I did a sour mash for about 48 hours. Did an hour boil and added salt/coriander for the last 10 min. Pitched some washed WY3711 at 64 degrees and 3 days later there was no sign of fermentation. Next I rehydrated US05 and its been another 3 days and still no sins of fermentation and no change in gravity. Carboy is in a temp controlled fridge at 64 degrees. What the heck is going on? I've never experienced anything like this before.
What's wrong with my sour mash?
- Thread starter Brewbien
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m3n00b
Well-Known Member
Did you check gravity?
m3n00b
Well-Known Member
Strange. How much salt did you add?
terrapinj
Well-Known Member
it's possible the pH dropped too low for the sacch although 48 sour mash isn't that long
can you check the pH?
can you check the pH?
OP
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Brewbien
Well-Known Member
Don't have a way to test pH but it doesn't taste more sour than previous sour mashes I've done for about the same time. Anyone know if Brett is more pH tolerant? I can try a big pitch of C3 and see what happens, if it is a pH issue, I doubt anything else will get in there.
terrapinj
Well-Known Member
Brett is more pH tolerant
SpeedYellow
Well-Known Member
Don't worry too much about the fermentation, because if you added 0.75 oz of table salt to a 5-gal batch, your beer is ruined anyway.
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Brewbien
Well-Known Member
Your comment isn't helpful
A: You're wrong, especially since it's a Gose
B: I was asking for fermentation help not recipe critiques
ne0t0ky0
Well-Known Member
When I sour mashed I had a sluggish ferm, mostly due to the lower pH. I ended up pitching double the yeast needed to get a good ferm in a sour mash environment. Brett is a good alternative. I would suggest Brett B. Trois as a clean primary yeast. Depending on your OG, you may need to step the Brett, note this takes roughly seven or eight days for full Brett growth, so if you need something active sooner you might need to pitch multiple vials. You can also add in some extra yeast nutrient as well.
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Brewbien
Well-Known Member
Thanks. I'm stepping up some Iris C3 Brett right now, it's my favorite strain that I've used. I think with the lower pH and my sanitation standards, I should be okay for the 7-10 day growth period. I may may buy a pH tester after this experience, it seems less sour than my last sour mash which 3711 ripped through in 5 days.
ne0t0ky0
Well-Known Member
Oddly enough, pH is not an indicator of lactic acid present. I've had sours that were mouth puckering in 2 days at pH of 3.6, and others that were seriously mild at a pH of 3.4.
that said, it's still a really good idea to get a solid pH meter. Use it for mash pH validation and tuning (which also has a huge impact on fermentability of the wort).
ne0t0ky0
Well-Known Member
You can definitely pitch more wort/sugar to "reactivate" fermentation but before adding *more* wort/sugar; take a gravity reading. If you still have some left, then I would pitch a large amount of re-hydrated dry-yeast. Since the environment is hostile, I would suggest lager-level pitch size to ensure the yeast get going and can finish fermenting the remaining sugars.
