Ideal IBU's for Lacto?

CornyKegs 728
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BertusBrew

BertusBrew

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I made a lacto starter and I'm planning on pitching that into my wort for a few days before pitching my Brett C starter. I am hoping to get a lot of tartness out of the lacto. What range should I keep my IBU's for this? BTW this is not a Berliner Weiss, just a sour ale.
 
The "ideal" IBUs for Lacto are 0. I don't see a reason to go higher, you aren't going to taste 5-10 IBUs anyway and even at that level it could cause problems. The max IBUs that different species/strains can handle varies. I’ll also say to be careful of White Labs strain, I haven’t got much sourness from it even alone, and several other brewers have mentioned the same thing.
 
I've found the grain to be more assertive than store-bought, although I've never compared IBU-tolerance, since I go with Mike's zero approach. As mentioned, there is bound to be more than just lacto in there, but I've never had problems with flavor, bottle bombs, etc...
 
Making a starter really helps to, dropping the pH below where most of the nasty microbes thrive.
 
pH 3.8-4.2 is a good sweet spot. I'd shoot for 10 IBU's since you have an uncontrolled bug zoo.
 

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