Training Wheels Berliner - good intro to sours

[KeyWestBrewing]

Recipe Type

Extract

Yeast

Nottingham/Omega 605 lacto blend

Yeast Starter

no

Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter

1L lacto starter 24-48 hours prior to pitch

Batch Size (Gallons)

6

Original Gravity

1.030

Final Gravity

1.006

Boiling Time (Minutes)

no boil

Color

4.5

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

1-3 days 70-90f

Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

10-14 days 65f

Tasting Notes

Clean lemon like acidity with a doughy wheat backbone

I recently whipped up a few batches of this and it was so ridiculously easy I had to post it up. If you've never messed with sours I think this is a good way to get your feet wet because the process is very simple. This won't make the most complex Berliner in the world but I've found its a great base for Florida Weisse and the turnaround is extremely fast. The color is a touch darker than the style guidelines but thats compensated for in convenience.



Grain Bill

4# Bavarian Wheat DME



The Process

1) Use the Bavarian Wheat DME to make a 100g/1L starter for the Omega lacto blend 24-48 hours before brewday. No stir plate, put on an airlock and just leave it alone. Anywhere between 70-90f is fine.

2) Brewday - heat 6gal water to 200f, add DME and stir until its all dissolved. Thats it! Cool the batch down to 90f, rack to fermenter and pitch 1L lacto starter.

*Very Important - you need to be very careful not to oxygenate the wort or this could ruin the beer. To limit oxygen exposure use a smaller fermenter, or up the batch size, so that the fermenter is filled completely full leaving only about an inch of headspace between the wort and airlock. OYL605 doesn't krausen so don't be worried.

3) Leave fermenter in the 70-90f range for 24-72 hours, depending on how sour a beer you want. You can do this to taste if you'd like. Once sourness has been achieved, rack back to the kettle and pasteurize for 30mins at 180f.

4) Cool, pitch plenty of healthy yeast, and proceed like any other beer. At this point you can oxygenate the wort before pitching your yeast if you'd like. Thats all there is to it you'll shortly have an easy going Berliner to drink!!

5) This is optional but if you'd like to keep the lacto culture going pull off 1-2L of wort before you pasteurize the batch. You can top this off with fresh wort basically bringing you back to step 1.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Have you tried adding fruit or anything to it to change it up a bit? Looks impressively simply!

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Have you tried adding fruit or anything to it to change it up a bit? Looks impressively simply!

Its so simple its absolutely ridiculous. Right now I have 2 batches on tap. One with blood orange peel/pineapple and the other passionfruit. Both are incredibly refreshing and crisp. FWIW...

Batch 1 - dried peel of 2 blood oranges, pithe removed, plus 1# cubed pineapple.


Batch 2 - 28oz passionfruit

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Its so simple its absolutely ridiculous. Right now I have 2 batches on tap. One with blood orange peel/pineapple and the other passionfruit. Both are incredibly refreshing and crisp. FWIW...

Batch 1 - dried peel of 2 blood oranges, pithe removed, plus 1# cubed pineapple.

Batch 2 - 28oz passionfruit

Ok - seeking a bit of clarity, no hops in step 2?
Healthy yeast being... something neutral - like US-05? Edit - saw you listed Nottingham. Recipes don't show up on mobile, interesting.
Also - fruit during fermentation? (step 4) or Secondary before bottling/kegging?

Looking to ease into sours - this looks like the ticket, since I want something for spring/ summer!

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Ok - seeking a bit of clarity, no hops in step 2?
Healthy yeast being... something neutral - like US-05? Edit - saw you listed Nottingham. Recipes don't show up on mobile, interesting.
Also - fruit during fermentation? (step 4) or Secondary before bottling/kegging?

Looking to ease into sours - this looks like the ticket, since I want something for spring/ summer!

No hops at all. I've done other no hop beers without any issues just be clean. US05 works fine with this I just think Nottingham is less finicky. US05 can randomly get weird on you sometimes.
For fruit I add it to the keg using one of these after I've carbed the beer.... http://www.homebrewing.org/product....ium=shopping&gclid=CJmKjOWXjcwCFVc1aQods0kAZQ

This way I can sample it and pull the screen back out when the flavors right. I also don't lose any of the sugars from the fruit which makes a huge difference in flavor. I'm not a fan of the way most fruits taste after fermentation, this way still tastes like fresh fruit. Of course you can't bottle it and send it off like that but if your just enjoying it off the tap it doesn't matter.
This beer really is as simple as it seems. That's why I called it Training Wheels lol. Ive been using it to ease into sours and start getting familiar with handling lacto. Now I'm thinking it'll be a year round staple in my keezer. For the cost and effort it's the best bang for the buck I've found so far in this hobby.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

@KeyWestBrewing

How would this work with something like WLP672 - same process??

