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So, I've been aging some backset for just a few weeks. I have buckets of both UJSM backset (9th gen) and some sweet potato wash backset (2nd gen).They both are at 65 degrees and have formed a thin white film across the top. I'm pretty sure its lactobacillus (was looking at pics of lacto pellicle). The smells are great and I'm really curious what I'm going to end up with.

I used the sweet potato backset as about 35% of my new sweet potato washes. I reused the sweet potato barm from the previous fermentation and I also repitched 4T distillers yeast in the 7G ferments (I was concerned about letting the lacto get too active.. I wanted the yeast to take off). Not sure if the extra yeast was necessary or not, I just did it for "good measure".

I'm curious if this is why others are into aging backset. Anyone else get films like this? Will the lacto (if that what it is) cut back my abv at all? This is all very exciting. Im happy the ferment is going well. The airlock smells great. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this effects the flavor profile.

Well, the wash ran dry in the usual amount of time. I have yet to open it (I dun do dat) but the airlock smelled nice. Really looking forward to tasting the strip on this in a couple days.

bump


Can anyone identify this?

rockchucker22 wrote:It has to be, what does it smell like? Latic smells of yogurt a bit.

Yeah. I just smelled it. A bit of a yogurty smell. It definitely doesnt smell bad.

Is this desirable for sourmashing? Would you keep the lacto in the backset or aim to get rid of it?

Acetobacter maybe? Could just be a film mold.

If it were wine, and the pH were high enough I'd make up a solution of KMB / Citric and give a small squirt to the top. I don't know what would happen if you were going to add metabisulfite before using for distillation. May not be the way to kill it off. With films like this in topping wines, we'd sometimes just float it out of the carboy by adding more wine below the surface, and then letting the filmy stuff overflow.

YMMV.

looks like brettanomyces.

Wow Kiwi! Glad to see you step in. Have been intreaged (my English is getting worse with every sip op rye jenever I drink, sorry) with using and introducing the rum-like aged backset / dunder to a UJSSM. But you are talking in words that make me want to ask you: "what does brettanomyces mean?"

So, what does brettanomyces mean?



Odin.

"brettanomyces"
its a yeast that is used in some sour beers. its usually found in wood so it generally in barrel aged beer, it is a defect in wine.
it makes a large amount of acetic acid.
I did not know it was on the top like that,but then it could be?

D,

Any idea what it would do to a "beer" wash?

Odin.

It whould be sour .it also will be hard to remove by distilling.

If there is a lot of it it produces flavours and odors normaly described as "old bandaid", "farmyard / barnyard", "spice", "sweat" or my favourite, "funk". Probably undesirable. But then again, essential in a lambic beer. I had problems with getting it out of my gear after brewing a lambic - the infections looked just like that. The spores must still be everywhere in my shed, I can expose something in there for a spell and then seal it back up again for a few days, and bam, that film is in there. Real pain for beer brewing. It took replacing my lines and fermenter taps to get rid of it. It's a common infection for new brewers, leading to "gushing bottles". I can't imagine aged backset adding to UJSM - you don't really want that floral rum-ester profile in your whiskies do you? But an interesting experiment I guess.

Alambic beer, alambic beer ... Talked to a friend beer judge whatever. I told him what I liked in Alambic beer was it was a beer based on the wild yeasts in the (forgot the name) river valley near Brussels. He told me he agreed. But I should remember, that whenever they (brewers of Alambic beer in Belgium) want to "re-do" their brewery, they always re-use the roof stones (other word in English? Tiles?). They alway put those old ones back, because that's where the fungus grows. And falls back into the beer, "wildly" fermenting it.

Going off topic here.

Odin.