Sauerkraut Starter Gose

[Agate]

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This is the chosen one. Of the four pickle jars, this one has an awesome lacto pellicle. The brine from this jar will inoculate a starter for my dill pickle gose.

 

[SmCranf]

I still have my starter sitting on the bar....need to find a time to mash in and do my kettle sour...

 

[burninator]

I still have my starter sitting on the bar....need to find a time to mash in and do my kettle sour...

You get around to this yet?

My latest batch has been in secondary for 15 days (4 weeks total fermentation) now. I'll likely go ahead and bottle this week, if I can find the time.

 

[Agate]

Starter is inoculated with pickle brine. Not much going on yet, but there's a decent microbial haze already. I'm expecting to see some CO2 generation in a day or two, but nothing yet.

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[SmCranf]

You get around to this yet?

My latest batch has been in secondary for 15 days (4 weeks total fermentation) now. I'll likely go ahead and bottle this week, if I can find the time.

this weekend is the only time i have for it, ill report back for sure!

 

[burninator]

Starter is inoculated with pickle brine. Not much going on yet, but there's a decent microbial haze already. I'm expecting to see some CO2 generation in a day or two, but nothing yet.

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I'll be interested to know how it does. First batch bubbled like a regular fermentation. Second batch never bubbled at all until I added yeast to secondary.

From the size of your starter, it looks like you're doing a full batch?

 

[Agate]

No, that's just a 1-quart starter. It's on day 2, still no activity but there is definitely a population of bacteria growing in there that is settling at the bottom. There are some persistent bubbles around the edges of the liquid line, looks like the start of fermentation but I don't really see anything going on inside the wort. Odd.

 

[burninator]

No, that's just a 1-quart starter. It's on day 2, still no activity but there is definitely a population of bacteria growing in there that is settling at the bottom. There are some persistent bubbles around the edges of the liquid line, looks like the start of fermentation but I don't really see anything going on inside the wort. Odd.

I have a culture I pulled at the beginning of the summer that I keep on the counter. From time to time, I add a bit of wort. The jar turns cloudy for a few days, then crystal clear. When it's done, there's a layer of sediment, and the wort is very sour.

 

[burninator]

My gose is resting quietly in secondary. Action stopped some two weeks ago, but I'm just looking for an opening to bottle it. I figure stretching secondary to 4 or 5 weeks won't hurt anything.

In the meantime, here's a shot of my first attempt at a Berliner weisse. I brewed this back in May using the culture mentioned in the post above. That culture came from the same batch of sauerkraut as my first failed gose, but I pulled it later in the fermentation cycle.

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It's tart without being overly sour, like a nice white wine. I dropped an ounce of German hops in the mash, which was heavy on the wheat. Probably couldn't be happier with this beer. I hope I can recreate next time I brew it.

Don't be afraid to culture bugs from non-traditional sources. You just might find a gem.

 

[Agate]

Here's my pickle brine starter next to a "clean" starter I got going tonight. Can't believe I'm using a sacch-only culture. The pickle brine dropped brilliantly clear! Haven't taken a gravity reading yet, but I think I'll decant and step it up again before pitching into a real batch.

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[burninator]

Here's my pickle brine starter next to a "clean" starter I got going tonight. Can't believe I'm using a sacch-only culture. The pickle brine dropped brilliantly clear! Haven't taken a gravity reading yet, but I think I'll decant and step it up again before pitching into a real batch.

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Wow! Have you tasted it?

 

[SmCranf]

Back from the grave update: Plan on brewing a lemon lime kettle sour berliner with my sauerkraut bugs in the next couple weeks. My list of brews has finally shortened and I have time for the fun stuff now

 

[burninator]

I finally took a look at the latest batch tonight. I really need to bottle it soon, while it's still bright and tart. The closet it's in now smells of coriander and bright lactic acid. I can hardly wait to drink it.

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[burninator]

I got around to bottling this last evening. I let it go way longer than I planned to, at about 3 and a half months, but I don't think the beer was hurt by it.

This version is bright, citric, dry, with a little salt on the finish. Oh, and it's fantastically, devastatingly tart. I think I'm going to be really sorry I only got 15 bottles of the stuff.

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[specharka]

This thread is very insightful.

I attempted to make my own sauerkraut and failed miserably. By day 4 the smell coming from the fermenting (rotting) veggies is so foul I can barely manage to keep it from turning my stomach. There is no way that I emulated a pure lacto fermentation. I am gonna chalk this one up to science and try a sour mash instead.

 

[burninator]

This thread is very insightful.

I attempted to make my own sauerkraut and failed miserably. By day 4 the smell coming from the fermenting (rotting) veggies is so foul I can barely manage to keep it from turning my stomach. There is no way that I emulated a pure lacto fermentation. I am gonna chalk this one up to science and try a sour mash instead.

Sorry to hear it didn't work out. Were the vegetables submerged the whole time? Just like with a sour mash, it's important to prevent oxygen exposure.

I like to make a gallon batch and time it so that I'm brewing as the sauerkraut finishes. If you're interested in making kraut more for the souring culture, let me recommend fermenting in a quart jar. You can use a shot glass and a rubber band to keep the cabbage pressed down.

 

[slym2none]

I got around to bottling this last evening. I let it go way longer than I planned to, at about 3 and a half months, but I don't think the beer was hurt by it.

This version is bright, citric, dry, with a little salt on the finish. Oh, and it's fantastically, devastatingly tart. I think I'm going to be really sorry I only got 15 bottles of the stuff.

Sounds interesting - do you get any of the vegetable flavour?