My local brew shop only carries WLP and traditional dry yeasts (Nottingham, US-05)- nothing like the Omega yeasts

Edit: After reading a bit from the The Mad Fermentationist, I'm guessing that the Omega yeast will be much more aggressive at souring, especially at room temperatures. WLP 672 needs to be fermented hot.

WLP672 Lactobacillus brevis – Claimed to produce more lactic acid than than their culture of L. delbrueckii.

WLP677 Lactobacillus delbrueckii – This heterofermentative bacterium produces lactic acid and alcohol, but not much distinct character of its own. It is does not produce lactic acid as prodigiously as the Wyeast strain, but it is a bit more hop tolerant (White Labs claims to 20 IBUs). It can ferment most of the most common sugars available in wort including: glucose, fructose, maltose, maltotriose, raffinose, and even lactose (but not mannitol, melibiose, or xylose), which means that it will cause a significant gravity drop on its own. The Berliner weisse I fermented with this strain alone achieved 75% apparent attenuation, but only a faint tartness.

OYL-605 Lactobacillus Blend – Includes very aggressive Lactobacillus plantarum isolate. According to the manufacturer it is capable of kettle souring to 3.42 in 17 hours and 3.24 in 40 hours at moderate temperatures (70-90F).

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

@KeyWestBrewing

How would this work with something like WLP672 - same process??

My local brew shop only carries WLP and traditional dry yeasts (Nottingham, US-05)- nothing like the Omega yeasts

Edit: After reading a bit from the The Mad Fermentationist, I'm guessing that the Omega yeast will be much more aggressive at souring, especially at room temperatures. WLP 672 needs to be fermented hot.

Looks like you found everything. The plantarum is what makes this whole thing so practical. Especially in my case where the temp outside is in the upper 80's so the environment is just right. You can try sourcing the plantarum from probiotic pills or this product called Good Belly that Ive heard mentioned around the forum. Though after some probiotic batches that didn't turn out so hot I coughed up the extra cash for the OYL. Its been worth it though Ive been able to stretch a single lacto pack out for like 6 or 7 batches.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Looks like you found everything. The plantarum is what makes this whole thing so practical. Especially in my case where the temp outside is in the upper 80's so the environment is just right. You can try sourcing the plantarum from probiotic pills or this product called Good Belly that Ive heard mentioned around the forum. Though after some probiotic batches that didn't turn out so hot I coughed up the extra cash for the OYL. Its been worth it though Ive been able to stretch a single lacto pack out for like 6 or 7 batches.

No kidding! I found that my brewpi can get my mini fridge up to 100*F, so that's where I will run the starter. I'm going to see how this does for a few generations. The temp range is less than ideal, but manageable in summer. Can't wait to give this a try

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

No kidding! I found that my brewpi can get my mini fridge up to 100*F, so that's where I will run the starter. I'm going to see how this does for a few generations. The temp range is less than ideal, but manageable in summer. Can't wait to give this a try

Let me know how it goes! Even though OYL has lived up to the hype I've still been interested in trying some of the others.

 

[maxtpower]

Subscribed.

Thanks.
Max

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Let me know how it goes! Even though OYL has lived up to the hype I've still been interested in trying some of the others.

2 days @ 95*F and that starter was smelling pretty tart! I just "brewed" - it took me about 1.5 hours from start to finishing clean-up doing 2x3 gallon batches (other batch is will be a Gose) using my kitchen stove top and some stock-pots. Pretty damn easy! I forgot that I was supposed to avoid aeration and whisked the wort once or twice while I was cooling it (pot in sink with water+ice) - so hopefully that doesn't have adverse affects.

If the WLP672 starter got as sour as it smelled in ~48 hours @ 95*F (recommended temp for the 677 is 75-95*F, so this is probably a pretty aggressive temperature) I will probably pasteurize in ~36 hours, mid-day Saturday. Thinking of building a heat stick so that I can pasteurize in the keg 3 gallon kegs I'm currently souring in - kill 2 birds with 1 stone in terms of killing the lacto.

