Spontaneous Fermentation

[Chunk]

By re-racking I mean just to decant most of the liquid off and add the slurry to fresh wort. The idea being that the yeast will get to the sugar first and will increase it's numbers over time ... whereas the lacto wont, so will decrease in numbers. Just an idea for getting the overall yeast count higher and lacto count lower.

Thanks for the tip about over pitching ... it'll only be a tiny amount of beer for a trial, so it should be easy to over-pitch. The escape route of using dry yeast is just because that's all I have. If it doesnt hit a low enough gravity from the wild stuff, I thought I could throw some dry in just to finish the job. Depending on the timing, I might pitch the slurry from the main batch into the trial.

[Ozwald]

By re-racking I mean just to decant most of the liquid off and add the slurry to fresh wort. The idea being that the yeast will get to the sugar first and will increase it's numbers over time ... whereas the lacto wont, so will decrease in numbers. Just an idea for getting the overall yeast count higher and lacto count lower.

Remember, Lacto likes sugar too. By pitching fresh wort, you're providing a growth medium for both.

The escape route of using dry yeast is just because that's all I have. If it doesnt hit a low enough gravity from the wild stuff, I thought I could throw some dry in just to finish the job. Depending on the timing, I might pitch the slurry from the main batch into the trial.

Makes sense on the dry, I just never use it anymore so I was curious. As for the cake left over from the test batch, I'd keep it but keep it in a separate container until you start seeing some data on these experiments. Perhaps one is superior over the other. Personally, I'd like to cash in on any progress. For example, a few months back I pulled a healthy chunk of yeast from my conical. After I rinsed it, I split it between 3 growlers, all getting the same treatment and volume of the same wort. After stepping up twice, one sample had a slightly different flavor than the other two. It was probably fine, but it just wasn't worth the risk of contaminating two other samples. Down the drain!

[Chunk]

Remember, Lacto likes sugar too. By pitching fresh wort, you're providing a growth medium for both.

Yeah true. The thought process was that the yeast would beat the lacto to it, over time resulting in more yeast and less lacto. I've lost track of how many times I've been through the process since my last post ... think it's two ... anyway it seems to be doing the trick. I've been tasting the starter as I go and theres definetly less sourness and more Brett character.

I made the IPA yesterday and pitched 20ml of slurry and 300ml of liquid into 3L of the wort. The rest of the batch is being fermented with dry US05. Woke up this morning and both airlocks are moving. The US05 is going as you'd expect, the Brett one is slower but still going ... its got about a 0.5cm krausen on top too.

[Ozwald]

I made the IPA yesterday and pitched 20ml of slurry and 300ml of liquid into 3L of the wort.

I would've been even braver and went with closer to a 50ml pitch, but that's just me

its got about a 0.5cm krausen on top too.

Feels good doesn't it?

Seriously though, it sounds like you're on the right path so keep doing what you're doing. Keep us updated on any results and/or questions. And feel free to send me a couple bombers of that Belgian IPA cause it sounds like you'll have a full 5 gallon batch of it going soon

[Chunk]

Probably would've gone with 50ml if I had that much ... couldn't get the starter up to that volume in time though.

I'd happily send you a bottle to sample but I'm over in the UK, so postage could cost a few quid.

Both Brett and 05 versions are fermenting like mad. The Brett one has the oddest Krausen I've ever seen. The smell coming off it is like a fruity elastic band! Sort of playing it by ear because it's new territory for me ... not sure how long the primary will take.

Edit: Forgot to mention. The FVs are right next to each other. They're both under airlock but I'm paranoid about infecting my main (plastic) FV with Brett. I'm right in saying that it would be crazy to think that one could effect the other ... even though they're right next to each other?

[Ozwald]

Yeah, they're fine. If it makes you feel better, you could add a room onto your house and build a hermetically sealed chamber inside another hermetically sealed chamber. You'll have to buy a new, sterile haz-mat suit every time you enter the room, and quite possibly a new house after each transfer but you'll never have contamination issues... only paranoia issues.

[Chunk]

Yeah, they're fine. If it makes you feel better, you could add a room onto your house and build a hermetically sealed chamber inside another hermetically sealed chamber. You'll have to buy a new, sterile haz-mat suit every time you enter the room, and quite possibly a new house after each transfer but you'll never have contamination issues... only paranoia issues.

That would probably just about make me sleep easy at night!

Do you know where I can buy Haz-Mat suits in bulk?

[Ozwald]

http://store.pksafety.net/hazmatsuits.html

but I've had better luck with these

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/ ... ng-_-2RKV1