification.

Cheers!
-johann