I'll update when its drinkable. For now - 10/10 for simplicity

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Sounds like your off to a good start. I've noticed after the first 24 hours I can smell the tartness but it doesn't taste quite as sour as I want. I started letting following batches go another 24-48 hours and am happier with the level of sourness, it's actually perfect IMO.
I'd try it out and get an idea of the result then tweak things to your liking from there. Just remember it's a little more of an art than a science so every now and then you'll get some curveballs.

 

[sixwinds]

Got a question for you KeyWest, you mention saving a L or two of the pre-pasteurized wort to propagate another starter. If I do that how do I store the starter if I'm not going to use it for a few months? Do I need to store it in the fridge, or at the same temp I used to inoculate it?

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Got a question for you KeyWest, you mention saving a L or two of the pre-pasteurized wort to propagate another starter. If I do that how do I store the starter if I'm not going to use it for a few months? Do I need to store it in the fridge, or at the same temp I used to inoculate it?

I'm pretty sure its milk the funk that has a write up on storing bugs long term. I think the general idea was to raise the ph of the solution to something more friendly and store cold.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Its been about a month since I did this brew, went to keg it today and I have to say the FG sample was AWESOME! Just a great, plain-jane base Berliner that will certainly improve with some fruit. I saved my bugs, without stabilizing them, so I'll probably get a starter rolling later this weekend or next week to get more batches up and running - I purchased 6lbs more Wheat DME before I even tasted this (how's that for faith?!), so enough for another 3X3 gallon batches! The process is so easy, I couldn't recommend this enough.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Its been about a month since I did this brew, went to keg it today and I have to say the FG sample was AWESOME! Just a great, plain-jane base Berliner that will certainly improve with some fruit. I saved my bugs, without stabilizing them, so I'll probably get a starter rolling later this weekend or next week to get more batches up and running - I purchased 6lbs more Wheat DME before I even tasted this (how's that for faith?!), so enough for another 3X3 gallon batches! The process is so easy, I couldn't recommend this enough.

Im glad to hear your enjoying it

 

[TandemTails]

Has anyone tried adding hops to this one? I was thinking Sorachi Ace to compliment the lemony sourness.

 

[VasDeferensly]

I'm picking up ingredients for this today, I'll be doing a 3 gallon batch, and probably started a second three gallon batch as soon as the first is done.

A few questions, as this is clearly a good starter recipe:
Has anyone tried this with plantarum 299?
Does it end up tasting more sour after the yeast fermentation removes the sugar? Meaning that if I taste the souring wort, should I stop souring before I think I should because it will end up tasting more sour once fully fermented by the yeast?
How to add fruit flavor and which fruits?
And finally, I have some extra light DME sitting around, would that be a bad thing to throw in for say 25% of the fermentables?

Thanks guys, you've been really helpful once again.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Has anyone tried adding hops to this one? I was thinking Sorachi Ace to compliment the lemony sourness.

I haven't but if you give it a try let me know how it turns out!

I'm picking up ingredients for this today, I'll be doing a 3 gallon batch, and probably started a second three gallon batch as soon as the first is done.

A few questions, as this is clearly a good starter recipe:
Has anyone tried this with plantarum 299?
Does it end up tasting more sour after the yeast fermentation removes the sugar? Meaning that if I taste the souring wort, should I stop souring before I think I should because it will end up tasting more sour once fully fermented by the yeast?
How to add fruit flavor and which fruits?
And finally, I have some extra light DME sitting around, would that be a bad thing to throw in for say 25% of the fermentables?

Thanks guys, you've been really helpful once again.

Ive only successfully used the Omega blend. Ive tried probiotics but the batches were dumpers for one reason or another. Since I started with a pure pitch things have been smooth sailing.
The sourness becomes a little more assertive since it doesn't have a bunch of sugar to balance it out but its pretty close to what you'll taste pre fermentation. Go by taste and you'll be good.
When it comes to fruit I like to dry hop the keg with it. How much to add depends on the fruit. Strong fruits like passionfruit, blackberry, and guava are nice at about 1/3 lb per gal. But for my watermelon batch I juiced half a watermelon and freeze concentrated it down to ~12oz and added it to the keg. The trick with cold side additions is the fruits sugar doesn't get fermented out so while the fruit flavor is much stronger it can also get too sweet if you overdo it.
Extra light DME won't hurt anything but I would expect to have less raw dough notes since your lessening the proportion of wheat in the grist. Having said that Im still finding the proportions I like best for my AG Berliners. Ive seen anywhere from 50/50 barley/wheat to 70/30 and 30/70 so I think it comes down to taste.

