Doing a sour wheat ale. Basically a Berliner Weisse, using a wlp630. Doing a primary ferment first, using Safale -05 and then was planning on dumping in the wlp630 for 6 months or so. But, just realized my mash pH was off, at a 4.6 pH. Should I abandon and just drink what I have when done, and re-brew another for the sour? Or, might this be alright? (This will be my first attempt at a sour ale).
At that low of a ph you might have some conversion problems and as a result have a starchy wort. You’ll probably need to add brett or something else that can consume starch and plan for that beer to sit for a long time. It may not get too sour with just lacto because it’s going to spend its time waiting for simple sugars to become available and then fight with yeast to metabolize them first.
Is it worth it to you to sit on this beer for more than a year and throw more money into it?
The wort is already made. I’d say ferment it out with S-05 and see how it is. It may not be too starchy and actually might be sour enough from the low mash ph that it’s worth drinking as is.
Did you add a bunch of acid or acid malt? It seems like it would be hard to end up that low from a wheat ale grist.
uhhh. Sorry meant 5.6 pH. And here all of you see how the mistake was made. I added lacto and was aiming for a 5.4 and misread some numbers. So is 5.6 the wrong pH?
5.6 is in the normal mash pH range. High end, but still good.
A mash pH of 5.6 shouldn’t cause a problem. I think most people would aim a bit lower for a light colored wheat beer, but the yeast should drop it into the acceptable range during primary.
I can’t comment on the rest of your plan, since I don’t have any experience with pitching lacto post-primary fermentation.