"Quick Pre-boil sour" Lacto pH question

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I have a split wort batch of Belgian Pale going: half yeast- half unhopped lacto. I grew lacto up from a quart starter from grains at 98F for 3 days before pitching liquid into wort. I took a pH of the lacto half and it is about 3.8, which is where Wildbrews says it “ceases to reproduce.” I plan to boil this lacto wort (killing the critters) and pitch it in with the yeast half to ferment it out. Hopefully this will give a “sour” beer…

So… What is lacto converting sugars to lactic acid? Is my lacto still converting and just not getting more pH sour, essentially just making more lactic acid? Or, has the pH killed all lacto bacteria making it pointless to continue heating?

The “soured” wort is at 95F now.  I don’t have any way to purge O2 from the carboy. At day 4 it is bubbling every 2 seconds, no krausen. It has a smell that sort of reminds me of the Dutchesse. Do I have 3 gallons of vinegar on my hands?  I still have not tasted this, may I have a dumper on my hands?

Thanks all.

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I don’t know if I would bother boiling it at this point.  I would probably wait until the yeast batch finishes fermenting, and then blend the two to taste.  It is possible that when you blend them the organisms will go to work on things still remaining from the other batch, but that will stabilize after a time.  If you just blend them blindly now then you might end up with one batch dominating the flavor of the other.

It might be a dumper, but it might not.  You’re going to have to taste it.  :slight_smile: