Fermenting without pitching Yeast

Heres some pic's of the readings, airlock and the remaining krausen on the surface.

 

Pic of the trub, temp and another of the floaties. At 4% i'm above what i believe to be the Berliner Weisse norm for ABV but still has activity so i'm curious if i should leave it finish in the primary and harvest or transfer now to secondary and harvest from there? Suggestions? Lastly a Berliner Weisse has a long bottle conditioning time, i read 18mo-2years, so i figured once i bottle i would try some on 3mo cycles to see how it progresses, anyone else think this is a good idea? I've never had a Berliner, lots of Lambic's, so i think i should go to my aptly nicknamed "Jesus's Beer Fridge" and get one to try.

 

I had picked it up out of the closet to take the last pic so some stuff got stirred back into suspension.

 

Alright I have a EPA brewing going on 2 weeks tomorrow. The weird thing is that I never got much bubbles at all. This is my 1st batch and well was nervous cause I had no bubbles! Well I got on here and a lot of you said to let it sit instead of moving it to the secondary the 1st week. So now I'm going on 2 weeks tomorrow and I will say even with no bubbles I started at OG 1.042 and FG is now 1.010. I'm so stoked cause I thought that it wasn't gonna ferment all the way! I think I'm there and I will transfer to secondary tomorrow and let sit for a few days until I rack it! Did taste a sample and was pretty tasty even though it was flat! I just wish I could have gotten a ABV 5.0 beer out of it but I guess I'll take almost 4.2ABV. For my 1st batch I'm excited. Think I'm gonna invest a second fridge for the garage soon cause I'm getting addicted. Hopefully next batch will ferment more quickly and get more alcohol lol ! Any tips I'm open!

 

Did you mean to post here?

 

Sorry I realized I posted it to the wrong thread after I posted sorry all

 

Any aroma notes yet? From airlock or anything? Have u taken a gravity reading yet? Did u sample the unconditioned beer at all? Any tasting notes?

 

Yea above I noted my reading and my poor taste notes, I have a cold so I have nothing to really to note, hopefully by the weekend I'll be better. It was 1.012.

 

Subscribed!! Great post.

 

Subscribed. This is interesting.

My bet is on a small amount of brewing yeast in the fermenter, or perhaps something that had a brewer's yeast strain on it (even mutated) perhaps from nearby surfaces. It just looks too much like the "real thing" to not be the real thing, if that makes any sense at all. I've had friends try wild yeasts or experiments and seeing "ropy" chains in the fermenter--it ended up nasty. I've also seen other oddities like that.

One "wild" yeast drink I had that was amazing was apple cider that was from an Amish Farmer's Market in Lancaster, PA. I'd had it dozens of times before, but left one container go unloved in the fridge for a while. Next time I went to open it--PSSSH! Hmm. So I let it go more. Again, more venting when opened. I was amazed the little yeasties could do the little dance in fridge temps, but they could. I talked to someone later on at LHBS, and they theorized that the cidery had been pressing apples for generations--creating an ideal environment for the yeasties on the walls, surfaces, everything. Plus, the cider was natural, not flash pasteurized or anything.

Anyways, good luck with it, and let us know how it turns out.

Question for the OP: Did you grab a bit of the yeast and store it, just in case you want to do this again?

Best,

Madman

 

I was thinking the same thing.... that looks like way too normal of a fermentation to be from an infection. Not to mention it kicked off in only a few hours, my experience is limited, but that doesn't sound like anything wild to me. I'm thinking the OP either had something in the vessel before racking the wort in, or some brewing yeast got in the fermenter between transfer and pitch. Either way, I'd be surprised if that fermentation is caused by anything other than good ol' brewers yeast.

OP, other than the fact that you didn't pitch, anything else to make you think something got in there? Leave the bucket open overnight? Forget to sanitize? SWMBO had a yeast infection when she helped you brew? I hate to crash the party, but Madman hit the nail on the head, that krausen looks way too much like brewers yeast and nothing like a wild yeast pellicle.

 

I wish i could explain it that easy, here was my process on that particular day:

All grain BIAB, did it outside of course, 90min boil, sanitized my wort chiller in hot water and star san, cooled about 20min, flushed my transfer line with hot water and sanitized with starsan, transferred to carboy that i had flushed with starsan and hot water, installed cleaned air lock with water and starsan. It sat for 36hours then presto. I'm certainly not saying that i didnt miss anything in sanitization but i am normally quite thorough and this beer is quite sour and tart which makes me believe theres a lot of wild/bacteria in there. Once my nose unplugs i'll have a better idea on aroma's etc this weekend. I havent collected anything yet since i havent decided on wether i should get it from the primary or secondary it and collect it from there.

 

im curious, subscribed

 

/ditto
I've got to know how this turned out.

 

Haha I was just thinking that. He should hook up a webcam so we can Skype the brew and check in on it.

 

Could it have been wild yeast from the mango?

 

Absolutely. OP, was the mango sanitized or added to boil kettle? or added after racking?

