I am a complete newbie to the soda world, so excuse my ignorance.
I know quite a bit about fermentation and feel very comfortable with it. I got the idea to make lacto fermented soda for my pregnant wife since she can't enjoy any of the beers I'm making/drinking. The idea came partly from making water kefir which I did with great success, and partly from learning that the White Labs strain of lacto doesn't create any alcohol.
So, I figured I'd make a sugar wash, pitch the lacto, let it ferment, add fruit, let it finish fermenting and bottle it. The first time I just added table sugar and tap water and a small culture of lacto (same strain as WL, but got it from ECY). I had troubles with my space heater and the closet got 120+ degrees for a while. All those things lead to me not being surprised nothing happened.
The second try I figured I'd take the water kefir route and used turbinado sugar and filtered water. Pitched a large vial of lacto. Kept temps at ~80 degrees. I'm 3 days in with no drop in gravity.
What am I doing wrong?!
I know quite a bit about fermentation and feel very comfortable with it. I got the idea to make lacto fermented soda for my pregnant wife since she can't enjoy any of the beers I'm making/drinking. The idea came partly from making water kefir which I did with great success, and partly from learning that the White Labs strain of lacto doesn't create any alcohol.
So, I figured I'd make a sugar wash, pitch the lacto, let it ferment, add fruit, let it finish fermenting and bottle it. The first time I just added table sugar and tap water and a small culture of lacto (same strain as WL, but got it from ECY). I had troubles with my space heater and the closet got 120+ degrees for a while. All those things lead to me not being surprised nothing happened.
The second try I figured I'd take the water kefir route and used turbinado sugar and filtered water. Pitched a large vial of lacto. Kept temps at ~80 degrees. I'm 3 days in with no drop in gravity.
What am I doing wrong?!
