[hopaddicted]

Does the same care of cross contamination need to be taken with Lacto that is taken with Brett strains?

I have an older batch of Lacto sitting in my fridge that I want to use up. Any recommendations for a starter? I've heard apple juice (not sure how much), higher starter temps 90-125 degrees, plain LDME...

Plan on either just pitching the lacto or possibly starting with the lacto and adding a witbier yeast after a few days. Still working on the recipe as I see what I have laying around.

[dbeechum]

Anything funny needs extra care.

Whatever you do for a starter, make sure it's freshly boiled to eliminate oxygen

[hopaddicted]

Thanks. I take extra care with all sanitation, cleanliness is next to godliness. Too much time invested into an average batch to worry about risks of unwanted infections/nasties. I just wanted to ensure a seperate set of 'soft' (plastics, tubing, etc) wasn't required.

As for preventing oxygen exposure in the starter, that is counter intuitive to me, so great heads up! With Brett's and s cerv's need for oxygen, never would have guessed.

[euge]

Tubing's cheap. So are buckets. I would have a "lacto" set just to be safe, if I were in your shoes.

[witsend]

For what it's worth, I brewed a nearly 100% lacto Berliner Weisse in a plastic bucket.

I've used the bucket roughly 5 times since for non-lacto beers and haven't noticed any ill effects.

I figure, if I'm clean enough to get any stray critters out of my fermenter for a normal fermentation, I ought to be clean enough to get ALL of them out.

But, it never hurts to be cautious and have a "lacto" fermenter.  Mine's still labeled that way.

[euge]

Luckily, I have a brew-pot big enough to submerge a 7.9 gallon bucket in. I heat up the water above 170F and let that bucket soak for at least 30 minutes at those temps. Pretty much sterilizes the poor thing.