Fastest to ropey?

[Bensiff]

Brewed a beer a month ago which got wyeast lambic blend and some bottle dregs. I haven't bothered much with fermentation control so it's been averaging low 70s. Anyway went to do the first gravity reading to see where the sacc got it down to and found it to be ropey but otherwise had a very pleasant lacto smell and taste. Anyway, just wondering what sort of timeline others have seen the ropiness first appear?

 

[Osedax]

I am also interested in this. I managed to nail it in about one week. No idea how this is even possible. I must have some voracious pedio. It was a spontaneous ferment from a dwarf lime.

I noticed it when I transferred to a larger starter. The last bit at the bottom looked like snot.

 

[Oldsock]

Simple sugars, nitrogen, and a lower temperature are all factors that increase exopolysaccharide production (sickness/ropiness). There are Lactobacillus that do the same maybe you have one of them (they ted to be quicker than Pedio)?

 

[Osedax]

Well, for mine I used a highly hopped starter. 50ish IBU. OG around 1.048. It was from a session IPA. I know not to use high hop starters for spontaneous ferments but, I wanted to see how the microbes might differ.

I don't think it is from lacto. It is possible but, the hops would have taken care of the less resistant strains. It would be great if I got some brevis though.

The wort didn't have much simple sugar as I mashed high. Level of nitrogen is unknown as I didn't use barley and the temperature was 67F.

It definitely has some brett and maybe some sacch. It did come from a fruit. I haven't tasted it yet for any souring (too worried until it ferments). It smells strongly of lime (go figure) and piney hops. It developed a great krausen when I stepped the starter up and had a nice pellicle before the step up.

Not sure if any of it helps the OP but, it is my anecdotal evidence. I am aiming for a nice selection of microbes to infect my barrel with. This one seems to be the best spontaneous ferment I have ever had. Even with the sickness. Especially with the sickness...

 

[Bensiff]

Simple sugars, nitrogen, and a lower temperature are all factors that increase exopolysaccharide production (sickness/ropiness). There are Lactobacillus that do the same maybe you have one of them (they ted to be quicker than Pedio)?

I don't have the low temps as I want it to go through some seasonal temperature swings. But you may be on to something with the lacto. Given the bottle dreg collection went into this one I haven't a clue what's in there, other than its fine with 15 IBUs. Great book BTW, much more worthwhile than wild brews which I thought fell short...I finally got my mits on a copy of lambic which I haven't read so can't compare. Anyway, thanks for all the work, certainly one of the most informative books in my brewing library.

 

[ChugachBrewing]

I had a barrel go ropey in a couple months. It sat all winter that way. Only recently has it started to come back to "being well." I pitched all 20 EBY strains.

 

[Bensiff]

I had a barrel go ropey in a couple months. It sat all winter that way. Only recently has it started to come back to "being well." I pitched all 20 EBY strains.

You must have gotten in on the experiment, I was moving when he was sending out strains so I was unable to play too. Hopefully he does it again.

 

[smokinghole]

I had some in about three weeks when I put ECY02 in a 1.090 wort. His strain of pedio is a prolific exopolysaccharide producer, at least in my experience. When used against another culture I put together from lambics ECY makes slime for a long while while my culture barely develops viscosity at all. It might have the same level of exopolysaccharide production but it might be that the yeasts break it down much more efficiently so it never gets super viscous.