Ideas for first batch with wild yeast capture

[jc587491]

Just wanted to get some ideas to test a wild yeast I captured recently off of a wild berry. I have been growing it up for about a month now and have finally worked it up to a 1.5 L starter. I used no hops in the starter. The finished starter was clean with subtle citrus rind and underripe berry now. The PH was 3.7 so I'm assuming there is some lacto in there.

I'm thinking maybe just a simple SMaSH type beer but only dry hop after I ferment for a few days so I don't kill the lacto right away?

Any other tips or suggestions would be helpful. I'm excited to try it out, it's my first one that seems like it might be promising.

Thanks in advance!
Cheers!

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Have you checked the gravity of the starter to see if the wild bugs are fully fermenting the wort? Some wild strains (from what I've read) will eat some sugars, but not maltose.

As for a recipe, it depends what sort of result you're looking for and how long you want to leave it.

 

[jc587491]

Yeah. It went from 1.036 to 1.009.

 

[RPh_Guy]

The PH was 3.7 so I'm assuming there is some lacto in there.

There is lactic acid bacteria (LAB) of some kind, not necessarily Lactobacillus.

74% apparent attenuation (AA) means your yeast ferments monosaccharides, maltose and maltotriose. Congrats! Most of the wild yeast I've captured so far only ferment the monosaccharides and maltose, so end up at only 50-55% AA.

Tips:

• Make sure your yeast can handle the ABV of your planned recipe before you pitch it in the full batch.
• Your mixed culture may contain slow-growing, high-attenuating yeast. This is bad news if you bottle your beer too soon. If you keg it's fine, otherwise you'll want to make sure FG is stable for a couple months so you don't risk bottle bombs.
• The relatively high oxygen in a yeast starter suppresses ester formation, so your beer will probably have even more yeast character.

I think a smash recipe is good, or you could add a little wheat or whatever. I don't think you need to limit your options if you like specialty malts like some crystal or biscuit etc.

You are correct that adding hops will inhibit the LAB. If you want a sour beer, skipping the hops until after souring is definitely a reasonable plan since you don't know the hop tolerance of your bacteria.
I hop my wild starters with 2g/L of hops. Some of them still get sour, so wild LAB can be hop-tolerant to some extent.

Acid inhibits ester formation by the yeast, so for full ester production, you'd actually want to delay or prevent souring. It just depends on your goal.

Cheers

 

[jc587491]

Thanks for the tips! I think i'm going to get a few 1g fermenters and split a 5gal batch to experiment with it. Tha way i can see what it can handle and how the hops effect the LAB production and see what esters i can get from it.
Cheers!