Sour dough yeast

[wilfh]

Has anyone tried to brew beer using a sour dough starter. I’ve had one on the go for about 8 years now. It produces a fantastic bread and I wonder what it would be like with malt?

I guess that attenuation would be around 100% being effectively a wild brew??
Cheers
Wilf

[seymour]

I did once. You're right, it will most likely be an extremely high attenuator with loads of strong fruity esters and spicy phenols. Mine was pretty unpleasant to be honest, but that was back when I hadn't yet developed a taste for sour and brett beers. Every wild yeast is different, though, so your mileage may vary.

I'd recommend starting with a small batch and keep the temperature from climbing too high, just to see if you like it first.

[wilfh]

thanks Seymour,
yes I had thought of just using a small batch to see how it went.
A trial run is definitely the best approach say with something like a bitter that isn't too hoppy.
The yeast gives a nice lactic tang in the bread but may be overpowering once all the sugar has gone.
Wilf

[seymour]

thanks Seymour,
yes I had thought of just using a small batch to see how it went.
A trial run is definitely the best approach say with something like a bitter that isn't too hoppy.
The yeast gives a nice lactic tang in the bread but may be overpowering once all the sugar has gone.
Wilf

Sounds good, happy brewing!

By contrast, another method I've tried was to brew a fairly basic, husky, grainy amber ale recipe, then fermented with a typical English ale yeast to lock-in all the preferred, familiar flavours and aromas. I gave that plenty of time to finish-out, condition, etc. I then added sourdough bakers yeast and priming sugar to my bottling bucket, as a way to increase the complexity over time. That I did like, a lot, it ended up being one of my favourite brews ever.

[wilfh]

Right I think that this is what I am going to do.

Step up my sourdough starter to about 2 pints with some DME.

I am going to make a 18 litre batch of Fellin Foel Double Dragon mash at 64 ferment
Split into three batches of

4.5L- Sour dough starter only
4.5l- Nottingham only- prime as usual.
4.5l- Nottingham and sour dough primary ferment.
4.5l Nottingham only but sour dough added at bottling.

I thought that Nottingham would be ok as it’s a good attenuator and therefore should go down below 1.01.
I am assuming that the sour dough will take the fg right down closer to 1.005 or lower so therefore I won’t create bottle bombs. (is this assumption correct)

Open to suggestions?

Wilf

[seymour]

...I am assuming that the sour dough will take the fg right down closer to 1.005 or lower so therefore I won’t create bottle bombs. (is this assumption correct)...

I love your plan, and can't wait to hear the results.

I don't know if your wild yeast will be more or less attenuative than Nottingham, that's definitely a "wait and see" thing. It will also depend on the fermentability of your wort: duration and temperature(s) of mash, percentage of complex crystal malts, fermentation temperatures, etc, but that's a delicious recipe so go for it!

[wilfh]

made up the starter last week using DME and it set off like crazy. Then decanted it off the dough still on the bottom and added some more malt. Going to add it to a gallon I'm doing next week and see what happens (with Windsor I think to leave some malt left after primary ferment. we will see.

[Matt]

Good luck wilf. I'm a sourdough baker too. I've always assumed there is too much acid in a starter but very interested in how you get on.

Matt

[boingy]

Speaking from the conservative end of the brewing spectrum, I'd go to great lengths to keep sour dough yeast as far away from my beer as possible.

[Nunez100]

Sourdough starter contains lactobacillus as well as wild yeast. The lactobacillus produces lactic acid which would give a bit of sourness. Curious to know how this turns out as I'm a sourdough baker too. Could pass for a sourdough lambic!

[seymour]

Sourdough starter contains lactobacillus as well as wild yeast. The lactobacillus produces lactic acid which would give a bit of sourness. Curious to know how this turns out as I'm a sourdough baker too. Could pass for a sourdough lambic!

Exactly. If you enjoy styles which involve lacto such as Berliner Weiss, Flanders Red and Oud Bruin, lambic, and you go into it expecting that sort of outcome, you should be well pleased with the result.

[floydmeddler]

Speaking from the conservative end of the brewing spectrum, I'd go to great lengths to keep sour dough yeast as far away from my beer as possible.

Yup. Your starter will be riddled with acetobacter. I lost over 200L of beer to that bastard a while back. I'm even uncomfortable about brewing in the same room as my sourdough starter these days in case I have another brewery infection.

If you do end up with infected beers afterwards, get in touch with me. I'll help you kill that bastard DEAD!

[wilfh]

Well I'm going for something along the sour tang. Should be an interesting experiment either way. Hopefully the airlock will keep the aceto at bay
Wilf

[wilfh]

Starting to smell interesting. A bit like the bottle of Matilda I has the other day but in steroids. Fruity pineapple weirdness. Should be interesting. I don't know what's in Matilda but it was surprisingly similar.
Wilf

[floydmeddler]

If it doesn't smell like vinegar, you're doing OK.