I have read the entire thread over the last week or so, and thought I would add my latest brew. I do not brew frequently but would love to do it more. Corona season has provided me more opportunities lately. Over the last few years I have inherited a good amount of equipment that is way underutilized, but am hoping to use it more.
I am a huge fan of sours, but always thought of the process as too difficult every time I read it. However, recently I was reading this
thread on Homebrewtalk about fast souring methods. This process involves pitching L. plantarum at the same time as the yeast and fermenting at ambient temperatures. There are many sources for L. plantarum, either probiotic tablets from Swanson's or GoodBelly from the grocery store.
I ordered the Swanson's from amazon, but then it ended up sitting in my mail box for an extra day, in the Houston heat. I didn't want to risk the heat exposure so I went and grabbed some Goodbelly from the grocery store.
On to the recipe:
I used this
recipe as the base (also from Homebrewtalk).
6.5# Pilsner malt.
3.5# Wheat malt.
Safale US-05
1 cup GoodBelly
I ended up mashing a bit high around 160 at the start of the 60 minute mash, and it stayed above 150 by the end of the hour. I then boiled for 10 minutes per the recipe. I don't have a chiller so, I just set my pot in the pool on the first step. I don't know that it helped much as my pool is 92F
When the wort was about 100F I poured it through a strainer into my fermentation bucket and brought it all indoors. Eventually it cooled to 75, and I pitched the GoodBelly and yeast.
Now for the bad news, I have no idea where my notes sheet went from my brew day. I had planned on entering it all into BeerSmith once complete
I know my post mash gravity was a little low but not much. I ended up around 1.040 after the mash prior to the boil. The grain was not mashed very finely, so I think I can increase efficiency there.
I brewed this on 8/15 and on 8/22 it was down to 1.017. I was a bit nervous because there was never any airlock activity, but I think I have a bad seal on my lid, so it just leaked out that way. I tasted my gravity sample and it was really good. I transferred it to secondary fermentation on 4.5# of tart cherries from the freezer section in a bag. I have been following AlaskanAg99's guidance of swirling it periodically to ensure good contact. I will be testing it this weekend to see if it is ready.