Thursday, September 1, 2011

Brewing With Homegrown Yeast


After I brewed last Monday, I forgot to clean out my graduated cylinder full of wort and a hydrometer... until today when I noticed active fermentation going on in the cylinder out in the backyard. Naturally, I decided to pour that fermenting wort into a sanitized mason jar, where it has continued to ferment. I am not a major sour beer enthusiast, but this seems too good to pass up, provided there are no major risks (a bad 5 gal of beer is not enough of a risk for me).

My thought has been to brew a 10 gal batch of something and split it after primary fermentation into two carboys - dosing one with orval dregs and the other with some of this... to get an idea of what I am working with. I am assuming there is a combination of lacto and brett, but does anyone have a better idea? And should I build up a starter of the stuff, or just pitch the little 4 oz plug of slurry and wort? The way it is fermenting, it almost reminds me of ordinary sacc, which makes me think maybe I ought to use is as the primary strain...