Looking at my probiotic and all these fellas in there…would they eat and produce a wild beer?
I take S. boulardii supplements and they certainly do give me beer-flavored burps. With all that other junk in there though, yeah, I bet you’d end up with a weird sour beer. Might be worth a 1-gallon experiment!!
Well, you have the ability to find out, one of the benefits of being a homebrewer. You could whip up some wort with dme and make a half gallon or gallon. My wild guess is that the sour creating microbes would be prominent and not enough alcohol would be produced to call it a beer. Total guess, I don’t have a biology background. If it makes beer I would pair it with cheese though. 
yeah that’s what i was thinking. throw a couple capsules in 1-gal DME wort and see what happens. just want to make sure they don’t produce something that will kill me!
If it doesn’t kill you it certainly will make you stronger. Maybe Incredible Hulk stronger. Or at least a strong immune system.
First make a beer from the one gallon wort with an ale yeast, and then add the stuff???
I was thinking that too but if an experimental mood anyway I would want to know what happens sans ale yeast. Maybe a split batch?
I agree with the post on pitching with a sacc yeast. A small fraction of an S05 packet with the capsule ‘innards’ could be interesting. The lacto would definitely give some sourness. How much, who knows? Sounds fun.
not knowing anything at all about them and if they can metabolize sugars and produce alcohol…wondering if Mark will chime in with any thoughts.
S. bouliardii is the yeast in a kombucha SCOBY, IIRC. It does produce alcohol, but I don’t know how well it handles maltose or other longer chain sugars.
I’m not totally up on all the other bacterial strains, but I think they are all lactic strains typically used in yogurt.
Huh.just looked up kombucha…interesting stuff.
I’d pitch a standard yeast with it just to ensure it does produce alcohol, to avoid botulism and all.
I doubt it will kill you - If I’m wrong, well, sorry. 
Remember that wines and ciders have been produced by wild fermentations for centuries. Many problematic organisms are killed off by even a small percentage of alcohol. Many of the bugs in that probiotic may not be alcohol tolerant. I wouldn’t add a commercial yeast either just because I’d worry it would overwhelm your bugs. I would monitor pH, if you can, and I would smell it before tasting.
yeah i’m just going to throw some in a gallon and see what happens on its own. if it doesn’t work, i will try another started with some dry yeast and then add the capsules.
You might want to start by pitching it in a small, low-gravity starter first. Who knows what the viability or cell count is on these things.
I tried fermenting a beer with a probiotic with a similar mix. It didn’t turn out well. Not sour. It didn’t taste like anything. Even the grain flavors disappeared.
did it ferment out on its own or not?
You Know, this is all mad scientist stuff!
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It’s, It’s…ALIVE!
Yeah it fermented out but it just didn’t taste like anything. Like you poured a splash of brown ale in a pint of carbonated water.