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Author Topic: lacto starter, first sour attempt  (Read 1578 times)

Offline jtoots

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lacto starter, first sour attempt
« on: February 22, 2018, 08:35:59 am »
It's time to get out of my comfort zone, so I'm giving a Berliner Weiss a go. First question as I make my way through this:

What's your experience with lacto starters? 

I've got one going, pitched it on Monday (72 hours ago), not seeing any real activity.  It's at room temp. After pitching I continued my research, mostly on Milk the Funk, and 24 hours in turned the stir plate off and added lactic acid to drop the pH.  I don't have a meter or strips yet, probably going to snag some tomorrow along with another vial of WLP677.  Far from perfect but hey, gotta start somewhere, right?

I'm planning on brew day 1 on Friday night or Saturday and kettle souring through the weekend.  I'm a bit anxious about holding temp above 100 for days on end, how does that go for you kettle sour-ers?

Offline kramerog

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Re: lacto starter, first sour attempt
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2018, 09:23:04 am »
Generally, lacto does not evolve CO2 or does so at a low rate.  I am even more doubtful that WLP677 will evolve CO2.  Give it a sip and spit to see if the starter is souring although pH strips for wine are generally helpful.

Sounds like you are on the right track... but I would probably not hold elevated temps for more than 2 days just because I expect the souring to be completed.  However, I am not familiar with WLP677 and how aggressive it is. I prefer l. plantarum which works well at room temperature.


Offline ynotbrusum

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Re: lacto starter, first sour attempt
« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2018, 04:02:02 pm »
In my experience, the use of a lacto starter will result in a very quick kettle souring of the wort - it could be as little as 12-18 hours, depending on how sour you want to get, of course.  Try to keep the O2 out of the wort by using a CO2 addition (injection into kettle airspace and sealing off the kettle).  Good luck with your Berliner Weiss!
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Offline braufessor

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Re: lacto starter, first sour attempt
« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2018, 08:14:13 pm »
I have been brewing up a few Berliners recently..... I use Omega Lacto Blend.  I collect the wort on day 1 nd I pitch between 95-100, I put a stone on my CO2 and bubble through the wort, I cover with Saran Wrap, put lid on kettle and let it sit (without trying to "maintain" heat) overnight.  It cools into the 70's by the next day, but I hit 3.3-3.5 within 12-18 hours.

Offline jtoots

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Re: lacto starter, first sour attempt
« Reply #5 on: February 26, 2018, 05:49:07 am »
Thanks for the input, everyone!  It was an exciting weekend and I think it all went well.  I pitched on Saturday morning, boiled on Sunday evening.  I forgot to purge the headspace with CO2.  The starter did taste a bit sour.  I kept it between 109-115 throughout by bumping it with heat every 2.5-3 hours (12 gallons).  It only fell below this, down to about 98, overnight. A nice film had developed at that point, and a few hours later it was a pretty impressive pellicle. Smell was pretty bad but not like vomit. My new pH meter will be arriving in the mail today so I'm excited for the next batch with measurements :)

I pitched 5 gallons with safale and 5 with European Ale yeast.  The safale will get 3 gallons of blueberries, either at high krausen or in secondary.

Thanks again, that was fun!