So I made a starter 1.030 of just light dme. Pitched wyeast 5335. I've kept it at 95-105F. It's now day 2-2.5 and it doesn't look like its doing anything. There is a layer of powdery sediment at the bottom. I tasted the wort, tasted kinda sweet. Any thoughts?
This article might give you some insights. http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2012/06/100-lactobacillus-berliner-weisse.html particularly this statement: "For example, the strain sold by Wyeast (5335) is only capable of fermenting about 10-12% of the carbohydrates in a standard wort, not nearly enough attenuation for something resembling beer." Maybe you're not seeing any activity because 5335 isn't really finding much to munch on in your starter?
Im pretty sure that the WY lacto only ferments glucose, which is a big reason why beers almost never become very sour when using this strain. A good way to grow it up is using apple juice and chalk, and augmenting your malt bill to include glucose. Then giving the lacto a head start is a good way to go
I made a starter like this and let it go a week. One way to check your lacto starter would be taking a pH reading and seeing where you are. One tip I learned when making a sour beer is that when you are tasting/testing the wort is that it will come out sweet because the lacto has barely eaten any of the sugars which gives the false impression that the beer is not souring. However when I pitched the yeast and fermented the beer out there was plenty of sourness to the ale. Just make sure the lacto does not drop the pH to low to the point that the yeast can't survive.
Thanks for the reply, A day after I posted this it began bubbling and still is. I took a little taste and its starting to get sour... I guess it just needed time
