Gigayeast experiences?

[Infected]

I'm brewing a sour saison at the moment and picked up gigayeasts fast souring lacto and sour saison, and was thinking of pitching both at the same time. Does anyone have any experience on what I can expect from these? I haven't found much online about them anecdotally. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks
Btw my recipe is
10# German pilsner
1# marris otter pale
4oz acid malt

2.5 g warrior hops for 60m =5.1 IBU
Total boil 90 min

 

[cram]

I'm curious to hear what other folks say, as I have never used these strains and never found the souring action of lacto to happen too quickly at ale fermentation temps.

If you want quick sourness, it's hard to beat a sour mash...plus it breaks up the brew day into two shorter days. Generally, this is my go to method for berliner weisse when I want to turn a tart beer out rather quickly, but there's no reason you couldn't do the same for a tart saison.

 

[Infected]

The last 2 batches were similar.
One is a sour mash saison.
And the other is a kettle soured saison.
Both have Brett L as I love the fruity tastes it lends which slowly transfers to hay. Mmmmm yummy

 

[tagz]

There's another recent thread with a response from the owner. He gives some tips on using this blend.

 

[krumb]

I recently pitched the fast souring lacto into a berliner with rye. it was a 15 minute boil, 1.034ish OG. IBU of around 2ish...and that was in the mash.

I chilled to 100 and then maintained around 110 degrees for 5 days. There was no real visible activity. I checked in on the taste every 2 days. I found that at day 5, the tartness was right where it needed to be for what I wanted in the berliner. I don't have a pH meter (on my todo), so I can't provide actual data. But I can say that it was within style to other traditional berliners I've had. A very clean tart/sour.

I fermented with ECY Brett B. Violent fermentation.

At 3 weeks, it was kegged and a few days later being poured and enjoyed.

Great experience with this lacto and recently bought 2 more packs to brew more berliners with.

 

[tagz]

I recently pitched the fast souring lacto into a berliner with rye. it was a 15 minute boil, 1.034ish OG. IBU of around 2ish...and that was in the mash.



I chilled to 100 and then maintained around 110 degrees for 5 days. There was no real visible activity. I checked in on the taste every 2 days. I found that at day 5, the tartness was right where it needed to be for what I wanted in the berliner. I don't have a pH meter (on my todo), so I can't provide actual data. But I can say that it was within style to other traditional berliners I've had. A very clean tart/sour.



I fermented with ECY Brett B. Violent fermentation.



At 3 weeks, it was kegged and a few days later being poured and enjoyed.



Great experience with this lacto and recently bought 2 more packs to brew more berliners with.

What flavors did you get out of the Brett B as a primary pitch? Sounds interesting. Tasting notes?

 

[krumb]

What flavors did you get out of the Brett B as a primary pitch? Sounds interesting. Tasting notes?

I typically get "clean" flavors from Brett strains when pitched as primary and not allowed to age for an extended time. They really do act more like a sacc strain, in my experience, when pitched as primary and consumed in short time.

That being said, we pitched Brux as primary into a simple saison recipe a few months ago, and after 2 months it's taking on a funky flavor. This has been consistent with my past experiences of longer aging brett-as-primary batches.

 

[tagz]

Yeah, I did a Brett C primary a while back, pretty clean. Wasnt sure if the Brett would do anything different following lacto.

 

[krumb]

Yeah, I did a Brett C primary a while back, pretty clean. Was sure if the Brett would do anything different following lacto.

My understanding is that the Brett is more tolerant of the pH levels after the lacto works.

 

[tagz]

My understanding is that the Brett is more tolerant of the pH levels after the lacto works.

Ahh, gotcha. That makes sense.

 

[MileHighBrewer]

I see no reason to add the fast lacto to the sour saison blend, its already in there. IME the sour saison will make a really sour beer in a few months. I waited 8 months on mine but in reality, it could have been packaged around 4-5 months. Its a very clean sour, very good to use with fruit or dry hops (thats what I did, 4oz nelson for 14 days, it smells, looks, and tastes like grapefruit juice, flippin awesome!)

 

[Infected]

I did a saison with Nelson and it was fantastic I might do the same with this one. Definitely want to add fruit to it.

 

[DurtyChemist]

I just used the Gigayeast Fast Lacto and I was not impressed at all. Two other guys in my brew club had similar experiences of no lactic acid production from this culture.

I pitched at 100F and wrapped it in a zero degree sleeping bag for 48 hours. I checked pH and I was still above 4. I racked and added California Ale yeast to the first 5 gallons. I pitched another 5 gallons on the Lacto "stater" as I called it and co pitched another 1L California Ale yeast starter and I'm waiting to see what happens over time with this one.

The first batch was 80F after 48 hours and I was expecting a pH closer to 4 instead of 4.5. I racked from the bottom hoping I could carry some Lacto over and let them sour over time. I'm strongly considering doing a sour mash instead of trusting a Lacto pitch in the future.

 

[505-Brewer]

I just used the Gigayeast Fast Lacto and I was not impressed at all. Two other guys in my brew club had similar experiences of no lactic acid production from this culture.

I pitched at 100F and wrapped it in a zero degree sleeping bag for 48 hours. I checked pH and I was still above 4. I racked and added California Ale yeast to the first 5 gallons. I pitched another 5 gallons on the Lacto "stater" as I called it and co pitched another 1L California Ale yeast starter and I'm waiting to see what happens over time with this one.

The first batch was 80F after 48 hours and I was expecting a pH closer to 4 instead of 4.5. I racked from the bottom hoping I could carry some Lacto over and let them sour over time. I'm strongly considering doing a sour mash instead of trusting a Lacto pitch in the future.

I haven't used this blend /strain but in my experiences with lacto brevis has been it needs more time but still didn't get very acidic. Last go eventually got to pH 3.8. Nice and tart but not sour. Good for dry hopped sours, acidic fruit etc.

I made a 1.040 starter, added 1 cup grain and kept it at 100F for 5 days. pH 3.3. Very nice flavor and strongly lactic. Stepped up once more to ensure lacto was dominant. Added to Brevis beer and took it the pH 3.65.

Next time Im just going to use grain starter. Might be good option to true sour mash perhaps.