 

[BermondseyBrewster]

Second go at this...the internet ate my first comment.

Many thanks for this recipe, Keywestbrewing.

The only thing I changed about your recipe was the lacto culture, which I resent paying a fortune for.(VasDeferensly might find this useful I saw on Milk the Funk that lots of those guys have had success getting their lacto bacteria from probiotic capsules. I bought a box of BioKult Advanced Multi for about the same price as the yeast labs' single inoculations and emptied about three capsules into the wort still in the kettle at incubation temp. Let it go for two days, taste testing along the way.

BioKult Multi has a zoo of bacterial species, but does include L plantarum, which is why I gave it a go. It's probably a mixture of bugs that contributed to the souring, but what the hell - it still has a clean, lactic tang. I can get several more inoculations from the same pack, so I see it as a far better deal than what the yeast labs are offering.

This is a bullet proof recipe, really easy as pie. Can't believe how good the result is. My first batch has just come ready and I'll be drinking a fair bit of it - very chilled - this afternoon with Stage 9 of the Tour de France on in the background.

P.S. a shot of cassis in place of raspberry syrup works wonders.

 

[bruhaha]

Second go at this...the internet ate my first comment.

Many thanks for this recipe, Keywestbrewing.

The only thing I changed about your recipe was the lacto culture, which I resent paying a fortune for.(VasDeferensly might find this useful I saw on Milk the Funk that lots of those guys have had success getting their lacto bacteria from probiotic capsules. I bought a box of BioKult Advanced Multi for about the same price as the yeast labs' single inoculations and emptied about three capsules into the wort still in the kettle at incubation temp. Let it go for two days, taste testing along the way.

BioKult Multi has a zoo of bacterial species, but does include L plantarum, which is why I gave it a go. It's probably a mixture of bugs that contributed to the souring, but what the hell - it still has a clean, lactic tang. I can get several more inoculations from the same pack, so I see it as a far better deal than what the yeast labs are offering.

This is a bullet proof recipe, really easy as pie. Can't believe how good the result is. My first batch has just come ready and I'll be drinking a fair bit of it - very chilled - this afternoon with Stage 9 of the Tour de France on in the background.

P.S. a shot of cassis in place of raspberry syrup works wonders.

Did you see, I think on Milk the Funk, the chart that showed what various users were souring with? Probiotic drink (shots) are popular too.

If you want to isolate a particular culture to sour with, Swanson Vitamins sells a supplement that is L Plantarum specific. They had a sale last week buy one at $9.99 and get one free. So that is 60 caps for $9.99 plus shipping which is free or reduced depending on your order.

You can add 3-5 of these tabs to a non-aerated starter (I use a flask with no stir plate and airlock) and you'll be ready to pitch in a couple of days. My last batch I soured got me to a ph of 3.25 in less than 24 hours (85F) with the lacto starter as I described. L Plantarum is a beast!

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Welcome to HBT and Im glad to hear your enjoying the recipe!

I wish I had better results with the batches I made from probiotic pills. I believe people when they talk about their results but after my experiences I'd rather stick to a pure pitch and maintain the culture. I agree the price can be hard to swallow but if you keep the culture going its sort of a one time buy. Im happy its working out for you though! Enjoy

 

[HawleyFarms]

Welcome to HBT and Im glad to hear your enjoying the recipe!

I wish I had better results with the batches I made from probiotic pills. I believe people when they talk about their results but after my experiences I'd rather stick to a pure pitch and maintain the culture. I agree the price can be hard to swallow but if you keep the culture going its sort of a one time buy. Im happy its working out for you though! Enjoy

Have you tried giving L. Plantarum specific probiotics a shot? A lot of the guys at Milk the Funk are using GoodBelly probiotics drink with a lot of success. Works great for souring and it's just Lactobacillus plantarum.

 

[Morrey]

Welcome to HBT and Im glad to hear your enjoying the recipe!

I wish I had better results with the batches I made from probiotic pills. I believe people when they talk about their results but after my experiences I'd rather stick to a pure pitch and maintain the culture. I agree the price can be hard to swallow but if you keep the culture going its sort of a one time buy. Im happy its working out for you though! Enjoy

I have to agree with KeyWest in that Omega Labs (OYL-605) is predictable and can give stellar results. True the price may be a deterrent, BUT consider the cost of dumping a batch that weirds out on you due to messing with unknowns. One good thing about Lacto is that it is much more heat tolerant than yeast meaning that you don't have the same shipping concerns in the summer. Two day shipping with an ice pack is acceptable.

KeyWest....about your watermelon sour......do you freeze watermelon juice and let the essence drip from the frozen jug leaving the clear ice block? If so, how much of this concentrate would you suggest for a 5G keg? I assume you add essence when kegging?

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Have you tried giving L. Plantarum specific probiotics a shot? A lot of the guys at Milk the Funk are using GoodBelly probiotics with a lot of success.

It was a blend with either plantarum or acidophilus and a few others. I can't remember off hand. I've read about GoodBelly but unfortunately the store down here doesn't carry them.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

KeyWest....about your watermelon sour......do you freeze watermelon juice and let the essence drip from the frozen jug leaving the clear ice block? If so, how much of this concentrate would you suggest for a 5G keg? I assume you add essence when kegging?

That's exactly what I do. Freeze1/2gal juice, collect the concentrate, then repeat one more time. This left me around 12-16oz of really strong concentrate to top off the keg with.
I'll even share a little trick if you want to add to the aesthetics. Add 1oz hibiscus per 5gal and the wort will turn watermelon pink. If you dry hop the addition it won't influence clarity but from what I can tell adding it at flameout makes the beer murky and cloudy. You can't taste the hibiscus at that amount but the color is amazing.

 

[Morrey]

That's exactly what I do. Freeze1/2gal juice, collect the concentrate, then repeat one more time. This left me around 12-16oz of really strong concentrate to top off the keg with.
I'll even share a little trick if you want to add to the aesthetics. Add 1oz hibiscus per 5gal and the wort will turn watermelon pink. If you dry hop the addition it won't influence clarity but from what I can tell adding it at flameout makes the beer murky and cloudy. You can't taste the hibiscus at that amount but the color is amazing.

Good tip...so from 1/2 G pure juice, I will be targeting 12-16 ounces of twice collected watermelon essence for a 5G keg. I love the hibiscus idea for color. One of the Gose brewers, it may be Anderson Valley but not sure, makes a Hibiscus Gose that is absolutely awesome in the color area. I personally didn't feel it contributed a ton of flavor like coriander can, but the color is awesome. Yep, I would think that dry hopping is the way to go!

I have seen hibiscus petals on Amazon for making teas. Unless this is not a good choice, I'll try some next.

GREAT TIPs!!! Thanks Key West!!!

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Good tip...so from 1/2 G pure juice, I will be targeting 12-16 ounces of twice collected watermelon essence for a 5G keg. I love the hibiscus idea for color. One of the Gose brewers, it may be Anderson Valley but not sure, makes a Hibiscus Gose that is absolutely awesome in the color area. I personally didn't feel it contributed a ton of flavor like coriander can, but the color is awesome. Yep, I would think that dry hopping is the way to go!

I have seen hibiscus petals on Amazon for making teas. Unless this is not a good choice, I'll try some next.

GREAT TIPs!!! Thanks Key West!!!

Yep you got it. You may end up with a little less or a little more I wasn't too anal about it. Whatever you concentrate down to should do the trick.
I used the dried hibiscus from AHS, comes in 4oz packs IIRC. It doesn't take much time for the hibiscus to do its work. A couple days should be plenty though I have left it in the keg for weeks and noticed no difference in flavor or color. FWIW if you have any ethnic markets you can get to they actually might have hibiscus.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

So I'm going to try and build up the quart of WLP672 that I pulled off of my Gose + Berliner last time around (~75% wheat) - all I did was drop it in a sanitized jar and stuck it in the fridge (about a month ago) - no stabilizing or anything. I'll update this post with how it goes. Figure give it 24-48 hours to start, and then I'll be pasteurizing whatever I brew by Saturday night. I like the level of sour this current one is at, but I think it can go a bit longer this time. Pretty excited, love how easy this is.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

So I'm going to try and build up the quart of WLP672 that I pulled off of my Gose + Berliner last time around (~75% wheat) - all I did was drop it in a sanitized jar and stuck it in the fridge (about a month ago) - no stabilizing or anything. I'll update this post with how it goes. Figure give it 24-48 hours to start, and then I'll be pasteurizing whatever I brew by Saturday night. I like the level of sour this current one is at, but I think it can go a bit longer this time. Pretty excited, love how easy this is.

