Philly Sour Review

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Joewalla88

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So, I've made 3 beers with this yeast so far. Two hazies, one with fruit, and one fruited pale ale. This yeast is great. The two hazies were two of my favorite brews recently. The other was just kegged, so maybe it'll be good. The main thing I will say is that the two hazies were made with fresh packs of the philly sour, and the pale was made with a repitch. The repitch definitely has less of the fruity sourness that I enjoyed so much of in the two sour Hazy IPAs. I think it'll still be a drinkable beer, but on my first repitch experience, the flavor fades quite a bit. Anyways, i just wanted to throw out my two cents. Philly Sour is pretty awesome, and has a wonderful tart and fruity flavor that makes for a crushable sour. I personally found the flavor to be more complex than what I've experienced with other kettle sour styles, and without the hassle of reboils or other steps like that. That just might be my experience, but it's definately easier to use, and you don't have to worry as much about over or under shooting the acidity. I've used some other lacto producing yeasts in the past, and this is by far one of my favorites for both its flavor and performance. i would only recommend using fresh packs. I might mess around with repitching some more in the future, but at 5 bucks a pack (another major plus for me) I don't feel like It's necessary.
 
How sour does it finish? Have you tried co-pitching yeast with Lactobacillus (instead of kettle souring)? If so, how does it compare for flavour and sourness?
 
How sour does it finish? Have you tried co-pitching yeast with Lactobacillus (instead of kettle souring)? If so, how does it compare for flavour and sourness?

I would compare the sourness to a glass of orange juice. Have you ever had Rogue's Combat Wombat? That's what it reminds me of.

I have done copitching, and I know that works well for people, but for me I could never get the consistency I wanted. Sometimes there would not enough tartness, sometimes it would be right on, and sometimes it would be mouth puckering. I always just felt like I wasn't in control of what was happening. This eliminates that for me.
 
In general it seems there are poor souring results with a repitch or starter.

Lallemand recommended a high pitching rate based on their videos, so I was seeing if you did one or two packs per 5 gallons. Did you get peach or apple fruit flavors from it? Did you add any simple sugars to the wort?

I made a starter with it that had a nice sourness and a great peachy/fruity flavor. The beer it made was bland and not very sour.
 
In general it seems there are poor souring results with a repitch or starter.

Lallemand recommended a high pitching rate based on their videos, so I was seeing if you did one or two packs per 5 gallons. Did you get peach or apple fruit flavors from it? Did you add any simple sugars to the wort?

I made a starter with it that had a nice sourness and a great peachy/fruity flavor. The beer it made was bland and not very sour.

When I just pitch the one pack I get a nice citrus and stone fruit flavor, that I love. The repitch though is definitely more on the bland side.
 
Oh, and no simple sugars, with the exception of the guava and mango I added to one of them. My first try was just a blonde type base, and the second time around I added fruit. Both were great.bother were fruity, one was just more distinct in its fruitiness.
 
Hi! Yesterday I made my first beer with this yeast, a berlinerweisse, but I’m concerned about two things. Maybe you guys can help.

1) 24 hours and no activity at all. Nothing. Is it normal? Is lactic acid production “invisible”? I mean, with no CO2 nor krausen production?

2) For sure I’ll be trying to repitch this, but it seems that pitching rate is really important with PS. Any idea on yeast reproduction rate in order to do the maths and hit (very inaccurately, I know) the pitching rate?

Thanks!
 
Hi! Yesterday I made my first beer with this yeast, a berlinerweisse, but I’m concerned about two things. Maybe you guys can help.

1) 24 hours and no activity at all. Nothing. Is it normal? Is lactic acid production “invisible”? I mean, with no CO2 nor krausen production?

2) For sure I’ll be trying to repitch this, but it seems that pitching rate is really important with PS. Any idea on yeast reproduction rate in order to do the maths and hit (very inaccurately, I know) the pitching rate?

Thanks!

Repitching isn't recommended, but if you want to try, make sure that with whatever beer you're making, that you are OK with a getting bland yeast results that aren't very sour or fruity.
 
1) 24 hours and no activity at all. Nothing. Is it normal? Is lactic acid production “invisible”? I mean, with no CO2 nor krausen production?

I'm also curios whether the initial lactic acid phase has any observable fermentation, ei. krausen, CO2 off gassing, etc. I brewed a 10 gal batch split into two 5gal fermenters. One FV was a plastic bucket, the other a glass carboy and it was 50-55hrs before I saw the slightest bit of krausen formation and minor off gassing.

My recipe was 10lbs pils and 6lb wheat. I have the ambient temp where theyre fermenting steady at 72f.
 
I just brewed a gose on Friday and threw two packs of PS in. Ferm fridge is at 68 degrees and no activity visible in fermenter . I assume this is due to lacto creation so it’s cool to see others have experienced the same.
LHBS has used this yeast twice with good results. I’ll check with him about first few days in fermenter and report back.
 
Will using this yeast contaminate a plastic brew bucket for future non-sour batches? I live near Philly, so brewing with such a very local yeast would be a lot of fun!
 
Will using this yeast contaminate a plastic brew bucket for future non-sour batches? I live near Philly, so brewing with such a very local yeast would be a lot of fun!

A good question. It's not diastatic, so can't keep fermenting something that has already fermented. So as long as your cleaning and sanitation is good and you pitch a healthy amount of yeast in future batches, any residual Philly cells shouldn't be able to grow enough to contaminate a batch. It's not like Brett or Pedio that can colonise a batch from a few residual cells long after the primary ferment is finished by munching on things Saccharomyces can't. This is just my thoughts though, not from experience.
 
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