 

Well, 36 hours could sour your wort, in and of itself. And could your cold be playing with you? I have killer allergies and beer always tastes a bit off this time of year, it'd be hard for me to accurately critique one of my brews.

Wait, what? Mango? You put a mango in the wort? Well there ya go, mystery no longer very mysterious, huh. I must've missed that little detail, but yeah, chances are if it is a wild yeast, it was the mango. Even if it's not a wild yeast, when I've fermented fruit with ale or wine yeast, it's tart. Tart, tart!!
I still really don't think what you have is anything close to a wild yeast or bacterial fermentation. The fermentation looks nothing like either of those. It took off a bit quick for a wild yeast. There's another explanation for sour wort (extended time before pitch, and you added fruit. Fermented fruit is tart.). You reached a terminal gravity pretty fast for a wild ferment.
Great thread, I'm psyched to find out what happens(ed), but I'm guessing this is something other than wild yeast.

 

sub'd

 

It was "going" to be a mango hefe, I never added anything to it because of the fermentation kicking off without pitching. Its still sitting in the primary, only thing been in the carboy was my thief and that was well after fermentation starting. I also don't add the sample back in, to risky.

 

So the mango never made it in? This is pretty interesting. I still say your ferment looks way to normal to be a wild yeast. My guess is somehow, some way, some brewers yeast got into your wort.

 

Yes the mango never touched it. This is totally weird, I'm thorough when cleaning, i never re-used a funnel or anything that touched yeast during the day even my sampling equipment. It was a perfect brew day in my opinion only difference no starter was ready on time and by the time it was, whamo, fermentation, and good fermentation. I would have thought if it was brewers yeast it would be a small amount and would have taken alot longer than 36 hours to produce that much krausen? The SG didnt change much early on, 1.044 to 1.36 in i think 2weeks? I have to look back, but once it was put in the closet, 1-2 degrees higher it took off again, 2nd krausen, and in 2-3 weeks 1.012. Now after the sample this weekend, it churned a bit lifting it, activity is picked up a bit, bubbles every 20seconds in the air lock.

 

The first pic is 36 hours in, the last was last weekend, about 4 weeks apart. OG was 1.044 like i said and last reading was 1.012. The beer is extremely hazy now to. I did note that i sucked the airlock dry the first day because the wort was a bit warmer than expected, perhaps i did a poor sanitizaton job on the air lock and sucked in some yeast? I always fill them with starsan mix and again i wouldnt think that small amount would kick off fermentation that fast? I've underpitched single vials before that took 48 hours to kick off!

 

Very strange, indeed. I'm really interested in what comes of this batch!

 

SUPER yeast! (sour edition)

 

If it ends up tasty, may your wild strain live on! May need some yeast distribution! "HBT Wild Ale Yeast"

 

Gotta give credit where credit is due... "Great White Wild Ale"

 

Subscribed. Need to know how this finishes!

 

+1

 

You had me at krausen.....

I'll kick back a wait to see what happens...

 

I'm curious if your Starsan is weak?

 

This is so cool. My first thought was "are you SURE you didn't pitch any yeast?" I can't wait to see how this turns out. I'd pay to ship a bottle or two just to try it, even if it's bad. I really want to harvest some wild yeast, but where I live I'd probably just catch some local brewery's S. Cerevisiae

 

Small world...I live in Lancaster County and have Amish folks and large peach orchard outside my neighborhood. I'd love to give this a try.

 

Awesome thread... the result has got to be interesting.

 

nice color on that sour. i have a gallon of hefe souring out right now just to "see what happens". +1

 

I'm in Lancaster too! I live in the clock towers building on Columbia ave

 

Looks like I also have the beginning of a spontaneous fermentation I brewed up a blonde ale very late Wed night planning on pitching the next day as I use campden tabs in my water for Chloramine.

Naturally life got in the way and it sat until this morning when I planned on pitching my starter only to find a fermentation actively going.

This was a brand new better bottle, that was purchased, washed and sanitized on wed, and had an airlock filled with vodka the entire time so it must have been an airborne yeast picked up during cooling. Unfortunately I don't have extra primaries lying around so this one is destined to get dumped.

 

Why would you even think about dumping it before tasting it? If you can afford a batch of ingredients, you can afford a fermenter. Find a used glass 5 gallon carboy on CL for $20 or less.

 

I'm with jtkratzer, save it, who knows what will come of it. Mines completely fermented out now, going to taste it this morning and bottle tomorrow or next. I was thinking of putting it on some fruit but its not correct for the style i'm going for (Berliner Weisse) It will however be stronger than the normal 3% ABV.

 

Well FG was 1.010 making it 4.4% ABV. Its sour smelling somewhat grapefruit like, tastes quite tart, sour, some after taste, a bit like lemon. No hop aroma or bitterness seems detectable and it's golden pale and cloudy. Going to bottle er up and try it again in a few months. Will also be harvesting the yeast for re-trial at a later date too.