L. Brevis Questions

[Gus_13]

So I'm working on a Berliner with a L. Brevis culture from Wyeast. I brewed a 1.034 wort and pitched the bag in there. I know I know I should have done a starter. I will in the future as this is the second time I've had this problem happen. But, it's been since Saturday at 90+ temps constant and there is no sort of activity at all. No smell change and honestly it just smells like sweet wort. Same thing that happened to my last sour saison I did with 5335. It wasn't until I pitched Saison yeast and another vial of L. Del from White Labs that I started getting any tartness.

My question is with such a low gravity wort, there should be some change after 3+ days correct? Or some activity? Maybe I'm not waiting long enough but even after not making any starter I would think there would be some change. Like I said, this is only the second time for me to pitch Lacto alone at the start of the fermentation. Usually I pitch my own blends and they involve some kind of Belgian yeast be it Saison or something else. Those sour up over time but I was looking for a faster Berliner. Is the answer just next time make a huge starter?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Gus_13]

Update. Tasted today and there is a tad but of tartness showing up. There was a spec of something floating may have been grain. Wasn't any sort if pellicle do I extracted it.

Now I'm wondering if I want to toss in US-05 to finish or go another route... I'll taste tomorrow to see. My yeast inventory has a lot to offer at the moment. 3711 may be interesting. But I may need to stick with a clean yeast to stay more traditional.


Santé!

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[roink]

Did you pitch any brewers yeast? Or only Lacto?
In the second case you wouldn't expect to see any activity. It would only get sour. There might not even be CO2 production or a drop of gravity if the Lactobacillus is homofermentativ.

If you haven't pitched brewers yeast so far you should to that. The wort might else get too sour for the brewers yeast. A lot of people have good experiences with US05 in Berliner Weisse. If available you should pitch a larger number of healthy cells than you usually would for such a low gravity beer, to account for the stress due to low pH.

 

[Gus_13]

Did you pitch any brewers yeast? Or only Lacto?
In the second case you wouldn't expect to see any activity. It would only get sour. There might not even be CO2 production or a drop of gravity if the Lactobacillus is homofermentativ.

If you haven't pitched brewers yeast so far you should to that. The wort might else get too sour for the brewers yeast. A lot of people have good experiences with US05 in Berliner Weisse. If available you should pitch a larger number of healthy cells than you usually would for such a low gravity beer, to account for the stress due to low pH.

Ok great thanks. I pitched the lacto first to give it a head start. I've done this in the past with my sour Saisons and had good results. A good amount of people pitch lacto alone then wait a few days to pitch brewer's yeast from what I've read and seen. I was just expecting some kind of action as I've seen some folks 100% lacto fermentations get kraussen and show some activity. This is my second time and not activity at all. I'm assuming after today it will be tart enough to drop the temp and pitch the US-05. I'll report back when I get home after work.

 

[joshrosborne]

I used White Labs Brevis and didn't get a pellicle other than a little bit of "scummy" stuff on the surface. I'm fermenting it out with 3711 right now.

 

[Gus_13]

I used White Labs Brevis and didn't get a pellicle other than a little bit of "scummy" stuff on the surface. I'm fermenting it out with 3711 right now.

Ok great. I've got a vial of it too. This had nothing at all on the surface really.


Santé!

Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Gus_13]

US-05 was pitched and is chewing through it right now. I hope to have this in bottles and on tap within a week or so. Now to look up how to make some syrups.

 

[dantheman13]

I just brewed a higher gravity wort (1.070) last weekend and pitched a pack of L. brevis with no starter. It took somewhere between 24-48 hours to show signs of fermentation. Particularly, it started with a very thin and sparse scummy white formation on the surface. 24 hours after that, there is now light bubbles on the surface. There is a very, very small amount of CO2 blow off.

One thing I did was to keep my pack of L. brevis at room temperature when I received it a few weeks prior. Also, on brew day I left it outside in the 95F degree whether. I don't know if storing it at room temperature and/or warming it up before pitching it made any difference to what you are experiencing.

I haven't tasted the beer yet, but will do so before pitching Brett trois as the primary yeast. I'll have a video of the fermentation up on my youtube channel if you are interested in a couple of weeks.

 

[Gus_13]

I just brewed a higher gravity wort (1.070) last weekend and pitched a pack of L. brevis with no starter. It took somewhere between 24-48 hours to show signs of fermentation. Particularly, it started with a very thin and sparse scummy white formation on the surface. 24 hours after that, there is now light bubbles on the surface. There is a very, very small amount of CO2 blow off.

One thing I did was to keep my pack of L. brevis at room temperature when I received it a few weeks prior. Also, on brew day I left it outside in the 95F degree whether. I don't know if storing it at room temperature and/or warming it up before pitching it made any difference to what you are experiencing.

I haven't tasted the beer yet, but will do so before pitching Brett trois as the primary yeast. I'll have a video of the fermentation up on my youtube channel if you are interested in a couple of weeks.

Awesome. I'm sub'd to your channel on YouTube so I'll be looking for that. Mine never showed any signs of fermentation but after 5 days it was very tart tasting so I pitched the US-05. I'll be changing it up next time and using a farmhouse yeast to finish and a big starter of Brett. I'm planning on adding a PH meter so I can better manage sour beers in the future.

 

[hirschb]

pitching Brett trois as the primary yeast.

What kind of beer did you use the L Brevis & Brett trois combo for? I was thinking of making a beer with the same yeast/bugs combo..... maybe something light with fruity/aromatic hops, but I haven't really gotten further than that.

 

[dantheman13]

What kind of beer did you use the L Brevis & Brett trois combo for? I was thinking of making a beer with the same yeast/bugs combo..... maybe something light with fruity/aromatic hops, but I haven't really gotten further than that.

I brewed the Brewing Classic Styles Oud Bruin wort for this one. I need another sour brown ale for blending!

 

[hirschb]

I brewed the Brewing Classic Styles Oud Bruin wort for this one. I need another sour brown ale for blending!

Yeah, I wouldn't think this would be a good base for an oud bruin, but it could be great for blending. It'll be interesting to hear how it turned out.

 

[Dennis]

I know this is an older thread, but I thought I'd add my own experience with the L. Brevis. So I'm brewing a sour saison and pitched the lacto about 2:30pm at 100F. The following morning there was a **** storm of noise coming from the airlock. I took a peak under the heating blanket and man, it was a torrent of activity. Swirling and bubbling like the niagara falls basin. Lot's of coagulated proteins swirling around too. I'm on day 2 and there's no signs of slowing down. I am going to make my belgian yeast blend starter tonight and pitch tomorrow night. I'm guessing with that much activity it's probably pretty darn tart by now.