So, next month I plan on doing a sour german wheat beer. I am intending to do the quick souring method. Mash, bring to a quick boil, cool to 100-110F and pitch a lacto starter and hold for a day or few to my desired pH. Then brew as normal.
I plan on building a lacto starter so that the souring occurs quickly.
My question(s) is this:
Should I make a moderated sized starter (2000-4000mL) from one of the commercial yeast manufactures?
Make a similar sized starter from some grain added to starter wort and propagate a starter this way?
Or:
3. Do both 1 and 2 and blend on brew/souring day?
I know I can kinda cheat with acidulated malt, but prefer not to.
No reason to buy lactobacillus. Grain is covered in the stuff.
Do a sour starter with grain a week or so ahead of time. The March/April 2011 Zymurgy has a great article on this topic that includes a step-by-step procedure.
you can mash about a third to half of your grains, don’t sparge, let cool to 130 or less, throw in a hand full of grain, cover surface with saran wrap, maintain a temp 100-130. add boiling water to keep temp up as needed, sour for 1-? days. drain tun add remaining grains and continue mashing and sparging on top of sour grains. I have done this a few times and I like the result for Berliner weisse. I have soured for as long as 3 days, another club member has soured as long as 8 days.
I’ve made starters with Wyeast’s Lactobacillus before. I chose a commercial version to be sure of what I was getting, and to try to control the process a little better. I did a three liter starter for one smack pack and kept it at about 100 degrees. After about 3 days it started to flocculate and fall to the bottom of the jar. I chilled the starter for two days and decanted the spent beer, and pitched this into 10 gallons of 1.056 beer. Same process - 100 degreees, about 3 days of activity, cool to 68, rack and pitch yeast.