Spontaneous Fermentation

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Jets07

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I was able to collect wild yeast during a cold Maine night 6 months ago. I used pilsner and unmalted wheat for a 5 gallon batch. It has been sitting in my fermenter 6 months now, ph is only 4.6, i did have active fermentation and yeast developed on top. I get somewhat of a fruit smell but also a medicinal taste/smell that is not to bad but not sure if that means the beer is bad. Fermentation has stopped, I tried moving the fermenter upstairs to warmer temps to hope to restart fermentation but no luck, it is sitting around 66 degrees. Will the medicinal smell go away? should I make a DME starter to see if i can kick off fermentation again? or just leave it? This is my first wild beer and hoping for some luck. I appreciate any help.

Rick from Maine.
 
Rick from Maine,
This is Tyler from Maine :) It is a pleasure to speak with you about such a pleasant subject. Your questions about the quality of your spontaneous fermentation are what I hope to help guide you through. First of all, kudos to you for going for it. I have a few questions for you. Please answer to help us guide you through this and allow you to make the next batch with more intention and knowledge from your past experience. Did you follow a traditional or hybrid turbid mash regime? Give us some insight into your process that day of wort creation and cooling. Also, what were your hop additions? What are its current and starting density measurements? Has it remained in the same fermentation vessel its past 6 months?

One aspect I would like to address is the weather during your fermentation and where your beer was stored at this time. Wort production happened sometime in May? We both know Maine can have some wicked temperature swings and ambient house temperature can change drastically with the seasons. This can be extremely detrimental in the summer time and extremely helpful in the winter time. Generally a cool cellar can drastically decrease the phenol production (which most likely this medicinal character is) in many french/belgian saison fermentations. Many brewers of Lambic tend to prefer the Fall and Winter as brewing seasons so primary fermentation can be limited by the cooler ambient temperatures of the season. Spring tends to be preferred for blending and bottling rather than wort creation but there is certainly no rule against any of this, breaking certain norms only open up pathways to be discovered :)

I will add that at a pH of 4.6 it may not have fully gotten out of the enterobacter phase which is certainly a funky time. But let it be and continue to monitor its pH, acidity is sure to follow and will certainly progress. Acidity will also affect the perceived balance of your medicinal character. Also, in the spirit of this type of fermentation, keeping fermentations for as long as 3-4 years before it gets blended or bottled is not uncommon. You never know, it may the secret ingredient in a future spontaneous ale blend of yours :):):) I hope something amazing comes out of your special fermentation. Although you may not see active fermentation, it is still very much alive :):):)
 
Step 1: Do not collect yeast during warm periods unless you are not intending to use the fermented product right away - you will have to ferment to select the correct bugs. It seems you don't have the right ones.

Step 2: Wait until it is cooler (typically under 40F for a week straight - though some people just brew regardless of the season - for sours I follow what Jean told me). Collect near fruit, or other sucrose rich produce. Or, flowers, veggies, etc.

I have pulled blackberries and grapes during the season (summerish) and plopped them into wort and had wonderful beer. I've done what you've done and have had passable beer, but more than not, I've had terrible results collecting yeast outside of cooler temps.

If you are truly after a spontaneous fermentation, I can recommend some reading. Liddil (not liddle) wrote a very comprehensive document many decades ago. (some have touched on it here: Turbid mash: Wild Brews vs. Liddil). Jim did a great job covering most of the lambic process. Some should apply to yeast wrangling.

Bootleg Biology has some writeups - which are also good for wrangling.

Lambic and Gueuze is an AWESOME book.

Wild Beers is another good book.

If you want tech docs look at some Dutch/Belgian universities as they have extensive research/writeups available. You may have to learn a new language! But I've managed to get the gist from most of the ones I had access to.

There is a ton of information out there, and here, sadly it is all not correct or accurate.

Good luck
 
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