TychoBrahe
Active Member
I am hoping to brew my first berliner this weekend. I purchased a vial of White Labs Berliner Blend. However, decided to try making my own lacto starter from apple juice and a cup of grain.
I was not very technical in my methods. Simply opened a new half gallon of preservative free apple juice. Decanted 2/3 of the juice to another container and added bottled water back to the aj container until there was approximately one quart of diluted apple juice.
Then simply took the cup of grains and tossed them into the container. I then wrapped my seed starter heat mat (designed to heat a seed starter tray 10F-20F over ambient temps)around the bottle and let it rock.
Within 12 hours there were visible bubbles forming, and the bottle began to swell. I have been releasing the pressure every 6-10 hours. Nice little cake is forming at the bottom of the bottle and the aroma is nice and tart.
I beleive I have a successful starter! Next steps? I am thinking of pitching this into my berliner, letting it go for 12 or so hours, then pitching a clean ale yeast. Thoughts?
I was not very technical in my methods. Simply opened a new half gallon of preservative free apple juice. Decanted 2/3 of the juice to another container and added bottled water back to the aj container until there was approximately one quart of diluted apple juice.
Then simply took the cup of grains and tossed them into the container. I then wrapped my seed starter heat mat (designed to heat a seed starter tray 10F-20F over ambient temps)around the bottle and let it rock.
Within 12 hours there were visible bubbles forming, and the bottle began to swell. I have been releasing the pressure every 6-10 hours. Nice little cake is forming at the bottom of the bottle and the aroma is nice and tart.
I beleive I have a successful starter! Next steps? I am thinking of pitching this into my berliner, letting it go for 12 or so hours, then pitching a clean ale yeast. Thoughts?