 

[burninator]

Sounds interesting - do you get any of the vegetable flavour?

I sampled an early bottle a few days ago, and I didn't notice any. I'll pop a bottle tonight, but really the brine carries with it a salty, sour flavor, but not really any notes of the actual kraut, in my experience.

 

[slym2none]

Nice! Thanks for the answer.

 

[MaddBaggins]

This thread is very insightful.



I attempted to make my own sauerkraut and failed miserably. By day 4 the smell coming from the fermenting (rotting) veggies is so foul I can barely manage to keep it from turning my stomach. There is no way that I emulated a pure lacto fermentation. I am gonna chalk this one up to science and try a sour mash instead.

Here's how I make mine. http://www.wildfermentation.com/making-sauerkraut-2/

Always delicious. Some people say they don't get much pellicle/mold on top. I always get a lot. Looks disgusting. I scoop that away and everything under the liquid is good to go.
Here's what's left of my current batch. 2-1/2 weeks on the counter during warm temps. Napa cabbage, carrot and jalapeño slivers and radishes.
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[burninator]

Well, here's the finished product. I think it cleared up really nicely.

I definitely got a good souring culture for this one. It's refreshingly sour, bright, citric, a little funky on the nose. Very effervescent (over carbed a bit), and more clear than I expected after two weeks in the bottle and 24 hours in the refrigerator. It's incredibly dry. I can't wait to drink this again when my cold is gone, and I can fully taste it.

I'm not quite prepared to call this just right, but I'm definitely very happy with this beer.

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[Agate]

Finally checked on my dill pickle starter today. Hardly any attenuation, hydro still reads about 1.044. But, that's just fine with me! Even though there isn't much gravity drop, the hydro sample is puckeringly tart, even with all the residual sugars.

I stepped it up again as it has a distinct dill pickle taste, hopefully this gets diluted out. But, it's got some real potential!

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[Cavestock]

So, I've started a kraut-based starter mixed it into a 1.044 10 ibu wort (half pils/half wheat extract, with some Belgian chocolate, and rolled oats, shooting for a Lambic type ale).

I let it go for a week fermenting at about 80f. After a week I have NO sourness, just bready, funky, but clean tasting/good smelling fermenting wort. I then pitched saf05.

Any idea why I would have NO detectable sourness?

 

[Agate]

That would be due to the 10 IBU. Lacto is very hop intolerant. Best to avoid hops entirely when using lacto to sour.

 

[Cavestock]

Well, that me backup a little. I started this project with an unhopped wheat wort, with Sauerkraut bugs, One gallon total volume. I then racked a 1 gallon 9-ibu pilsner wort on top of the wheat.

I was expecting a sour flavor with the solo unhopped wheat. It actively fermented for a few days prior to mixing: the sample was a funky and bready, but no bite.

It's still shaping up to be a very palatable beer, just no sour flavors.

 

[burninator]

Sounds a bit like my first try at this. I added Saaz hops to about 8 IBU. I had a good fermentation, and the beer dried out over time, but all I got was funk and Belgian-like esters...mostly just banana. It'd make a decent table beer, if not for the lack of hop flavor/aroma and the slightly salty finish.

 

[burninator]

It's about time to revive this project. I'm going to scale it up to a full 5 gallon batch, using the grain proportions from the second batch, and the salt and coriander proportions from batch 1. As batch 2 continued to dry out in the bottle, the salt became very apparent. It wasn't off-putting, but it was around the level of Gatorade, and I thought I could lighten it up a little.

I have a batch of kraut I'm about to start, but it will have radishes, and I just don't know if I want to risk that flavor carrying over into my beer.

Has anyone else had a chance to experiment with this? I'd love to be able to draw on the experience of the community.

 

[tarmenel]

I'm so glad you're starting this up again as I've just this week been thinking of doing the same thing. It'd be great if you could share the recipe you're planning on using and then plan of action to create sauerkraut and then inoculate the batch. PM me if you don't want to lay it all out here. I'll do a parallel batch along with yours and see how it turns out.

 

[burninator]

Sure thing.

First, the sauerkraut:
3 lbs of cabbage, chopped/sliced. I like mine thin but in longer pieces. Think 3/4" to 1 1/2" long.
1.5 to 2 tbsp non-iodized salt. I use sea salt. Kosher salt works great, as well.
1 green apple, peeled and chopped.
1 tbsp caraway seeds (optional, but oh so tasty)

Massage all this together in a large mixing bowl until it's nice and juicy, then press into a jar or ceramic crock. Really massage it in there. I use my fist and a pestle to press it down tight. It's critical that it is packed in so that the brine, formed by the salt drawing out the cabbage's natural water content, covers the cabbage. Any cabbage left above the level of the brine is at risk of going mushy or moldy. Not good, especially if we're brewing beer with this stuff.

Use a plate, quart jar filled with water, or a freezer bag full of salt water to hold everything down and prevent oxygen getting in. Just like with beer, oxygen is the enemy. Put the kraut in a dark place at room temp. No need to expose it to heat. In fact, that will make your kraut funky and soft. We want acidic and crunchy.

I'll probably let mine go 10-14 days. The first experiment went about a week, and that wasn't long enough. The second went about 10 days. Even though that one yielded no yeast, the souring culture was awesome.

 

[crane]

Pictures are always fun. Here is some kraut in the making. I go with quart jars as I don't need a crap ton of kraut. I use a smaller pint jar with water as a weight.

[edit] dumb phone and it's sideways picture. Also this one uses red and green cabbage, hence the red/pink color.

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