Hey all, so 2 questions lumped into one thread. They kind of go together, though. I saw some Culturelle (a probiotic for our 4-month old) sitting in our fridge. I looked at the ingredients on the back - Vitamin C and 5 billion cells of Lactobacillus GG (rhamnosus). According to milk the funk it does well at room temps, and a starter isn't necessary. That's pretty much all the info I've seen on this taxonomy. I'm always looking at trying new yeast/bacteria, but wanted to see if anyone's used this lacto before? I might try it in a starter and see how it tastes before dedicating to an entire batch. Which leads me to my next question.. I've been debating brewing a big imperial stout, and collecting the lower gravity second runnings to sour with lacto for a few days before boiling. I've done this on a few berliners, but would this work in the same manner for a dark beer? Just wondering if the roasty flavors and lactic bite would clash... and I'd probably need to follow up with a full 60 min. boil, unlike a 5-10 min boil for a berliner/gose. Thoughts? Thanks!
Your can definitely make a delicious dark sour, but your stout recipe might have bitter qualities that may clash with the sour. You might consider handling your dark grains separate from your mash, or use mostly dehusked grains.
Thanks. I was thinking of maybe doing a cold infusion with some of the black roasted barley. Did this on a dark saison a while back and worked well. Contributed smoother roasty flavors, and not so much acrid/bitterness that comes from mashing with it.