Is My Lacto Brevis Dead?

[Natdavis777]

Have some fruit lambics that taste pretty good, but I was wanting some more sourness, so I figured I would blend them with a 100% lacto brevis beer. Just whipped up 5 gal last Tues with DME, boiled, no hops, chilled to 95F, transferred to the carboy, and pitched the bugs (vial had been sitting out over night to stabilize @ room temp). Set my ferm chamber to 110F, where it has stayed since. Pulled a sample today, and its only dropped a few points, literally. I can tell there is a hint of sourness, but nothing remarkable. I would have expected this beer to be in single digits by now, especially keeping it at a constant 110F. I didnt aerate seeing that bacteria was only being used.

Anyone have similar experiences or have any recommendations?

 

[Gus_13]

Although it has been said by White Labs that it will ferment, when I pitched two vials of Brevis into a 1.034 wort, it did not get below 1.028. It did get sour but I had to finish with another yeast. If it get's down in pH enough or if it gets sour enough to taste, finish it with a clean yeast and you should be good to go. It did take mine about 4 days to have a nice, noticeable sour.

 

[stpug]

You're running that strain too warm (delbruckii likes those hot temperatures but not all lacto strains do). You should ideally be much closer to 90F. I suspect you'll see a jump in activity by cooling it down a bit.

 

[Natdavis777]

Temp has been dropped to 90F. Ill check on it here again in a week and see where its at. If its attenuated some, I will let it ride another week to see if it will go any lower. Once I see it stall out, Ill finish with some 1056. Thanks for the help. I thought for sure 110F would be ideal for lacto.

I did a sour mash berliner last year and used buckets to sour mash it in. That way I could store them in my attic (summer time, 90F+ temps) and it was super tart in a matter of days. I just tossed in grain for my lacto source for that beer though.

 

[Natdavis777]

Roused the carboy Wednesday, and sample today is down 10 points. Good to know the lacto is still kicking.