Mould or yeast on surface of FERMENTED wash.

[myles]

This has never happened to me before when making wine. I fermented out a whole load of plums, filtered off most of the pulp and left it to clear. It was fermented with a mix of bakers yeast, wine yeast and the wild yeast off the fruit. The fermentation went fine – no problems.

Racked it off into a clean drum and put it in a quiet cold corner and left it for several weeks. The drum plugs were loosely fitted to stop insects crawling in, but not vapour tight. I could see it settling out nicely through the wall of the drum.

When I went to check it the other night there was a solid white layer on the surface, just like someone had carefully shaken a cup of bread flour into the drum.

Nice fruity smell no bad odours, just a whiff of an amyl acetate type sweet note. Plenty of alcohol smells in there too.

I skimmed it off and racked it into clean containers. Tastes fine, smells fine, so I am going to strip it anyhow and see what happens.

Not sure if it is mould or yeast, but I binned it and have cleaned out the drum. There is bound to be some left in the fermented wash so it will probably come back if I keep a sample.

Any ideas? Have had mould on un-fermented wash before, but have not had any previous problems after fermentation. Although I usually sterilise the wines and I did not in this case.

[Dnderhead]

sounds like mold, as long as it is on the top no problem.

[HookLine]

Strip it and run it.

[CletusDwight]

You might wish you'd kept it

[blind drunk]

I've been thinking lately that the layer of mold or WHY is protecting the fermented wash from (further?) contamination. I get that top layer almost always and it's never been a problem. So I figure that if it's not hurting the fermented wash, then maybe it's protecting it. Completely unsubstantiated claim but it's a hunch and I could be completely wrong. Thought I'd throw it out there. bd.

[myles]

Does anyone have pictures of yeast flor - think sherry - to compare with other growths. I gather there is one that feeds on your alcohol, dont want that one. Then there is the vinegar ones. Examples?

[blind drunk]

I gather there is one that feeds on your alcohol, dont want that one.

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