Wild yeast

[Bavis54]

Hey friends- weeks ago I lucked up on a load of peaches-I have enough to experiment with yeasts n I tried ec118, worked great- but I also sat aside some juice and pulp for wil yeasts. One batch I just left alone- added no yeasts at all. Another batch I took small zip loc bag, put cut up peaches in it, placed in dark closet and after 4 days I put in fermenter . The fermenter with nothing has a White off color film on it- very slow bubbles on it. Never seen this before- looks like it's working but it's much slower than when u add regular yeast . The fermenter with wild yeasts are doing exact same, has a white mold looking thin film coming up on it. Anyone ever use wild yeast before? Or seen this on peach brandy?

[MDH]

The white film is actually not mold, but a pellicle formed by various types of yeast and bacteria. This will happen with both wild and domestic ferments if you allow oxygen/air to get to the ferment. Keep air out of the ferment - keep it securely airlocked - and you won't have this issue.

[Bavis54]

Thanks MDH- since it's smaller ferment I using a 30 gal cooler for fermenter on wild yeasts- I'm sure it prob not as air tight as a real fermenter. This mornin it has the start of a cap forming, the peaches I used in this one I didn't wash, u could see the white yeasts on they're skin- least I think that's wat it is. Ec 118 is good stuff, easy to use for my temps. But I interested in wild yeasts as well- would be interested to isolate and propagate my own

[Bavis54]

Wild yeast after 2 weeks- maybe I'm just stoopid but this amazes me-my wife helped me culture it, and it took longer, but it was apparent it was working, once it worked for a week, it took off like crazy. Maybe it's good, maybe it's junk. I cultured it from peach skin, so we'll see. If it is a keeper I have a large agar plate with the starter in frig.

[MDH]

You need to use a different fermentation container. Get something tall - a tall plastic fermenting bucket used for wine, and fill it only to half way. Keep the ferment in a room with stable air. Don't let the CO2 layer escape or be disrupted.

When you attempt to culture yeast in a ziplock or another closed bag, press the air out of it. There will still be enough dissolved oxygen left for it to start.

The whole fermentation from beginning to finish needs to be anaerobic.

[Bavis54]

I have several 55 gal plastic drums, that were in use with peaches using ec118 when I tried this experiment-that's normally wat I use, since this was a first try with wild yeast the old cooler (clean mind you) was all I had left that would hold three baskets of peaches. Why is barrel better? Less cap maybe? I can def see that with cooler versus barrels the cap way smaller with barrels -or maybe it's jus taller in the barrel. I dunno. your saying that you never want air- on a ferment with wild yeast, I think . So that means I need to stop opening lid and stirring the cap back in right?

[Bavis54]

Thank you mdh- if this one turns out decent I def wanna do this again using wat ive learned.

[Shine0n]

If your cap gets dried out it will invite unwanted mold and nasty shit to your ferment.
When I did my peach brandy last year I was told to punch the cap down to avoid what I mentioned above.

I used a 55 gal fermenter and ran in 3 consecutive days, by day 3 a white film had developed (I believe lacto) I assume was from me opening and getting out the must for the runs. The brandy turned out to be fine and knowing what I know now I would've let the infection sit for a month to develop a bit more.
IMHO keep the cap down until finished, it will fall naturally once completed.

Shine0n