Wild-fermented Beer

[FermentingYeti]

I'm thinking of testing a small batch of my next homebrewed beer using wild fermentation. Has anyone done this? Any tips?

[TeeDubYeah]

I have done this many times with Mead and had mixed results.

Two batches went to vinegar and my last 3 were amazing. Not sure what I did differently. All my notes were pretty much the same.

[music]

You can always try using a ginger bug or similar as a starter. This still counts as wild in my book, since the starter is a wild culture.

[laripu]

I would do this:
First ferment for a week with a regular high quality commercial yeast. Then allow air to get to the surface of your batch overnight. That will infect your beer with whatever is floating in the air.

Bulk age in a secondary fermentor for 6 months to allow the wild micro-organisms to affect the flavor profile. Bottle, batch priming on the low side for the sake of caution. Allow three months bottle aging to let the flavor evolve further.

Enjoy! You've got lambic!

[FermentingYeti]

I like that idea, laripu. I'm experimenting with brews using no commercial yeast these days, which is why I asked. I've used ginger bug for mead, so I may consider it for beer as well one of these days.

[FermentingYeti]

DSCN6176.jpg (65.65 KiB) Viewed 5290 times

I made a batch of braggot last night and decided to set aside a test sample to wild ferment. I brewed with a one-hour boil, started the bulk of it with Lalvin D-47, and used some leftover lees from a recent batch of cyser, some chopped up raisins, organic cranberries, and my wild-fermenting stir stick to help instigate fermentation for the wild batch. The batch with commercial yeast got a nice head overnight and the wild-fermented batch started foaming mid-morning the next day. I'll be racking them into separate carboys and marking the bottles so I can do side-by-side taste samples. I'm also going to take separate hydrometer readings to see what the alcohol difference is.

[laripu]

I brewed with a one-hour boil, started the bulk of it with Lalvin D-47,

I've had good results with mead using D-47. I like Lalvin yeasts a lot.

Something I do when adding honey, is: I don't boil it. I boil water (or wort in case of a braggot), then remove from heat, and add honey, stir well to dissolve. Then I leave the pot covered for 15 minutes at this temperature to pasteurize the honey without boiling. Then I force-cool it. I find that this retains more honey aroma than if I'd boiled.

Another thing: For honey aroma, I find that honey bought from small bee-keepers is superior to honey bought from groceries. The groceries buy from large producers, who have better filtering equipment and may even heat the honey to pasteurize. All that processing damages the delicate aroma, which is composed of volatile chemicals, easily driven off.

Small producers usually only filter, and their filtering is usually not at the finest level, so less is stripped out. They also operate year-to-year, so there's less storage time.

[FermentingYeti]

Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely plan on adding the honey after the boil next time. Your comments on honey are spot-on. I do only local honey producers. I'm not sure how small-scale they are, but I've had good success with their honey. I've begun making contacts with small-scale beekeepers for honey in exchange for some of the mead I produce, as well as whatever cash payment we work out.

Doesn't look like I mentioned it in my original post, but I did add some additional honey to the wild ferment, and added a honey/water mix before bottling in place of the standard corn sugar. The results have been amazing for both the Lalvin and the wild ferment. I can't honestly say I notice any difference, except the Lalvin-fermented has a LOT of head on it, even if poured slowly.

Everyone who tried it has told me it tastes like something that would come from a high-quality microbrewery. The honey aroma is strong, but is balanced out nicely by the hops. I'm planning on doing a couple more batches, as the bottles are going quickly.