Lacto (Goodbelly) + Sacc (644) copitch not souring. Options?

[TravelingLight]

ETA: Looks like the Saaz is the issue, even being under 3 IBUs. Now I'm planning to do a simple 2 gallon light DME beer, ZERO hops, sour that portion, blend it with the main beer, then toss in a pack of 05 to finish fermenting out the new beer. Uggghhh!!!!

I've done kettle sours in the past using OYL-605 with no problem, using the standard kettle sour process. This was my first time doing a lacto + sacc copitch and it's not working out so far. Was hoping I could get some advice.

Grist/Hops:

9# Pils (72%)
3.5# White Wheat (28%)
0.5 oz. Saaz @15

Stats:

OG: 1.050
IBUs: 2.8

Brew day was Monday, September 4. Planned to mash at 148, ended up overshooting that a touch and ultimately mashing at around 150. Boil went fine, uneventful. Cooled the wort to about 95, then added about 6ml of lactic acid to pre-acidify. Note: My ph pen was on the fritz so I couldn't check ph at this point, so I just went with 6ml. Then I pitched two (2) Goodbelly straight shots.

Right about 24 hours later, I then pitched a 1.5L starter of WLP-644. The 644 took off and was active within a few hours. Within three (3) days it was still very active but the krausen had dropped or was beginning to drop.

Yesterday was Day 13 since pitching lacto (Day 12 since pitching sacc). I pulled a sample last night to check ph, gravity, and taste (got a new ph meter). The ph pen was calibrated right before taking this sample.

Ph is at 3.64 and not very tart. Gravity is at 1.011. Tastes clean, no off flavors, no off smells, everything seems fine. Except it ain't sour.

What are my options at this point? Can I pitch more Goodbelly? I have some 605 saved in the fridge, I could spin up a starter and pitch that? I hope I have some options to get this thing down lower without blending.
I'm frustrated as hell because I was super excited now that I have dedicated sour equipment and a line in the keezer I wouldn't have to kettle sour anymore if I didn't want to. But this trial is proving a failure thus far. Help me save it! Thanks.

P.S. I keep pretty damn good notes, so if I've left any details out, let me know, I probably have them written down.

 

[radwizard]

Being at .011, I would add more LAB (the 605 with brevis). I use 0 hops with goodbelly, and reboil if nessesary. You could also use dregs. I would not add more of the same goodbelly due to the ibus

 

[TravelingLight]

Being at .011, I would add more LAB (the 605 with brevis). I use 0 hops with goodbelly, and reboil if nessesary. You could also use dregs. I would not add more of the same goodbelly due to the ibus

Thanks for the heads up. I ended up going a different route. Your method would have been easier, but oh well.

I brewed a quick 2 gallon extract batch with zero hops. Pitched goodbelly into that and it's souring now. Once that's done souring as much as absolutely possible, I'm going to blend it with the main beer and pitch some fresh yeast to finish fermenting it out.

 

[RPh_Guy]

FYI
Hops have a much larger variety of bacteriostatic compounds than just the alpha acid... So trying to keep IBU below a certain threshold with a low-alpha-acid hop will be problematic when trying to use Lactobacillus because it underestimates the antibacterial effect of the hops.

 

[TravelingLight]

FYI
Hops have a much larger variety of bacteriostatic compounds than just the alpha acid... So trying to keep IBU below a certain threshold with a low-alpha-acid hop will be problematic when trying to use Lactobacillus because it underestimates the antibacterial effect of the hops.

That is fantastic advice. I definitely was not aware of that. Big thanks for the heads up.