Spontaneous Fermentation Experiment

After brewing my latest lambic batch I boiled down some of the extra second runnings with a little bit of aged hops and stuck the pot in my semi-enclosed sunroom.  The room is almost entirely enclosed with glass but with a few openings to the outside that air/water/bugs can easily come through.  I've tried setting out second runnings a couple times before and always ended up with mold so I wasn't too optimistic but thought it worth another try.

I managed to entirely forget about the pot for a week and just happened to see it again when I walked into the room to water some plants.  Bringing it inside I saw that it appeared to have a little gunk on the bottom but nothing growing on top and it smelled vaguely fruity and a bit cider-like.  I made my standard starter addition size (1/2 cup DME in 1 pint water) and added most of the pot to the starter in a 1 gallon carboy while reserving a vial's worth in case the starter had issues and I wanted to be able to try stepping it up again later.

6/3/2014
The starter hasn't seemed to change at all in a few weeks so I decided to give it gravity and taste tests.  Gravity is down to 1.004 (from approximately 1.040) and tastes and smells slightly sweet, fruity and lightly tart, giving the same cider impression as when I first pulled the pot inside.

It's hard to tell what I really have on my hands or what to do with it.  There is clearly yeast and there doesn't seem to be any other bugs but what strain(s) of yeast I'm dealing with is hard to tell without doing some streaking and testing (even then I wouldn't know much more about the strains than very high level info without using them individually), which may or may not be worth doing in the end.

One use might be to toss this in with other commercial bugs and let it do its thing alongside them for a lambic. Another option would be to brew a straightforward beer (probably Saison) and see how it plays out on its own.  For now I'll probably just hold onto it until something comes to me.

6/12/2014
Still pretty sweet and fruity, decided to add it to my lambic to give it a little more complexity and sugars to chew on.

BKYeast Brett Isolate (Funky Kast #3)

The very cool Dmitri from BKYeast recently had a post about giving away 4 strains of Brettanomyces to those who ask (and pay for shipping). While I thought it was a longshot I decided to send an email inquiring about C2, one of the 3 Brett strains he isolated from Cantillon Iris.  I was happy to hear back that I am one of the 15 people he will be shipping his samples of C2.  I'm super excited for this chance to experiment with such an original yeast (and one from a brewery I very much like and recently visited).  I'm already thinking of a few recipes that have potential to use this yeast as the sole fermenter.  Depending on what characteristics I get out of the yeast I will also probably use it in the secondary or at bottling with saisons, dubbels or old ales.

I hope to have a chance of doing some yeast ranching of my own within the next few months, maybe even starting with the bottle of Cantillon I brought back from the brewery.  It's awesome the number of homebrewers who are already doing it and are giving these options to us... Thanks BKYeast!

Updates:
11-2-12
Made a 1.5 L starter for this, plan to step it up in about 48 hours

11-4-12
Stepped up the starter to nearly 1 gallon. The extra starter wort (in excess of the gallon) was placed outside during the Redskins game and is now sitting in an open (but sanitized) juice container. We'll see if anything comes of that.

11-11-12
Brewed up the best bitter/saison hybrid for this beer yesterday, and added the homemade candi sugar today.  OG of 1.049.

11-23-12
Took a gravity reading and tasting.  Gravity down to 1.012, the flavor is interesting.  Up front there is a strawberry and damp wood sweet sensation that is followed by a horsey, funky, sour flavor mixed with mild bitterness.  The flavor is far from ideal but hopefully it will blend a little better over time and I am wondering whether oak or fruit may play up the nice parts of the front while balancing the strange flavors on the tail end.

1/12/13
Gravity seems stable at 1.010. Flavor has certainly melded as the bitterness faded revealing mainly a woody, lightly fruity and moderately sour beer. This could definitely be a nice base for a fruit beer, I'm not quite sure which type of fruit would go best yet though.  I'm thinking about bottling some and taking a wait and see approach with the rest.

2/2/13
Bottling Day!
Racked from under the pellicle and onto 2.6 oz. of sugar.  I went for the low end of carbonation to avoid bottle bombs if the Brett eats a little bit beyond the 1.010 gravity that it's been at.  1 case (about half the batch) were bottled while the other half was simply moved to secondary, where it might end up receiving some fruit or other addition.  It tastes pretty good: lightly sour, lightly fruity and a bit of a damp woody character.  I look forward to reviewing it once it is finished carbonating.

