Contaminated chocolate stout advice

[NervousDad]

This is why I'm afraid of sour beers. Knowing that beer once looked like that then consumed ***shudders***

[Ozwald]

I'll agree with Brewinhard, that looks like a pretty classic Brett pellicle. Age it. Taste it. Blend it (if you have to). & drink it. Just keep all your soft parts (heh) away from it. I'd double cap it with foil & put it in the corner for a few months. If it's a solid recipe that you've brewed before, especially - I'm not advocating trying to 'fix' a bad beer with brett/bugs of course. One of the best beers I've ever had was a sour porter.

When it comes time to bottle use your regular stuff, then replace it with new, keeping the current set on hand for 'experimentals'. If you've got good cleaning/sanitizing practices, it's really not too hard to keep it away from your other brewing gear. However, if it was a known pitch of Brett I wouldn't even bother with that. It's just yeast. It dies at 180 with the rest of them. Bacteria spores, however...

[Orkwort]

Sound like good advice Ozwald, cheers. Haven't made this recipe before but it might do ok if it does go sour. It's not a heavily hopped beer as I was expecting to get some bitterness from the nibs.

I hope it is brett. The cool temperatures it's been sitting at may be slowing it down but still I'm surprised to see no change in gravity at all. My first 3 intentionally sour beers are approaching a year old now and none of them grew a pellicle like that. I've kept a bucket and some tubing etc. aside from them that I can use for this one.

[Ozwald]

You never know where it'll end up. I wouldn't use sour equipment on a Brett neccesarily. Note that Brett doesn't equal sour beer. It's yeast, just like Sacchro, only with very unique flavors & a different temperment. They do have a trait that can lend a slight bit of tartness, but it's still nothing like a lacto/pedio where it's a true sour beer. Ideally you have 3 setups, normal, brett & sour. Many just have 2 since the only Brett beers they're brewing also have the bacteria in them.

Since this was an accident & not a pitch of Brett, you should assume that there's lacto & pedio in there as well - they may show up a little later in the process, something that's very common pitching the Roselaire blend. So in this case, sour gear is fine. Just wanted to clear up any grey areas, especially if someone stumbles upon this thread in the future who's having the same problem you are right now.