The Mixed Fermentation Thread

[Ajhutch]

Wow, those are a lot of work, look forward to hearing how it went.

Wrote it up here

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/lambic-style-turbid-mash-brewday.81937/#post-820435

 

[Ajhutch]

Been a busy week here on the wild and sour front.

The ‘lambic’ has kicked off nicely, time to forget about it for a while. I’ve got a yearning for kriek so I think when some goes into carboy for long ageing, the young portion will get some cherries.

I drank these two delicious beers last weekend and poured the dregs into some low gravity DME wort. There’s some very promising activity and it smells good, earthy and a little tart.

I brewed a fruity saison on Wednesday based loosely on one of the Mad Fermentationist recipes I linked to above, recipe for 12 litres:

1 kg Vienna malt
1 kg Munich malt
0.5kg flaked wheat
0.2kg Crystal 60
0.2kg Crystal 120

Mashed at 64C for 90 minutes

20 IBUs of Magnum at 60 mins

400g of dried figs, rehydrated and puréed, added at 5 mins
200g Greek forest honey added at flameout

OG 1.060

Fermenting in primary with MJ29 French Saison. I’ll bottle some straight and will add the dregs to a gallon for ageing.

Tonight I’m doing a Brett Pale Ale, midway through the boil now. Recipe for 15 litres:

2 kg Pilsner malt
1.5kg torrified wheat

Mashed at 64C for 90 mins

15 IBU of Magnum at 60 mins
200g of maltodextrin (Brett food) at 5 mins
20g of Bramling Cross at flameout

On target for OG 1.045

Fermenting with WLP648 Brett Trois Vrai.

I will see how this one goes and potentially fruit/dry hop in future. I’ve not done 100% Brett before so a bit of a step into the unknown.

 

[Leon103]

My sour beer using Sour Batch Kids is just over 3 weeks in the FV and tonight I will transfer to a secondary FV (off the yeast) for aging.
Was thinking of storing in my attached garage which sits around 20c at the moment. Temp will vary though over the summer. Will this be ok? I plan to leave for another 3 months and bottle. What about carbing, should I look for a bottling yeast?

 

[Sadfield]

I've not used Sour Batch Kids, although reading it's description, your plan sounds very rushed, if I'm honest. I'm not sure you'll get the most out of your yeast. The temperature fluctuations will be fine, and the Brett should be active enough for priming, although you could reseed the bottles with Saccharomyces.

 

[Leon103]

I've not used Sour Batch Kids, although reading it's description, your plan sounds very rushed, if I'm honest. I'm not sure you'll get the most out of your yeast. The temperature fluctuations will be fine, and the Brett should be active enough for priming, although you could reseed the bottles with Saccharomyces.

If it saves me another task (need to bottle a cider tonight), then I am up for waiting. What do you suggest for timescales? I believe it was @IainM who used it.

 

[Leon103]

Ok. Plan now is to leave in the garage in the primary. It can stay in the fermenting fridge until needed though.

 

[Hoddy]

Hmm this makes me wonder about trying a wild fermentation beer in the coming weeks.

 

[stigman]

Do any of you think this will work, or just no. Two nights back I bottled a gallon of dipa that I shoved on some brett for a few months, the slurry in the dj I left for a day then had a few sours a cantillon gueuze and blackcurrant thing from abeyedale. I added the dregs from both. Now my plan was to make a standard elderflower fizz recipe after work tomorrow and ferment with this mixed culture. Let it finish fermenting and then bottle.

 

[Ajhutch]

Only just saw your post stigman, but that sounds like a great idea. Elderflower can be supersweet so a mixed culture sounds like a nice way to change that up.

Little update on my last post, the Brett pale ale is going really well. Gravity at the moment is 1.011 and there’s a nice funk developing, along with a nice fruitiness, maybe a little pear and some tropical notes. I have had some frozen lychee pulp in the freezer since they were fresh in Aldi a few months back, so I decided to rack a gallon of this beer onto them as it seems a good match. Racked the rest from a bucket into a better bottle carboy for ageing.

The fruity saison is.......not great. It’s a little solventy and lacking in the saison character, but the fruit flavours are there. The dregs from the Fyne ales bottles had plenty of life so I’ve racked a gallon of the saison onto them and will see if that helps improve the beer a bit. Meanwhile the base beer can age a bit longer removed from the fig pulp.

 

[stz]

Well this is one of the weirder looking ones. Looks a bit like ... dessicated coconut? It'll stick to a glass though easily turns to nothing with some finger pressure, it has no substance. I did think I had a weird mould or something, but after having it under a microscope it literally is just yeast. Pitch was TYB saison blend and amalgamation 2018 blend. There are more bugs in this than sacc and brett under the scope from the look of it though, maybe some bacteria came with the fruit.

 

[BeerCat]

I racked my Flanders red tonight. Nearly 5 months old, clear but no sourness. Am i just being impatient? Has almost a quinnine bite to it. I used aged hops so i wouldn't expect it to be from that. I think i am picking up some brett but not sure what else. It is at 1010.

 

[Sadfield]

I racked my Flanders red tonight. Nearly 5 months old, clear but no sourness. Am i just being impatient? Has almost a quinnine bite to it. I used aged hops so i wouldn't expect it to be from that. I think i am picking up some brett but not sure what else. It is at 1010.

Probably. If it's the Wyeast blend, they recommend at least 18 months ageing before it develops the full, sour flavour profile.

 

[BeerCat]

Probably. If it's the Wyeast blend, they recommend at least 18 months ageing before it develops the full, sour flavour profile.

It was the wyeast flanders blend. I am just a bit worried the aged hops I used prevented souring but they did look old. Perhaps now its been exposed to oxygen it might sour faster.

 

[Sadfield]

Shouldn't be a problem if it's a blend with Pediococcus strains in it, as they tend to be hop tolerant.

Although a graph for Lambic, this shows the kind of timeframe needed for acid production in a mixed fermentation. Line 2 doesn't ramp up until months 5-7. It's worth remembering that clean ales are normally at a pH of around 3.8-4.2, so a considerable amount of extra lactic acid production is needed to make a beer taste sour.

 

[BeerCat]

I should check the pH. Is it OK to reuse the yeast? I think o read it sours faster but can't find the article. Thanks for the graph.

 

[Sadfield]

I should check the pH. Is it OK to reuse the yeast? I think o read it sours faster but can't find the article. Thanks for the graph.

I've heard similar and from a number of brewers that they've reused this blend. You'll essentially be doing what breweries do when they add fresh wort to a Foudre.

 

[BeerCat]

I've heard similar and from a number of brewers that they've reused this blend. You'll essentially be doing what breweries do when they add fresh wort to a Foudre.

I have just read it sours faster so definitely reusing some. Have added some of the saved yeast back to a dj and its fermenting again. Beer tastes a bit leathery if that makes any sense.

@dad_of_jon Also added the dregs from your face off (which tasted awesome) to a different dj and that is fermenting again too.

 

[BeerCat]

Here is my Flanders red after nearly 6 months. Out of five dj's only one has anything growing on it. The other with 500g of raspberries in has been re fermenting for the last month. The one with yeast added back to it is still fermenting as is another with dregs and another oaked. Hope the taste improves as its not great. Brewing another soon with much less aged hops.

 

[geigercntr]

Looking good!

Out of interest, how much aged hop did u use last time? Why would you say that that's too much?

 

[geigercntr]

Looking good!

Out of interest, how much aged hop did u use last time? Why would you say that that's too much?

... thought I'd tagged @BeerCat into this...

plus, for some reason I'm not given an option to :edit: my last post...