Beer Forum

So I have no activity after 6 days. 90F for the last 3. WLP677. I was trying to save some time and money and saved some wort from a lager brew day to use as the starter. I'm thinking it's the hops that are keeping the WLP677 in check. Any thoughts? I'm going to decant today and add some starter wort made from just LME.

Yes you are correct in thinking that hops can and do impede lactobacillus growth. Oxygen introduced to the starter wort via splashing, stirplate vortex, and even not using an airlock on the starter can all slow the growth rate down. Lactobacillus is a pretty weak bacteria and special precautions need to be taken for a successful fermentation.

Try another small starter with just malt extract and some yeast nutrient. Use an airlock and try to minimize oxygen introduction. You can even ferment it warmer around 100F for better results. Plan on letting the first starter step ferment for 7-10 days, then cold crash it for 24 hrs to drop out the dusty lactobacillus. Let it warm back up, then decant and pitch the slurry into a larger starter (2 qts or so) and let that ferment out fully before crashing and pitching.

Be patient with your lacto starter, build it up and you will have better and faster results in the final product.

So it was definitely the hops that stopped lacto from growing. I made a new starter with just LME, fermented it at 90F, and it grew fine.

Time to get started on my sour session beer.

I don't know alot about making sour beers, but I tried an experiment to grow Lacto. I took my spent grains after I mashed and dumped them in a fermenter bucket. I had about 10 pounds. I added 1.25 qts of water per pound. I flooded the headspace with CO2. I put it in a hot water bath that was about 120. It stayed there for about a day. I didn't worry about keeping the temp because I didn't expect it to grow. After about 5 days of the temp dropping I had a really good culure of Lacto.
It made a pretty good tasting sour wort. I am planning on dumping it ~3gallons into a 5 gallon beer when I start the boil.
This might be easier way of getting a sour, but again I don't know much of brewing sours. Just my 2 cents.

Come on. Be nice. You know the correct term is "challenged".

humpadilo wrote:I don't know alot about making sour beers, but I tried an experiment to grow Lacto. I took my spent grains after I mashed and dumped them in a fermenter bucket. I had about 10 pounds. I added 1.25 qts of water per pound. I flooded the headspace with CO2. I put it in a hot water bath that was about 120. It stayed there for about a day. I didn't worry about keeping the temp because I didn't expect it to grow. After about 5 days of the temp dropping I had a really good culure of Lacto.
It made a pretty good tasting sour wort. I am planning on dumping it ~3gallons into a 5 gallon beer when I start the boil.
This might be easier way of getting a sour, but again I don't know much of brewing sours. Just my 2 cents.

I'm really just looking to get a hint of sour/lacto more like Bell's Oarsmen than a Berliner. I also don't want to have to age anything. I need it drinkable right away. 72 hours of White Labs lacto at 90F than crash to 62F and add the Brett C for 2 weeks seemed to work for me the first go around. I'm just seeing if I can recreate the beer again now.