Consider making another starter for the lacto. Ive tried pitching the bit I pulled off from one batch on another like that but the acidity really lacked. Im assuming from the time + storage conditions. When I top off my saved liter with a liter of fresh wort to build up the lacto count the results are more consistent.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Consider making another starter for the lacto. Ive tried pitching the bit I pulled off from one batch on another like that but the acidity really lacked. Im assuming from the time + storage conditions. When I top off my saved liter with a liter of fresh wort to build up the lacto count the results are more consistent.

Whoops, that's what I meant by build up. My reasoning was that its been in the fridge, but I appreciate your mentioning that restarting the culture improves consistency batch to batch- that's what we're going for!

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Whoops, that's what I meant by build up. My reasoning was that its been in the fridge, but I appreciate your mentioning that restarting the culture improves consistency batch to batch- that's what we're going for!

After reading your post again you were pretty clear.... I just missed it lol.

 

[bruhaha]

KeyWestBrewing you mentioned saving some soured wort to propagate another batch. How would you go about this? Create another starter?

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

KeyWestBrewing you mentioned saving some soured wort to propagate another batch. How would you go about this? Create another starter?

Yea. They need a little longer than a starter from a straight pitch out of the pack though so give it a few days.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

So I got to the starter going a day later than I expected, and I'm making 3 gallons of wort now. I'm going to let it go about 45 hours this time, as I'll pasteurize it Monday AM before work - I'm pretty sure I did ~36 hours last time. After the freeze-concentrating watermelon discussion in this thread I did that for this batch and OMFG... the (3 gallon) keg might not last longer than this weekend. I plan on making a few batches of this back to back, since its the perfect summer beer!

Thinking of doing a Blueberry this round, using chill storage to prevent fermentation of the fruit flavor addition. Anyone have an opinion on my trying to add some of this Ikea Blueberry Syrup (49% juice) to try for flavoring? http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10296015/

Lastly, for anyone interested - the WLP677 bounced right back in the starter I made after putting a quart up for a month in the fridge (50/50 from the BW & Gose I made the first time around) - by smell, the starter was good to go within 36 hours, but I didn't pitch it until 48+. I'll be storing it that way again next time.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

So I got to the starter going a day later than I expected, and I'm making 3 gallons of wort now. I'm going to let it go about 45 hours this time, as I'll pasteurize it Monday AM before work - I'm pretty sure I did ~36 hours last time. After the freeze-concentrating watermelon discussion in this thread I did that for this batch and OMFG... the (3 gallon) keg might not last longer than this weekend. I plan on making a few batches of this back to back, since its the perfect summer beer!

Thinking of doing a Blueberry this round, using chill storage to prevent fermentation of the fruit flavor addition. Anyone have an opinion on my trying to add some of this Ikea Blueberry Syrup (49% juice) to try for flavoring? http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10296015/

Lastly, for anyone interested - the WLP677 bounced right back in the starter I made after putting a quart up for a month in the fridge (50/50 from the BW & Gose I made the first time around) - by smell, the starter was good to go within 36 hours, but I didn't pitch it until 48+. I'll be storing it that way again next time.

Haha thats awesome to hear I actually kicked my keg of Watermelon today. That syrup looks interesting though I wonder what else is in it. I'd probably try a 1/3lb fruit per gal in the keg first. If you freeze/smash the berries instead of pureeing them you can probably pull all the flavor and keep them strained so you get clean pints. I don't think blueberries have a lot of water do they?

 

[Baja_Brewer]

3 days at 95*F got me this. Didn't boil for very long, but the fermentation chamber may have caused the infection. Pasteurize and ferment, or dump?

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Whoops, pic attached.

View attachment 1468880713046.jpg

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Pasteurize then sample and decide from there. I would maybe even keep a little unpasteurized in a wine bottle to see if you caught something worth keeping. That pellicle looks like what I got when I stepped up starters from grain.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

I took a gravity sample (which I should have done before posting) and its at 1.006ish - I pulled off a pint or so into a sanitized jar, and I'm pasteurizing at 165 (ethanol boils at 173) and I'll see how it comes out in the next couple of days.

Note to anyone that might be scared off that I cut corners on this batch in my attempt to simplify the process by souring in my un-sealed kettle. The starters were okay - I bet if I had used a sealed, sanitized fermentation vessel for the souring process, everything would have been fine.