Clean saison goes wild

[jezza02]

Hey guys, first time poster, long time lurker.

I've come here as there is a wealth of collective knowledge surrounding wilds/sours etc.
So here goes.

I brewed up what was meant to be a rustic saison with TYB Wallonian Farmhouse, it was a low gravity beer, OG was 1.038. All went OK on the brew day, pitched the yeast at 25 deg's centigrade (sorry i'm an aussie) and let it go at that temp.
Three days in it hits high krausen and drops overnight. I left it for a week and realised it had stalled at 1.034, strange. It then got an infection of sorts, not sure what it was exactly, no offensive smells, just small bubbles forming on top. A couple of days go by and I realise its a pellicle forming.
In my stubborn ways instead of dumping it I threw a vial of out of date WLP Sacch/Lacto at it and left it at ambient temps, which has been roughly 30 deg's centigrade (harsh summer here). A massive pellicle/krausen formed and has been sticking around for about 3 weeks now.
Here's some pellicle pron for you all:



Is that from the lacto? Or perhaps brett? I did have a 100% Brett IPA fermenting in the same room and same time, although, it was in my ferm fridge.

I ballsed up and tasted and checked it's gravity today, it was surprisingly sour considering the time and the IBU's of the beer (27) and had also dropped to 1.004

Im now considering racking it to secondary in a week or so onto some fruit and an oak stave. What fruit do you guys suggest? I was thinking cherries/raspberries. Although i'm open to suggestions. I am also going to throw some brett at it too, going with the TYB Lochristi Blend.


Here's the recipe:

Batch size: 21L (5.5 gals)
OG: 1.038
Current gravity: 1.004
IBU: 27
Colour: 28.7 EBC

65% Pils
16.5% Wheat malt
11% Rye Malt
3.5% Acidulated Malt
3.7% Carafa Sp II - cold steeped over night, added at 10 mins in boil (colour only)

9g Warrior @ 90 FWH
25g Styrian Goldings (2.5AA) @ 10


Mash in @ 63.5
Mash for 30mins @ 62-63
Mash for 30 mins @ 68 (supposed to be 65)
Mash for 30 mins @ 72

(all in degrees centigrade)

Dunk sparge with 5l water

So please, hit me with criticism/suggestions, cheers!

 

[tagz]

That's really strange. The Wallonian should have cranked through that in short order; it's a high attenuator. Did you take the Day 3 sample with a refractive yet by chance? If so, you need to adjust for alcohol. If not, I'm amazed that you could get high krausen and it only drops 4 points!

 

[IslandLizard]

That's a beautiful pellicle! And thick as can be, it looks powdery on top.

You probably know this already, the pellicle protects the beer (and bugs) underneath from oxygen, which is to your advantage, so less acetic acid will be formed. When you're racking this, try to limit oxygen exposure, and fill your secondary to the top, leaving only 2 inches of headspace max. You could flush that little space headspace with CO2. Any oxygen/air will spur on acetic production. A little is OK, and even when being careful, that's about all you want.

Given the short time it took to form the pellicle It's likely from the Lacto and any likely any other bacteria that caused the original souring. Brett is much slower, but at 30°C it thrives.

Keep us posted.

 

[TheBigLebrewsk1]

Three weeks with Lacto would make some sour ass beer, correct?

What is the PH on that?

 

[jezza02]

That was exactly my thoughts, the krausen was a good inch thick so I was very confused. I pitched a fairly fresh vial of yeast, though no starter was made. I think the combination of that plus my high temps mashing must have caused it to stall.
I took the sample via hydrometer. My ferm chamber is a 30L cyclindrical vessel which has a tap down the bottom. I've yet to invest in a refrac, im starting to think its a good idea though.

Thanks for all that info IslandLizard! I was thinking about getting a little bit of acetic acid production going for complexity, but i'm sure an oak stave/cubes will give it enough. There's a few strange off flavours in there, almost plastic-y/rubber so i'm hoping to either scrub them out or cover them up with whatever means necessary haha.

I think there's a lot of variables when it comes to souring with lacto post mash/boil. Clearly the 30 degree heat has helped it, but I would have thought the 27 IBU's and minimal cell count would have hindered it dramatically, apparently not!
My pH meter died last week so i'll be picking up some cheapo pH strips tomorrow in the mean time so i'll post the pH then.