Repitch --NOT the usual question

So I fermented 2.5 gallons of a Berlinner Weiss using ONLY the wild culture I got from a starter with crushed barley malt. Both Lacto. and Sacc. and (probably) something else too.

I just pitched another beer onto the yeast cake. Should I repitch Saccharomyces after a few days of souring? Or let it do it's thing naturally? I'm torn between a more risky experiment and a more solid (but perhaps a little less interesting) result.

Thoughts?

storunner13 said:

So I fermented 2.5 gallons of a Berlinner Weiss using ONLY the wild culture I got from a starter with crushed barley malt. Both Lacto. and Sacc. and (probably) something else too.

I just pitched another beer onto the yeast cake. Should I repitch Saccharomyces after a few days of souring? Or let it do it's thing naturally? I'm torn between a more risky experiment and a more solid (but perhaps a little less interesting) result.

Thoughts?

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If the B weiss turned out fine I say let it ride, worst case if you dump 5gal of beer, not that big of a deal in the scheme of things

I should have noted it's been 5 months since I brewed the BW. But I think I will let it ride anyway. If I don't see any activity after 4 days I might change my mind.

Keep up the blog posts! I have plans to brew one of your 'Belgian table beers', try some candy sugar and brew with Brett this summer. I also recently did a 1 gallon batch of 100% Oat Malt beer....my results are turning out to be similar to yours....

storunner13 said:

I should have noted it's been 5 months since I brewed the BW. But I think I will let it ride anyway. If I don't see any activity after 4 days I might change my mind.

Keep up the blog posts! I have plans to brew one of your 'Belgian table beers', try some candy sugar and brew with Brett this summer. I also recently did a 1 gallon batch of 100% Oat Malt beer....my results are turning out to be similar to yours....

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Hmmm 5mos makes is a different case. My experience with wild cultures like that is they tend to be very difficult to revive (at least the lactic and sacch parts) and they tend to be dominated by brett

You may want to add a sacch strain and possible some other bottle dregs to get this thing going

BTW thanks for the compliment! They are always appreciated, you wont be dissappointed with the table beer, remember about the syrup that its more of a guideline than a recipe. Im really hoping that people will help me out and better develop a suitable recipe for making it great everytime. So far independently of each other myself and Nateo have been doing this, hopefully we can get others to try as well

You've had trouble reviving lacto? Hmm...that's what I was going for in this. But I think I've changed my mind will pitch some sacc. I'll be racking a Belgian Blond with the Achouffe strain soon and will save some of the slurry. And I was thinking of pitching some dregs too, like you suggested. I guess I'll have to choke down some Jolly Pumpkin this weekend... God...maybe even a Bruery Brett Saison or (even worse) that bottle of Boon I've had sitting in my closet!

I will try to remember to post a thread about my candy syrup experiences when I get to it. And since I've got you 'on the line', do you have a better link to the "Bittering Value" that you suggest as a replacement to the IBU/GU ratio? The link you had in this post doesn't work for me and I'd like to further explore this concept.

And I agree with you on the 'BN gods'. While I respect their opinions about how to brew good beer, and I'm confident that JZ's very specific directions WILL brew award winning beer, their opinions are much too often one sided and don't promote experimenting on one's own.

storunner13 said:

I will try to remember to post a thread about my candy syrup experiences when I get to it. And since I've got you 'on the line', do you have a better link to the "Bittering Value" that you suggest as a replacement to the IBU/GU ratio? The link you had in this post doesn't work for me and I'd like to further explore this concept.

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yah Ive noticed that too, Ive tried (unsuccessfully to find the link) hopefully I can, if I do Ill send you a PM with it

Found a link (not the original) but one that describes BV pretty well

http://klugscheisserbrauerei.wordpress.com/beer-balance/