Has my sour beer been infected in my fermenter?

I have been a homebrewer for about four years now but have never brewed a sour ale. Last month was my first try at it. I made one 12 gallon batch and split it between 2 fermenters. I used American ale yeast 1056 for the initial fermentation then added Brett bugs to one fermenter and lambic to the other. I had just took a peak in my fermenter and it looks as though there is what appears to be thin small sheets of white patches here and there… is that normal for a sour? Is my beer infected with something else?  Can someone please help?


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Hi! Short answer without seeing a picture or details: Yes - your beer has been infected. By you! On purpose when you pitched the Brett “bugs” and lambic. That thin white sheet describes a normal sour fermentation. Sounds like you’ll be fine. Let it take it’s course and try it. If it doesn’t taste like what you expect, give it some additional time. But don’t be quick to give up. You’re making a sour and some of that process is out of your control. Let us know how it comes out! Cheers!

thank you for your reply hmbrewing. I had posted a pic of what my fermenter looks like. could you take a peak at it? 
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oh yeah…that looks totally normal for a sour pitch.

As a disclaimer: I have never fermented a sour. However, fellow homebrewers have and that’s exactly what it looked like. While YMMV, their sours turned out fantastic! I think you are going to be just fine.

Yes in both cases expect to see this film grow and take over the top of your beer. It might develop as a saran wrap-like appearance, a patchy white film, a dusty off-white coating, or a crunchy looking thick white mat-like film. Any of these are fine. Brett creates this pellicle as a function of its brewing in most cases. If you do a google image search for “pellicle” then you’ll find pages and pages of similar pictures.

You will need to do some extra work to sanitize that equipment. You need to opt for a basic sanitizer rather than an acid sanitizer like starsan to effectively kill brett. Iodophor is a good choice. I normally use starsan but for any equipment that shares clean and sour/brett post-boil I use a bleach sanitizer. That applies to fermenters, racking equipment, bottling equipment, etc.

Are these beers in buckets? Now would be a good time to rack them into carboys with less headspace if you have them. If not, avoid opening the buckets as much as possible. Air exposure is the villain for these beers. Great way to produce vinegar and nail polish remover.

These are in conical fermenters and thank you for the great advice!