Pitched two packets of Wyeast's lactobacillus into two carboys @ 110 degrees (F). Should I expect airlock activity, or some signs of "fermentation" activity? It's been almost a day and nothing has really happened. If this is typical then I'll just check the pH in a few days to see what's going on.
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Lactobacillus Activity...
- Thread starter bobo1898
- Start date
And with patience came activity. Didn't start doing much until almost 24 hours later.
It's moving along now. pH already dropped---3.8 in one and 4 in the other..
Hoping it stays above 3.5 by tomorrow to boil the wort.
It's moving along now. pH already dropped---3.8 in one and 4 in the other..
Hoping it stays above 3.5 by tomorrow to boil the wort.
Thanks for replying on the progress. I'm planning on trying a beer that uses lacto next week for the first time. Now i know that i will likely also need the patience and not get too worried if it doesn't start in yeast times!
@bobo
When you did your brew did you do your lactobacillus addition first and then your yeast or the other way around? I'm trying to do a berliner wiesse and am having trouble with the yeast starting it's fermentation. I'm worried that the lactobacillus made the wort too acidic. Any info on how long the yeast should take to start is helpful. Thanks
When you did your brew did you do your lactobacillus addition first and then your yeast or the other way around? I'm trying to do a berliner wiesse and am having trouble with the yeast starting it's fermentation. I'm worried that the lactobacillus made the wort too acidic. Any info on how long the yeast should take to start is helpful. Thanks
Oddball said:When you did your brew did you do your lactobacillus addition first and then your yeast or the other way around?
Either method works.
I broke mine up into two brew days. Mashed the first day and pitched the lacto into my pre-boil volume. I let that go for a bit--three days. It took almost 24 hours to show signs of activity as noted in this thread. Then I took the wort on the third day and boiled it as I normally would on a typical brew day. Then I pitched the yeast after the usual cool down.
My pH was around 4 before I boiled the wort. The yeast that I used, with a starter, took a little longer than usual but it was under 18 hours. I will say that it is fermenting very slowly. It's been two weeks and I still have activity and krausen. I took a gravity reading the other day and it's almost done. I'll follow up with one today or tomorrow.
Oddball said:I'm worried that the lactobacillus made the wort too acidic.
What process did you follow....yeast or lacto first? Were you able to check the pH? I would be patient if the pH went low. What yeast did you use?
bobo1898 said:Oddball said:When you did your brew did you do your lactobacillus addition first and then your yeast or the other way around?
Either method works.
I broke mine up into two brew days. Mashed the first day and pitched the lacto into my pre-boil volume. I let that go for a bit--three days. It took almost 24 hours to show signs of activity as noted in this thread. Then I took the wort on the third day and boiled it as I normally would on a typical brew day. Then I pitched the yeast after the usual cool down.
My pH was around 4 before I boiled the wort. The yeast that I used, with a starter, took a little longer than usual but it was under 18 hours. I will say that it is fermenting very slowly. It's been two weeks and I still have activity and krausen. I took a gravity reading the other day and it's almost done. I'll follow up with one today or tomorrow.
Oddball said:I'm worried that the lactobacillus made the wort too acidic.
What process did you follow....yeast or lacto first? Were you able to check the pH? I would be patient if the pH went low. What yeast did you use?
I did the lacto first using the white labs lactobacillus delbrueckii. My ph strips only go to 4.6, so i'm not sure exactly what it is, but it is definetly below that. I used the safbrew WB-06 into a 2.5 gallon batch. Can SG be too low to get a fermentation started? When i pitched the yeast it was only 1.016 SG. I meant for it to be around 1.035 when i pitched yeast but i forgot to count on the lacto eating some sugars during the souring process. :-\
Lactobacillus should only have a minimal level of attenuation compared to yeast so your "wort" should still have plenty of fermentables.
What was your gravity before you pitched the lactobacillus? And how many days did you let it work? Did you boil the wort before you pitched yeast? Or did you boil before you pitched lacto?
What was your gravity before you pitched the lactobacillus? And how many days did you let it work? Did you boil the wort before you pitched yeast? Or did you boil before you pitched lacto?
bobo1898 said:Lactobacillus should only have a minimal level of attenuation compared to yeast so your "wort" should still have plenty of fermentables.
What was your gravity before you pitched the lactobacillus? And how many days did you let it work? Did you boil the wort before you pitched yeast? Or did you boil before you pitched lacto?
I boiled for an hour before pitching the lacto and it was 1.013 SG. I let the lacto sit for 6 days. I then boiled the wort for another hour with my hops (very minimal). I didn't check the pre boil gravity unfortunately before my second boil to see how low it had gotten but it came out at only 1.016 :-[. I have been reading that the white labs lactobacillus delbrueckii has a bit more of an attenuation than most lactos and actually produces some alcohol, possibly due to some yeast contamination???
Oddball said:I boiled for an hour before pitching the lacto and it was 1.013 SG.
That was your gravity before pitching lacto? Sounds like your mash conversion didn't go too well because that would have to be an ultra low brewhouse efficiency. I think that might be where your problem starts. Not many fermentable sugars to begin with?
Ya, i did some going over my recipe and such and i think there was a problem with my set-up i did in beersmith when i turned it into a 2.5 gallon batch. I put the ingredients into my normal profile and came up with 1.013 SG. So my efficiency was the same as always, i just used not enough ingredients basically.