lacto ?

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squeekysheep

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last night i was playing with some wort i had left over from a Higher gravity beer the wort was 3.5 gallons of .o41 mostly pale malt any way i was lazy just wanted to rack it over and tired so i racked in straight into a 3galon carboy i had ( SMART RIGHT). cracked my carboy and wort was rushing out so i grabbed a bucket i had put the wort in there and cleaned up. i just left the wort in the bucket with the top on and today i picked up 2 1 gallon carboys to play with i opened up the bucket and the wort had a kinda oily like surface so i sanitized a spoon and tasted it the flavor was off for sure it was not a sour but a tank and left the really dry tast in my mouth. the wort sweetness is there still.


what do you think i caught ? i was guessing lacto this wort has actually been sitting around for longer then 1 day in a sanitized bucket with the top on the second bucket was not sanitized i was more worried about the mess.
 
You could just boil the wort again, and you'd kill off anything that's there.
 
If you want to go with the lacto, I would just pitch a large quantity of yeast ASAP (probably dried yeast would be your best bet). If they do their job, they will provide competition for whatever is there currently, and once done the higher ABV will inhibit too much other stuff. It might still have some wild stuff, but not so much.

Though, my gut instinct is to say that the high osmostic pressure of a high-gravity wort will tend to inhibit and slow things down.
 
i don't really mind a wild stuff i was just messing around anyway. but i have no idea what it would look like if lacto was there or the taste of lacto.
 
i don't really mind a wild stuff i was just messing around anyway. but i have no idea what it would look like if lacto was there or the taste of lacto.

It usually takes a while to start acting, and it produces a tart or sour taste. What you describe does not sound like lacto to me, but who knows?
 
i pitched some dry yeast and separated the batch into 3 1 gallon batches if it tastes good i will blend then with another.
 
i pitched some dry yeast and separated the batch into 3 1 gallon batches if it tastes good i will blend then with another.

Sounds fun.

If blending, you have to be careful because the lacto bugs will get new food once you blend and bottle, so it will continue to sour in the bottle and you could end up with bottle bombs if the lactic bugs are CO2 producing.

One way to reign them in is to pull a trick from the wine-makers bag, and add sulfites/campden tablets to the soured beer a day or two prior to blending.
 
ya i have some the the fermentation stoppers, was wondering if i could stop the sour and still natural carb.


also i left about half a gallon with no yeast and wow does that smell nasty lol.
 
ya i have some the the fermentation stoppers,

Make sure you aren't using Pottassium Sorbate, because that is different than sulfites (campden tablets). Sorbate inhibits yeast reproduction if you are re-sweetening a wine, but will be metabolized by lactic bacteria and create some pretty bad off-flavors.

was wondering if i could stop the sour and still natural carb.

Sure. Sulfite the sour beer, and give it a few days to make sure all the lactics are dead. Then blend it, add yeast to the blended beer, and bottle with whatever type of conditioning sugar you prefer.
 
will try it wasn't sure if the yeast from the non sours would survive the blending or the new yeast but i suppose the trick is to use the correct amount. I am hoping i can still get the sour and blend 3 to 5 gallons to1 gallon.

i have 3 beers that are nearing bottling time so finding a match should be cake.
 
will try it wasn't sure if the yeast from the non sours would survive the blending or the new yeast but i suppose the trick is to use the correct amount. I am hoping i can still get the sour and blend 3 to 5 gallons to1 gallon.

i have 3 beers that are nearing bottling time so finding a match should be cake.

I'm still working on getting the sulfite dosages right. Its not just a question of how much you add per gallon, I'm learning that (at least in the case of wines) the pH also determines how much free SO2 is retained. Lower pH retains more SO2.

To reduce the level of sulfites, just splash a lot while re-racking, and the SO2 will gas off. And you would be blending it with a non-sulfited beer, which would further reduce the level of sulfites. Plus, from what I understand, yeast are often tolerant of higher levels of SO2 than most bacteria, but to a point... I killed off my carbonating yeast because I sulfited too much when making a champagne recently.
 
so about how much would you add to 1 gallon

Uh... well I'd say 1 or 2 campden tablets. If you really want to be on the safe side (make sure no lactos get through to the finished beer) do 3 per gallon, though that is pretty excessive by wine standards.

Make sure they are crushed and stirred into the beer well. Then give it at least 24 hours for the sulfites to do their job. When you re-rack, splash it a lot to help gas off all the excess SO2. You probably then want to let it sit for another few days before blending bottling, because it will continue gassing off SO2 for a while after re-racking.
 
ok so i got 1 gallon so use 3, then rack it after 24 hours let sit for 2 days then blend. i can do that i will have to buy the tablets tho i have the potassium sorbate.

it's kinda crazy i pitched 1 with a bit under 1/2 the yeast and the other with just over and 1 just hit the main ferment and the other is just finishing.

wondering what to blend it with tho i have

2 ounce hopped
1 oz at 60
1/2 oz at 30
1/4 15min (too hoppy for a sour i think)
1/4th 5min
medium color beer aged 6 months

a lightly hopped apa cascade
i brewed this to bottle half and blend half with the first beer


a cranberry spice ale that is just about ready for a secondary
this beer is made with wheat/2row (i am thinking this could be the best)
a slightly tart flavor medium body lightly hopped
 
Souring takes a while. If you are looking to blend, you should let it age and sour for at least a few months, if not more.
 
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