The stages of lactobacillus flavor

Can someone describe to me the development in flavor that lactobacillus goes through. I have a berliner weisse batch that I brewed in June, and have been aging since. It formed an alright pellicle, and most of that has fallen away at this point.

I took a taste today, but I don't really have anything to compare it to as far as development goes. It's not really sour, but sort of "tangy", acidic, and a little funky. The smell matches the flavor mostly. But it doesn't have anything I would call sour yet. Is this about what it should be like by now, or should there be evidence of a sour flavor yet?

If it doesn't have much sourness after 5 months, it probably isn’t going to develop. Lacto seems to thrive in the bottle, maybe due to the addition of priming sugar, so you may want to try that.

What was your recipe/technique? Where did you get the lacto from? Commercial (White Labs and Wyeast) Lacto can be finicky, it can’t deal with more than a couple IBUs and it likes it warm. It won’t produce much funk, that is where Brett comes into play.

I used the White Labs strain. Here is the recipe/process I used...

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.41 gal
Estimated OG: 1.031 SG
Estimated Color: 2.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 5.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 15 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 7.69 %
3 lbs Pilsner (Weyermann) (1.7 SRM) Grain 46.15 %
3 lbs Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) (2.0 SRM) Grain 46.15 %
1.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [3.80 %] (10 min)Hops 5.2 IBU
1 Pkgs German Ale/Kolsch (White Labs #WLP029) [StYeast-Ale
1 Pkgs Lactobacillus (White Labs #WLP655) [StarteYeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 6.50 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 2.02 gal of water at 166.2 F 151.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 1.14 gal of water at 204.5 F 168.0 F


Nailed all my numbers. I used a started for both the lacto and the kolsch. Pitched the lacto and held it at about 90 F for three days, then pitched the kolsch and held it at 65-68 F for a week. Racked it three weeks after pitching the lacto and have been aging it since at ambient temperature (65-70 F).

I don't see anything in that recipe that should cause problems. Did you see much activity from the lacto before pitching the yeast? I brewed a gose a few weeks back, the lacto got out to a great start before pitching the yeast, but after a month there still is virtually no sourness.

I just bottled a batch of Berliner Weisse yesterday that took about 3 months to start showing sourness with the WL strain. You just might need to give it more time.

Yeah that lacto actually kicked off great before I pitched the yeast. So much so in fact that this could be almost a non-alcoholic berliner for all I know

Yeah I'm thinking of just giving it some more time. It really took awhile even for the pellicle to form, so it could just be slowly moving. Going to give it maybe a month and bottle a couple of gallons as-is, and fruit the rest (tastes like it would go fantastic with some peaches or cherries).