Wild Fermentation - an experiment

[Reman]

Hahaha at some stage you'll have to drink the results though, won't you! I'd say if you have signs of a wild yeast fermentation then you'll probably be alright: that means the yeast is probably getting to the nutrient before other bugs do. And as the brew acidifies and becomes alcoholic the potential for the brew becoming infected gets less.

There probably about 500ml in each bottle, so can't do too many hydrometer tests, so I think I'll leave it a few weeks just make sure, better to be safe than sorry!

 

[Reman]

Just noticed this at the bottom of each jar, looks pretty clumpy. Signs of fermentation?

 

[TimT]

"Sulfur smells" is usual for yeast, I'd be more worried about fecal smells. Sediment at the bottom is definitely signs of fermentation I'd say.

 

[hirschb]

Yeah, fecal smell is never good.

 

[hand2earth]

hi, just thought i'd chime in..

next time if you stir/agitate the starter wort as often as possible before any signs of fermentation you will deter surface molds while also oxygenating.. then remove flowers and attach airlock.

also plenty of australian plants will be flowering in the cooler months..

hope this helps!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

There is also a fair chance that you also have mould & bacteria in there amongst the yeast, which will be difficult to remove once established

 

[Reman]

Well at this stage they seem to be moving quite fast

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The exciting part is that the Melon Flower has lost almost all trace of fecal/sulphur smell and now has faint citric smell.

Here is a closeup of the Melon "krausen", it looks frothy like a nitro beer head


I haven't seen anything I would call mould, at least nothing black, green or something hairy. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

Plan is to let it go for a month and then check the gravity and ph (if my meter arrives by then) and perhaps dare a taste!

Thanks for everyone's input, it's been really interesting and valuable.

 

[Benn]

Good work man

 

[Reman]

There is also a fair chance that you also have mould & bacteria in there amongst the yeast, which will be difficult to remove once established

Definitely don't want mould, but any bacteria is welcome along for the ride, except acetobacter >:-|

To be honest that's why I hopped the wort to try and get some anti-mould properties and encourage the right kind of bacteria.

 

[Judanero]

Kind of off topic, I have captured wild yeast from my brew area (accidentally initially) by leaving a hydrometer of wort uncovered for about a week.. it started fermenting and smelt very much like when I've used French saison yeast so I stepped it up over a few steps to a 500mL starter.

It isn't an overly flocculant yeast (nothing some CC and gelatine won't fix) but it is a very slow fermenting yeast, how have you found your captured yeast(s) to be behaving so far?

 

[TimT]

I wouldn't trust them on their own for a month, too much time for something else to come along and take over when the yeast has had its fling.

That's another reason why I like a regime where you feed the yeast once you see signs of yeast activity, grow it, and get it to a point where you can split it and do starters for a brew. Work fast so you beat the infections!

 

[Reman]

Current state of the starters, they've continued being quite active. But this time definitely looks like a yeast fermentation. It appears the Comfrey starter is quite sluggish, Comfrey is a medicinal herb so may have some antiseptic properties that is inhibiting yeast and bacteria growth.



The starters have a lot of activity and you can see large amounts of bubbles being produced from the bottom, do I have a lager yeast!?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=6SZ4uUkOU3M

Thinking of taking TimTs advice and adding more wort, what would be the best way to add it? Just tip it in? Put a piece of tube on a funnel and put it below the krausen to try not disturb it?

 

[TimT]

Just tip it in. The yeast will grow and reform.

 

[hirschb]

Thinking of taking TimTs advice and adding more wort, what would be the best way to add it? Just tip it in? Put a piece of tube on a funnel and put it below the krausen to try not disturb it?

It depends what you want. If you want to primarily select for yeasts, I'd cold crash it, pour off the excess wort, and dump the yeast cake in a new starter.

 

[seehuusen]

I am looking forward to the taste test! It certainly looks promising