River Water Brew

[BWE]

I posted on here a while back about brewing with water taken strait from the Llanno River down in Castel, Tx. I've checked it out, no farms for 60 miles. No fertilizer run off risks or even cattle. I'll be boiling anyway of course. I then thought, why not let it open ferment? And this is where the questions come in.

I've never done a Lambic, and even though I've read through all of these, I'm still not even sure my terminology is correct. But after the boil I wanted to use either a coolship of some sort, or maybe just leave the top off of the bucket for the night. I'm guessing that would get some of the "wild" yeast from the area. Once that is done, should I add more yeast of some sort? Or will whatever is in the air be enough. And at what point do I cap it, if ever? Any info would be appreciated.

 

[badlee]

Adventurous you are.
I would think that the besties you get may not be enough or may not be up to your expectations of a wild ferment.
So,why not go with the open all night plan and them add a pure/pure-ish culture of some kind to ensure it goed in the right direction.
Your open night should ensure some local character for sure.

 

[BWE]

Lol, thanks man. Thats the key... from the area brew. Its way out in the sticks too. Should be at minimum very natural.

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[Coff]

Just beware that you may not like what you catch. IMO youre better off putting a jar of starter wort out in the open, covered in cheese cloth, and see what you catch then pitch that into your batch along side a clean ale yeast.

Even if the flavor profile of what you catch is good, the odds arent always in your favor, it may not be great at fermenting wort so it could need help.

But really, you will never know until you try.

 

[beergolf]

Just beware that you may not like what you catch. IMO youre better off putting a jar of starter wort out in the open, covered in cheese cloth, and see what you catch then pitch that into your batch along side a clean ale yeast.

This ^^^^

I tried caturing some wild yeast. It took several tries to get something that worked. You never know what you are going to get. I would do what Coff said. Make a small batch of 1.020 starter and put it in several different jars and cover them with cheesecloth. Let them sit out overnight and then bring them in and cover with foilf. Let them go for a week or two and see what you got. If it smells right then step up a starter and see what happens.

Here is a thread about my attempts to capture wild yeast. It gives some example of succes and failures.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/wild-yeast-capture-success-419725/

 

[marvaden]

Depending on the insect population, I would suggest something with a tighter weave than cheese cloth. You can use a paper towel and still catch the yeast and bacteria of the area.

Note: I hate fruit flies.

 

[BWE]

All great suggestions, thanks for the input. The place is far from my house. Kind of a vacation house my dad has. So its really a one try thing. I have a screened in poarch also that will be the overnight spot for it. Hopefully it works out. Thanks again for the info so far.

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