Central Va wild yeast capture

On Monday I put a couple of jars with some 1.040ish unhopped wort outside for a few hours. I think I caught something. It looks like a pellicle and at this point there is a little funk going on in smell and flavor. I have not taken a gravity reading since this is a small jar and I probably have about as much liquid in there as I need to check my gravity. I am wondering if I should dump it or make up a larger batch and put it in a 1 gal jar to see what happens?

You can see another jar next to it that is much clearer then this one, this one is hazy.

Woke up this morning and this one smell nasty and foul. So I am thinking it will end up being a dumper

no no no... let it ride! it'll get better with time. These beers take 1-3 years to mellow out.

Ok will do.

That batch ended up being a dumper It just smelled nastier and nastier and I had a bit of a taste, about threw up. So I tossed it.

But on a different note Last week I went strawberry picking and threw a strawberry into some fresh unhopped wort. The results at this point are much more positive just no pelicle. Smells much better, a little funky barnyardy and tastes really good. I think I have a winner. I will let it go for a few more weeks then step it up into a 1 gal batch. Debating if I should lightly hop it and let it go for a year or two like a Lambic or if I should add a bit more hops and treat it like an all Brett beer.

Well I started the 1 gallon batch. .5lb wheat DME .5lb Pale DME and 2 grams of cascade hops boiled for 30 minutes. I threw a handful of raisins in at flameout for nutrients or well because I was eating them at that moment. I guess in a year or so I will find out what this ends up being like.

I know its too late, but you really shouldn't have dumped that first batch. Bacteria and oxidative yeasts dominate for the first few weeks; later on fermentative yeast come to dominate, and through the production of alcohol and acidity, kill most of those early bacteria/yeast.

Among the early bacteria are enterobacteria - entero = intestine, and they smell exactly like the other things that come out of our intestines. By day 20 to 30 of the ferment, they'd most likely be gone and be replaced with Saccharomyces.

Also, a pellicle isn't necessarily a sign of success - pellicles are usually made by oxygen-consuming organisms floating on the surface of the beer. Strong fermenters often will not form one, and make perfectly passable beers.

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Bryan

Yeah now I know I should not have done that. Oh well. Maybe this fall when it is cooler I will try again.

The new batch finally while I was at work today took off. A nice 2 inch or so krausen. I like the idea of catching my own stuff, it has been fun.

mb82 said:

Well I started the 1 gallon batch. .5lb wheat DME .5lb Pale DME and 2 grams of cascade hops boiled for 30 minutes. I threw a handful of raisins in at flameout for nutrients or well because I was eating them at that moment. I guess in a year or so I will find out what this ends up being like.

Click to expand...

Barnyard funktabulous. That's how it turned out. I could not wait a year so I bottled the beer today and I am drinking the bit that didn't fill the last bottle. I boiled up another batch of wort this time with some Tradition and Cluster left over from my last batch and tossed that onto the yeastcake with a tiny bit of US-05 to make sure there was at least a little Sac in the beer. Time to wait again.