Brett/Lambic Sour Mead Need Input!

[bearclaw215]

Actually can someone remind me if 1118 can ferment the maltose or it that the unfermentables your counting on?

 

[seth8530]

Actually can someone remind me if 1118 can ferment the maltose or it that the unfermentables your counting on?

I am pretty sure that ec1118 does not eat maltose since it is a sach yeast.

So here are some pictures! The first two pictures are from the first day. The second picture is from 24 hours after pitching the lacto. Looks like it is either forming a pellicle or it is just honey stuff getting pushed to the top by co2 from the lacto. I will check the PH later today. If it is looking like it is getting pushed pretty low I will go ahead and add the brett and get the ec-1118 starter warming up.

 

[seth8530]

Wow! Checked this afternoon and this guy has a massive cap on top. PH was 4.15 so it is dropping quick. I am going to go ahead and pitch the brett starter so that it can get munching on those sugars. SG is 1.120, down from 1.134 so it looks like the lacto might have gotten hungry. I am going to go ahead and add the end of lag phase fermaid O addition since I am pretty sure we are pretty microbial stable now.

 

[seth8530]

Just checked the gravity.We are down to 1.082. Fermentation temperature has moved up to around 80 degrees with no assitance from the heater anymore. Before, it was holding around 75 with the heater on. Went ahead and added the 1/3 sugar break addition of fermaid O.

 

[seth8530]

Gravity is at 1.050 and the ABV is at 11%. I am going to go ahead and add the ec1118 and the last nutrient addition (144g fermaid O).

 

[seth8530]

Gravity is not at 1.040, so abv is now sitting at around 12.3%. Hopefully we will see in the next couple of days what is going to the mead SG wise. I am hoping for it to drop down to around 1.010 so that I can then add the crystal syrup to it.

 

[SouthernChemist]

Sounds and looks pretty interesting. Keep us informed!

 

[seth8530]

Sure thing!

Welp looks like things are getting a little tough. It would seem we are stalled out at around 1.040. ( right around the rated abv cap of the brett btw at 12.5 percent). It appears that the ec-1118 i inoculated with did not really catch on ( abv was higher than intended when I added the ec-1118 starter) so I am in the process of making a rescue starter. I currently have 2 liters of ec-1118 on the stir plate. Later today I am going to add 1 liter of the must to it. Then tomorrow afternoon if all appears to be going well with it I will add another 1.5 liters of must to it. I will then wait a day and pitch into the 60 liter starter.

 

[seth8530]

So around 24 hours after adding the ec-1118 starter ( around 1.5 gallons in volume) we have the beginning signs of activity in the mead. Not sure how heated and happy it will get, but it is good to be seeings signs of life again.

 

[marino]

That's a huge starter!

 

[bearclaw215]

Do you have an electric blanket you could wrap it with? Could help fermentation take hold again with a higher temp

 

[seth8530]

I guess I did not show a picture of how I am keeping it warm.. But, what I am doing is I have an electric blanket wrapped around it, which is rigged up to a temperature controller which cycles power on and off to it based on temperature. The temperature controller has a metal probe which I encased inside of a stainless steel pipe which is held in the must.

But all in all, yea it looks like we have signs of life again!

 

[seth8530]

Just checked the gravity on this guy, looks like we are at 1.030. Perhaps at this rate we will hit around 1.010 this weekend and I can add the sugars and get this guy into secondary before too long.

 

[seth8530]

I went ahead and added the roughly 2 gallons of crystal 40/60 malt syrup. It brought the gravity up from 1.020 to around 1.035. Now, we hope that this guy wont ferment all the way dry.. Else, I might end up having a little more abv than I want.

The tartness from the lemon and the sour cherry flavour from the brett strain are really starting to shine through. I will give this guy some oak in the carboy and I really can't wait to see how it develops.

I really look forward to seeing how the crystal syrup adds to the body and over all structure as it dries out a bit.

OG 1.134

Grav before Syrup
1.020

Volume prior to syrup
60 liters
Volume after syrup
69 liters
gravity after syrup
1.035

ABV prior to Syrup 14.9%

ABV after syrup

12.98%

ABV after fermentation?!
???

 

[seth8530]

Gravity is now down to 1.030. It is REALLY crawling now. I went and added some fermaid O to it and gave it a really good stir. Hopefully this will get this guy moving on a bit more briskly.

 

[seth8530]

Looks like we are stuck at 1.028 ish again. I will buy some UV-43 ( hardcore restart yeast) and some yeast hulls ( to strip out toxins). The plan is to add the yeast hulls then rack off of them, and pitch a strong UV-43 starter. The PH is 3.5, the abv is somewhere between 13.5 and 14.5 ish, there should be residual nutrient in the must, so at this point my lead to what is going on is a possible build of toxicity in the must.

 

[bearclaw215]

Can that yeast ferment the maltose? I have a feeling that's why your stalling with 1118 since it can't eat the normal unfermentable or the maltose.

 

[seth8530]

I still had 20 points of residual sugar left before I added the malt syrup which had maltose in it. However, the intent was to have some kind of residual sugar left over. So, I do not think the reason it has quit was because of maltose.

 

[seth8530]

So, we got some major strangeness going on right now. The gravity was around 1.030 when I added the starter ( which included 1.5 gallons of water). The gravity is now 1.036-1.038 ( yes it has gone up) and the perception of sweetness has gone down, and the perception of sour has increased. It looks like their might be some minor activity going on from the yeast, but it is hard to tell. If it is doing anything, it is going full ahead slow.

So, here are my theories and I wonder what you guys think.

1) The gravity appears to have gone up from Co2 pushing the hydrometer up, the sweetness perception has gone down due to fermentation and the sour perception increased due to a drop in sugar.

2) The gravity has actually increased due to acetic acid formation converting less dense ethanol into more dense acetic acid. Thus raising the gravity and increasing the perception of acid and decreasing the sugar perception.

Any thoughts or opinions? I have been adventurous with this guy and have had this guy open the whole time.

 

[seth8530]

I was getting a bit concerned about the funk monster so I gave it 200 ppm sulfite and racked it into carboys. Gravity continued to move upward to close to 1.040. It has a kind of acidic taste not like I am used to seeing in lactic bacteria... but, not way out of touch for the style, but if it stays in its current state I am going to have to rack it onto cherries or something that will work with that flavor. With all the trouble getting this guy to ferment down, I am wondering if I ran out of sugars or something around that I could ferment when the guy first hit down to 1.030 and then dropped 6 points after I added the malt syrup.

... I am not overly optimistic at this current time about getting these guys to bottle carbonate.. but, I will test it out in a year or so and see if it looks like it will do anything.

I also put two of the carboys in with a stave of american oak each and the third 5 gallon caboy with a stave of French oak.. All medium +.