How long for activity from wild dregs?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by marqoid, May 15, 2012.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. marqoid

    marqoid Initiate (0) Sep 29, 2008 Arizona

    48 hours ago I brewed a (65%/35%) lambic base that I hopped to ~8 IBU. I pitched a pint mason jar with the dregs of ~10 various sour bottles that have been culturing in low gravity wort with some oak cubes. I have been keeping this culture for ~9 months and just kept adding to it.
    How soon should I expect activity? There is nothing yet. I have never used a culture like this. I have used brett to primary and always had a quicker start. Should I open a fresh bottle to pitch more dregs?
     
    #1 marqoid, May 15, 2012
  2. LostTraveler

    LostTraveler Initiate (0) Oct 28, 2011 Maine

    have you put the dregs onto a stir plate and use DME to multiple or just pour into a jar and let it sit?
     
    #2 LostTraveler, May 15, 2012
  3. marqoid

    marqoid Initiate (0) Sep 29, 2008 Arizona

    I poured into a jar with low gravity wort made from DME.
    I have had good success with just pouring the dregs right from the bottle into my carboy, but never used it as the only yeast/bacteria.
     
    #3 marqoid, May 15, 2012
  4. ryane

    ryane Initiate (0) Nov 21, 2007 Washington

    9mos is a long time in a jar to have an active strong culture, even if you continue to feed once in a while.
    You probably should have made something much larger say 2gallons with it first before pitching into a full batch. If you dont see activity soon I would suggest adding a half sachet of dry yeast, sours that take a long time to get running often have off flavors
     
    #4 ryane, May 15, 2012
  5. robinsmv

    robinsmv Initiate (0) Jun 24, 2010 Florida

    This may be a noob question since I don't have any experience using dregs or brewing sours, but why did you put the oak cubes in the mason jar? Are you hoping the bugs will get into the wood and that you can then use the cubes to inoculate more starters/beers?
     
    #5 robinsmv, May 15, 2012
  6. jthahn

    jthahn Initiate (0) Jun 1, 2009 Indiana

    if you have a pretty strong culture I would have expected activity within a day. I like using bottle dregs but I use them in addition to a base yeast because the interactions of the various microbes is just so unpredictable. Did you measure the pH of your starter as it was progressing? what about the gravity? i'm curious if the yeast/bugs were active during this 9 mos. timeframe.
     
    #6 jthahn, May 16, 2012
  7. marqoid

    marqoid Initiate (0) Sep 29, 2008 Arizona

    I did not measure pH and refreshed it a few times with 1.035 wort. When I refreshed it the starter had soured and tasted similar to Friek. There were dregs from 2 bottles of Odell Friek.
     
    #7 marqoid, May 16, 2012
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.