Plambic, Wild Yeast, Spontaneous Fermentation!

[randyrob]

Hey Guys,

well i mashed my first pLamic yesterday:

60% Pilsner Malt
40% Unmalted Wheat

3g/l debittered hops

using the wyeast mash schedule:

1. dough in wheat with 10% of the barley and 75% of the H2O at 60*c
2. increase to 100*c and hold for approximately 30 minutes
3. add the balance of the malt and H2O. adjust mash to 70*c and hold approximately 2 hours, stirring continuosly.
Rest 30 Minutes.
4. Sparge with 95*c H20

Boiled for 4 Hours adding hops after 1/2 hour of the boil.

some pix:



Hops and Bugs



Mashing in the Kettle



Debittered Hops



First Runnings



Empty Mash Tun



Start of boil



Filling Carboy



Hydro Sample



Full Fermenter

i hit every target, temperature etc to the tee.

I followed a very very vigurous cleaning & steralising regime of everything post kettle.

The Glass Carboy was brand new but was soaked in starsan solution for about 1/2 an hour then drained.


came home this arvo to pitch my wyeast bug pack to find this:

pic / vid of wild yeast / spontaneous fermentation:





as you can see there is signs of fermentaion being undertaken, bubbling every second and a thin film of white ontop.

so i went to the shed to check the hydro sample and it was doing the same!

hmm.... the funny thing is my wyeast smack pack hasn't fired!

i haven't had an infection to my knowledge, and i believe i was extra cautious with this batch because of the extra time involved in brewing and fermenting.

am i on the right track in saying the brewing process / ingredients have contributed to encouraging wild yeast?

Rob.

 

[oldbugman]

yummo...

where can you score the hops?

I have this weirdo, dresses in the closet, urge to try do a lambic.

 

[revdrjbob]

Rob,
how long had your cooled(?) wort been sitting in the carboy? That'd be where your wild yeasties came from most probably if it weren't innoculated and sitting there at optimum fermentation temps. Plus, if you had followed a very very vigurous cleaning & steralising regime of everything post kettle then there should be no buggies hanging around for to start your ferment. Unless you're like me and coolin cubes and didn't clean the inside of the lid properly for your Belgian IPA, thus it starts to spontaneously ferment. Also, it looks as though you had an airlock in the top of your carboy, so if it were cooling at the time, counter pressure from cooling a hot wort will suck in the outside terrior.

Hope this can help, and stuff,
TIM

am i on the right track in saying the brewing process / ingredients have contributed to encouraging wild yeast?

Rob.

 

[randyrob]

Hey Tim,

i guess you could be on the money, my cfc generally only gets the wort to 30*c then it usually gets popped in the fridge until it cools to about 18-20*c, so it's usually the next morning before i pitch my yeast. thats an easy 12 hours.

in this case my smack pack still hadn't swelled so it sat in a cool spot in my house for about 24 hours.

Cheers Rob.

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

well you will brew in the Vic Park Triangle.

 

[neonmeate]

youre brewing a plambic and youre worried about infection!!?

only things you have to watch out for are flies laying eggs...that can turn out bad...very bad...

 

[Asher]

The vic park strain is on the loose again. 'Trash Mash AL' on return from the land of the long white cloud (and dresses) has discovered it hiding in a keg of 2 month old lager also! - Jusy when you thaught it was gone!!!

Thats an impressive crausen for a wild yeast BTW!

Ever tried the difference between Boon Kriek and Oud Boon Kriek? The Vic park Brett strain is quite good at impersinating the latter....

Asher

 

[dr K]

Very weird shirt indeed, now, there is nothing in the production of a lambic wort that will make it any more susceptible to wild yeast infection than that of a Belgian Wit, or a Weizen or a blasted APA.
Of course if you were doing a lambic you would like to have a highly dextrinous wort so as there plenty of unfermentable (by sacc. sp) sugars for our slow to the starting barrier Brett to munch on some many months.
If I am reading your post correctly and that the photo of rampant activity is with an non (by your good self) innocculated wort then I reckon you got some big problems happening there.
For all the romance about spontaneous fermentation it probably (certainly really) a much more controlled process than we might imagine, sure it is one heck of lot more Schaarbeek than Starbuck but controlled it is!
If everything the wort went into was clean and sanitary then you have a wort problem, but if you boiled for hours then its a transfer problem perhaps, whatever it is, it agressive and unwanted...

K

 

[randyrob]

Bput three weeks on and thought i'd check her out.





as u can see from prevoius pics its changed colour dramatrically, looks more like an oil slick!

Rob.

 

[floppinab]

Bput three weeks on and thought i'd check her out.

as u can see from prevoius pics its changed colour dramatrically, looks more like an oil slick!

Rob.

And the taste??????

 

[randyrob]

dunno yet haven't got a wine thief to find out

 

[RobB]

Did you eventually pitch your smack pack Rob, or is that entirely the work of your mystery yeast?

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

came home this arvo to pitch my wyeast bug pack to find this:

the funny thing is my wyeast smack pack hasn't fired!

i haven't had an infection to my knowledge, and i believe i was extra cautious with this batch because of the extra time involved in brewing and fermenting.

am i on the right track in saying the brewing process / ingredients have contributed to encouraging wild yeast?

Rob.

Hi Rob what strain were you pitching and what was the MFG date.?I would expect this strain to be very active.Be carefull of out of date yeasts.Looks like you have a very special fermentation going on .Draino ?
GB

 

[kook]

I've used fresh wyeast lambic blend (and roselare) and although it was very active, its never looked slimy. At least not that early in the fermentation, any ropiness/sliminess should come later down the track.

I'd say it'd be better to have a taste sooner rather than later Rob - If acetobacter has taken over then it could be beyond salvage, even with blending.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

I've used fresh wyeast lambic blend (and roselare) and although it was very active, its never looked slimy. At least not that early in the fermentation, any ropiness/sliminess should come later down the track.

I'd say it'd be better to have a taste sooner rather than later Rob - If acetobacter has taken over then it could be beyond salvage, even with blending.

Kook
You know what going on.I have to agree it looks like a new strain of WA "Lambics" coming up! Draino, but Rob taste him first.Also why does your air lock look dark? Could be the cause.
GB

 

[Guest Lurker]

Hi Rob what strain were you pitching and what was the MFG date.?I would expect this strain to be very active.Be carefull of out of date yeasts.Looks like you have a very special fermentation going on .Draino ?
GB

Read the start of the thread Neville , he didnt pitch anything!

 

[mika]

Dark airlock Iodophor/Sanitiser perhaps ?
Going to have to set up roadblocks to stop the spread of this funk

 

[paulwin]

that looks like somebody spewed up in your fermenter
cheers paul

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Read the start of the thread Neville , he didnt pitch anything!

I know .Why buy Yeast when you can get it for nothing.I would like to know what Rob intended to pitch? Tropical Yeast from where?
Gb

 

[brendanos]

The Wyeast Lambic blend I believe. (3278?)