A wild yeast IPA

[mresa641]

I was planning on making a standard IPA this week and did my mashing yesterday evening. But, I didn't get to it until this afternoon to finish the process.

It started fermenting and smelled pretty funky. I know that wild yeasts have been used before in ales so I figured...well, I just boil it, do my hop additions and throw in the yeast Im supposed to be using. Basically, Im using "wild wort".

I just wanted to put this out there and see what you all think. Should I finish the brewing or should I just throw it out?

 

[2bluewagons]

If it started fermenting pre-boil, you likely have a host of micro-organisms that came from the malt that are just loving it in there. Mold, lacto, pedio, yeast, etc. They might not have had enough time to impart that much to it, and boiling will kill everything, so it could still come out ok, certainly interesting. Worst case, it will be sour and nasty and prime for dumping.

But since you say it's an IPA, you'll probably be dropping at least $20-30 in hops plus $7 for yeast, plus your time, so might be a lot of effort and cash for something that you end up pouring out.

How does it taste?

 

[sweetcell]

boiling it will kill anything that has started fermenting it, but it probably won't remove any flavors created by your wild half-fermentation. have you tasted the wort? does it taste funky?

personally i would proceed with the boil - unless you absolutely, 100% need this batch to be good, in which case it might be worth the cost of dumping and starting over.

 

[mresa641]

I tasted the wort, its slightly sour

 

[Rugrad02]

I say boil it but nix the IPA label. You essentially created a sour mash and hopping it too much will IMO be pretty gross. Sour is great, hoppy is great, just not together. I would aim for 10-15 IBUs or less. Maybe throw some wheat in there and you will have a great thirst quenching sour.

 

[lpdjshaw]

Yeah, light on the hops. Maybe try a farmhouse strain.

 

[kegerators]

I just posted a recipe for my Whiskey Wild IPA. I went through 5 trial recipes before landing on this one. Used Brett and a Cider yeast to mimic some tartness without using lacto or pedio. The result is dry and tart with hops punching through the oak barrel flavor.

http://www.homebrewing.com/articles/whiskey-wild-ipa.php

 

[roastquake]

Basically you are doing a sour mash beer, there where pre-prohibition styles that used this method (kentucky common). There is a method for sour mashing in an appendix of one of the editions of "joy of homebrewing" and it's basically what you did. I think it will be fine.

 

[roastquake]

*complete joy of homebrewing