Fermenting without pitching Yeast

Heres a pic.

Hows it taste? Edited: Missed your post with tasting notes, sorry.

I wouldn't bottle it yet. Let that thing age a few months. Do like Vinny from RR does. Rack off the yeast and add more bugs. I would even be tempted to add a bit of wine and oak into the mix and let the beer settle out for another 1-2 months to get real funky and sour. Then after that bit of ageing, rack again onto some sour cherries and Turn this beer into a REAL sour beer by process.

I have to disagree, whatever else you do I'd leave the bugs alone. That's the magic of this beer, if it turns out great then it will be truly unique.

jtkratzer said:

Why would you even think about dumping it before tasting it? If you can afford a batch of ingredients, you can afford a fermenter. Find a used glass 5 gallon carboy on CL for $20 or less.

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Greatwhite4 said:

I'm with jtkratzer, save it, who knows what will come of it. Mines completely fermented out now, going to taste it this morning and bottle tomorrow or next. I was thinking of putting it on some fruit but its not correct for the style i'm going for (Berliner Weisse) It will however be stronger than the normal 3% ABV.

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Curiosity got the better of me, and I picked up another BB for a replacement batch so I'll let this one ride and see how it turns out. I'm a little concerned about the temp it was fermenting prior to me finding it, around 76F. I've moved it to a bucket of water and doing the rotating ice bottles route now so we'll see how it ends up.

Greatwhite4 said:

Well FG was 1.010 making it 4.4% ABV. Its sour smelling somewhat grapefruit like, tastes quite tart, sour, some after taste, a bit like lemon. No hop aroma or bitterness seems detectable and it's golden pale and cloudy. Going to bottle er up and try it again in a few months. Will also be harvesting the yeast for re-trial at a later date too.

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Awesome!

I think i'm going to stick with the style, bottle and let it condition then serve it with raspberry syrup or something... or nothing!

I have to admit, i had read about the style before tasting and posting about it, i hope my mind wasn't overcoming my taste buds when i posted. Regardless its drinkable to me but still needs a long time to condition.

I'll be bottling this week, washing yeast for storage and re-use then getting ready for another happy experiment for the weekend.

Well here it is, bottled today and collected my yeast, we'll see how this stuff is in a few months and see if its good enough to warrant a re-use of this yeast.

well.....definitely got some yeast there, so you know it wasn't just bugs going at it. Maybe just try a small 1 Gal batch of a simple apa/ipa or basic pale ale just to see if you get the same taste.

Thats a good point, in few weeks i'll do just that!

Well heres the first try people. Still a bit hazy in the bottle, lots of carbonation, white head, poured it on some muddled sweet cherries. It tastes good besides the short conditioning time. Less citrusy, still tart, minor aftertaste, its seems warming to me, odd. I'll try another in a couple weeks without any fruit in it.

That certainly has a nice color to it...interesting to see what will happen over time.

So much for "a long time to condition." it looks awesome. I'd try it.

Yea I expected it to taste like absolute crap, the cherries may have helped, regardless it carbonated quick and tastes pretty good to me. I'm going to wait another 3 Weeks then let friends and my local supplier give it a try. If they agree I may persuaded to release a few to willing samplers.

So what's the verdict? Willing to let a few of those boys go?

Good question actually, havent tried one in months to see how its coming. Last time i let friends try (3 months or so ago) they weren't quite sure how to take it, i think their words were "not my cup of tea". I'll chill some up and i think i got some rasberry syrup in the fridge. I'll try it this weekend and let you know. As for letting some go, no problem, would be nice to have a professional let me know how bad they really are!?

I would love to try this out- let us know if you decide to release any. Totally awesome. I'd like to try it without any fruit/sweetener first just to see what the yeast character is like. Berliner weisse is my favorite. A wild Berliner could be some next-level stuff.

Not sure if i ever posted this, it was one of my first BIAB and was supposed to be a HEFE:

2.5kg German Wheat
1.25kg 2 Row
0.2kg CaraPils
12g Hallertau 60min
12g Saaz 20min
12g Hallertau 10min
Irish Moss 10min

OG Was 1.044
FG was 1.010

Poured nice, smell is far less sour and the taste is mellowed. I would think my friends would still say "not my pint of ale" but i find it enjoyable with the raspberry syrup. This may only be because "its my baby" type of thing. I still get this warming sensation on the first few sips like as if the alcohol was really high??? I have absolutely no way to determine if this anything like a Berliner Weisse since i have never found one to compare to. I did harvest the yeast but its quite old now and it would take a bit to get it going, i would think, to try some in another batch. Anyone willing to give this a shot and tell me i'm nuckin futs and its just a pile of s$%t just say the word and i will ship you some.

If no one else jumps on it, I live in close by in Calgary and would love to try one. I think people living closer, are experienced sour beer brewers or beer judges should get priority over me though.

But I am not a beer neophyte either. As of today I have sampled and recorded over 730 commercial beers, though only one has been a sour so I do not have much experience with them. Still I am pretty open minded when it comes to beer in all its forms.

I guess another caveat is I am actually overseas right now visiting family and won't be back until mid-November.

So if you send it to another HBT member I won't feel slighted. I am just some random guy on HBT.

I'm sure it's not much like a berliner weisse, they're quite sour and tart, but I think the comparison was drawn because it was a potentially soured wheat beer. I'd love to try a bottle or two. PM for my address and let me know what shipping will be.

Cheers!

Is there any issues with customs when shipping home brew? I know i wont have issues in Canada but if anyone in the US wants some i would need some help on how to ship.

Ah, that is tricky. I'd just say pack it well and send it UPS or FedEx, and hope it gets there. There is a "shipping beer" sticky in the bottling forum, I believe. Someone with more experience may have better advice.

Well, if you're willing to ship it to Montreal, I'd gladly take one for sure --- I'd wire you money for the shipping, of course. It'd be tasted during one of the monthly meeting of the homebrew club, so you have a great review of it

Let me know by PM!

I'd love to sample a few as well. I'll be meeting with my brewclub the second week of November. We have several beer judges that would kill to taste something like this.

PM me for shipping costs and what not, if you're interested.

Hey GreatWhite4 - where did this end up? How was the beer? I ask because I brewed a hefe yesterday, had some old hefe yeast that I opted not to pitch in favor of getting some fresh yeast and lo and behold, fermentation is going on - it has only been 12 hours. After reading your thread, I think I am going to let it ferment out and see where it goes...

Actually good question, it's been sitting forever. I'll try some this weekend and let you know. Sorry for the late reply, I've been doing more drinking than brewing lately.