Stuck Lactobacillus?

[binkman]

So I've been souring 1/2 gallon of my wort in a half gallon jug, with almost no airspace at all for about 24 hours. I've been keeping the jug in a water bath, and maintaining a temperature of around 80-100F during the day. Last night it probably dropped to room temperature, around 72F in my kitchen.

Anyway, this morning it was a little sour smelling. It's now a little bit more, but not much. I was expecting to have stinky stinky wort by this points. Should that not be expected for lacto?

Also, there seems to be a bit of sludge on the bottom. I'm not sure if its the lactobacillus or if its a result of the fact that this wort was made partially with LME. I can't really tell if it seems to be growing or not.

Could my lacto be stuck or do I just need to be more patient? Or maybe it just doesn't get as rank as a wild strain? I was counting on this half gallon of wort to get very sour, as it's going to be diluted in another 2-2.5 gallons of unsoured wort.

 

[Bensiff]

sour mash or lacto starter?

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

You need to get it a lot warmer. Get it up to 110-125F and keep it there for a couple of days. It will definitely reek.

 

[binkman]

sour mash or lacto starter?

Partial mash sour. I reserved a half gallon to sour the hell out of before boiling it back with the rest of the wort and then pitching.

[EDIT] I pitched a lacto vial from white labs into it [/EDIT]

 

[binkman]

There's some foam oozing out next to the stopper. I guess I forced some more air out when I heated up the water bath. I scooped it up with my finger and tried it. Tangy!

 

[jtakacs]

i've only done grain sour mashes, and agree on the warmer temps. keeping tightly covered seems to play a huge role, those guys do not like o2.

never done with DME... i'll be curious to see if it works out.

 

[binkman]

You need to get it a lot warmer. Get it up to 110-125F and keep it there for a couple of days. It will definitely reek.

Okay, I upped the temperature an hour or so ago. Now I just heard my stopper blow off. I go in the kitchen and there is definitely a head forming on my sour mash. I can't keep the stopper in so I've wrapped it with some shrink wrap.

Is that normal? Should the lacto be putting off a gas or did I get some kind of yeast infection?

... yeast infection. I think I have one.

 

[takahiro]

>>binkman
I have a similar experience going on RIGHT NOW.
I would like to hear how yours turned out (infected or turned ok).

I have wyeast's lactobacillus cultured in an unhopped wort of ~1.055 gravity (3gallons).
Maintaining ~ 90F for 1 day, it started to bubble out. By day 2, it was bubbling like mad (no blow-out . It's day 3 now, and bubbles are calming a bit. The bubble smells little sulfurish... I heard that Lacto produces "little" CO2, but I wasn't expecting this much of gas/activity. Though I suspected some yeast activity first, the activity seemed different from that of a saccharomyces. I do believe it's Lacto... not sacc.

I am going to have a taste in few day to confirm

 

[binkman]

I think it turned out okay. Smelled and tasted sour, but a clean sourness, didn't notice any alcohol burn in it when I added it to the rest of the wort. I think I was just expecting less CO2 from the lacto than what must be normal.

 

[Apoxbrew]

how are you guys getting your temps. my therm stickers max out at 78

 

[jtakacs]

i have a remote electronic thermometer that i can drop in anything and set an alarm if it goes above a certain level...