I’ve been doing kettle sours lately with ale yeast and they work great. The beers have come out wonderful. I’m Im curious about lager yeast though. Has anyone tried fermenting low pH wort (around 3.4) with a lager yeast? Do they respond well? Wanted to get some input before I spent the money on product. Thanks.
I would not recommend it. Lager and sour doesn’t seem to leave much to desire.
New Belgium uses a lager strain for their sours, but I’m pretty sure they sour after primary. I’m not sure how the low starting pH would affect lager strains, but I am planning on using 34/70 in my next Berliner Weisse to test.
I’ve used Kolsch yeast post kettle sour with fantastic results for a Gose. I’m sure a lager yeast would work just fine. 34/70 actually ferments fairly clean in the 58 degree, that’s how I’d approach that.
To what pH did you lower the wort?
IIRC it was about 3.4.
In the process of “perfecting” my Berliner Weisse, I’ve tried several different dry ale strains, but the one I like the best is actually a dry lager yeast: Saflager S-23. I don’t actually lager the weisse, but I do let it ferment on the chilly side to start (52F for 3 days, raise to 55F for 7 days, then raise to 68F until I’m satisfied fermentation is complete). The yeast character is amazingly clean, so it really lets the tart fruit and sourdough wheat flavors shine through. Sorry I don’t have an actual pH measurement of the wort (will have to remember to measure next time I brew it), but I’d be pretty confident to say it’s got to be < 4.0 (if not lower), and S-23 does just fine…