Sampling ph for kettle sour lacto

[bruhaha]

Hello. I am kettle souring a wort with lacto brevis WLP672. I pitched the lacto from a starter after adjusting my wort to 4.5ph. I am checking the ph preparing to boil at 3.5ph.

During the souring process, I purged the headspace with a layer of CO2 before wrapping saran wrap around the lid edge to make a semi seal.

To avoid disturbing this seal, I am drawing samples to test ph by taking samples from my kettle spigot. Will my samples be accurate by taking samples from the bottom of the kettle? Does lacto settle so it would be more sour at the bottom, or does it really matter? Thanks!

 

[TheMadKing]

Hello. I am kettle souring a wort with lacto brevis WLP672. I pitched the lacto from a starter after adjusting my wort to 4.5ph. I am checking the ph preparing to boil at 3.5ph.

During the souring process, I purged the headspace with a layer of CO2 before wrapping saran wrap around the lid edge to make a semi seal.

To avoid disturbing this seal, I am drawing samples to test ph by taking samples from my kettle spigot. Will my samples be accurate by taking samples from the bottom of the kettle? Does lacto settle so it would be more sour at the bottom, or does it really matter? Thanks!

The big problem that I see is that CO2 will never form a "layer" (look up gas diffusion in physics) and so you still have plenty of oxygen in your head space. Since that's the case, I wouldn't worry about taking your samples from the top, or about your saran wrap seal.

Also, won't the pH stabilize at some value on its own with the lacto? or are you trying to stop it before that lower limit?

 

[bruhaha]

The big problem that I see is that CO2 will never form a "layer" (look up gas diffusion in physics) and so you still have plenty of oxygen in your head space. Since that's the case, I wouldn't worry about taking your samples from the top, or about your saran wrap seal.

Also, won't the pH stabilize at some value on its own with the lacto? or are you trying to stop it before that lower limit?

I was looking for a ph level of 3.3 to come close to several commercial Gose styles I enjoy. I wanted to hit that sour level, then boil to kill lacto and prevent additional souring. Then, the rest of the process is like other beers except I now have a sour wort instead of typical 5.2ph.

Good points in your reply about the properties of CO2.