3-31-13
Added 2 pounds of blackberries directly to carboy. Planning to bottle in 2 or 3 weeks though it could probably go longer on the fruit with the Brett eating away at it

5-17-13

Finally bottled the blackberry half. Side by side tasting to come in a month or so.  As of now the blackberry is subtle but balancing and pleasant.

Wild/Sour/Funky Processes

I've been studying different types of wild beers a lot recently but am yet to have committed to brewing one or what style I want to start with.  I am by no means an expert having tasted only a few and brewed none, but this seems like a good place to compile some of the research I have done.

I wish there were a better term than "wild" (as a true wild beer would, in my mind, refer to one made with local, self caught yeast) but many beers are often called wild because they use living components other than traditional brewers yeast (Saccharomyces) and are typically made with Brettanomyces (so called "wild" yeast) and potentially bacteria (notably Lactobacillus and Pediococcus) or because they share traits with beers which do have these microorganisms.  There are many variations on what a "sour" or "funky" or "wild" beer is and for the sake of this article I will simply call them all "wild" as not all the beers I am referring to taste sour and many (even some made with Brettanomyces) do not taste "funky", while some beers that do not contain these traditional organisms (or acids) can taste sour or funky. While there are some classic styles known for their sour or funky qualities there are many wild beers being made today (and traditionally) which do not fall into easily defined categories. Instead of talking about styles I just wish to write about some methods of creating these types of beers that are commonly employed:

1. Adding (lactic) acid: Adding acid, usually lactic though I suppose others (malic or acetic for example) could be used, seems to be the least "craft" method of making a sour and might feel more like an industrial process or even "cheating" to some people.  This is utilized by brewers sometimes alone or in combination with other methods to create a sour beer.  As it sounds this process simply uses food grade acid, which can be added to the mash to lower pH or can be added at other stages for sour beers.

2. Sour Mash: A sour mash is achieved by adding raw grain to wort which has not had yeast added to it.  The grain is covered in Lactobacillus (among other things) causing a quick souring of the beer.  This can also be achieved, among other ways, by adding cultured Lacto. or with a yogurt culture.  Brewer's utilizing this method typically hold the Lactobacillus innoculated wort at a warm but not hot temperature then add to the mash of the final beer to heat the wort after a few days of souring to kill any yeast and bugs and stabilize the sourness level.  Anywhere from 10% to 100% of the wort can be soured in this manner, giving varied results.

3. Sour Malt: Sour malt, also known as sauermalz and acidulated malt, is a malt which is covered with lactic acid, hence lowering the pH of a beer it is mashed in.  This can be used in non-sour type beers to slightly adjust the pH, as the sole provider of sourness if used in large amounts, or in combination with other methods to form sour beer.  In most respects this process isn't much different from adding straight lactic acid in the end.

4. Pitching Brettanomyces without Saccharomyces: This process can be done with Brettanomyces as the sole yeast in which case a subtle fruity yeast character with flavors closer to a beer brewed without "wild" ingredients is produced.

5. Pitching bacteria (Lactobacillus) without Saccharomyces: This process is utilized sometimes by select craft breweries and homebrewers.  This is most commonly used in small beers, most notably some Berliner Weisses. This method needs specialized (heterofermentative) bacteria which produce both lactic acid and alcohol and can survive conditions enough to fully attenuate the beer themselves.

6. Pitching in addition to Saccharomyces: This is the most traditional and probably the most common method of sour productions and is typically used to make all 6 of the BJCP approved sour styles.  Whether added in primary or secondary (or traditionally as ambient yeast which are in the air/wood/fruit added to the beer) the idea here is typically to have the Sacc utilize simple sugars while Bugs and/or Brett work on more complex sugars and other side components to generate strong flavors ranging from tropical fruit, horse, goat and farmyard funk characteristics found derived from Brett to the tart and tangy flavors from Lacto to the biting, vinegary qualities from Acetobacter.

Hopefully I will soon have ventured into the world of funky and sour beers as I recently bought two yeast packages which come with additions to sacc:

White Labs American Farmhouse: A proprietary blend of belgian yeast and brett.  I hope to make a brett saison somewhat similar to Goose Island's Sophie.

Roeselare Blend: This is essentially a lambic blend with various lacto and brett strains in addition to sacc. I plan to brew a sour brown ale with this pack, allowing it to age for upwards of a year.