With a thread about dry vs liquid out. Personally, I do both but the dry price in nice. What about free? Since spring and summer is around, I've always wanted to put the damn bucket out back in my yard. I do have a lot of plants, shrubs, some trees and a veggie garden going and I wonder how it would turn out. The only thing that pisses my off is a neighbor who does the lawn treatment scene. The bucket could be placed 20 or 30 yards from that, but I wonder what would happen if they came to treat it while the bucket is out. Actually, I have no idea what the hell I'm thinking. How does one deal with sun? Towel? I'm I dreaming? Any resources or experiences? Thanks Cheers!
I've never tried spontaneous fermentation. but if I did I'd probably want to start by stepping up wild yeasts in flasks rather than going all-in and just leaving the fermenter in the garden... Kat Sewell's blog has an interesting example of how you might try it if you wanted to: Spontanpeckham – Have I got brews for you (wordpress.com) although even she runs the wort off into demijohns once it's (hopefully) inoculated rather than just leaving it out indefinitely. I haven't seen a "how it turned out" post, although from passing references elsewhere I'm assuming it was okay (eg the yeast was used as part of a brewcon megablend, which they presumably wouldn't have done if it had come out toxic or disgusting...)
Do you like vinegar? Imagine 5 gallons of vinegar, only the kind of vinegar that does not taste good and is useless. Now imagine that vinegar with dozens of insect larvae. Fertilizer is likely not going to do much of anything to your fermentation. Let's hope your neighbor likes to use plenty of insecticide. That stuff will hopefully reduce both kinds of invaders. The crawlers and the flyers. Oh sure. Plenty of us have had a once promising bucket of sweet sweet wort go to hell due to careless inattention. Sorry for the snark, but if you leave a sweet source of food outside, it will be a breeding source for all sorts of wild things. Chancing a desirable fermentation is the least of likely outcomes. Cheers
I have no personal experience with spontaneous fermentation but the below linked article discusses this topic with 10 tips. Cheers! https://www.homebrewersassociation....l,yeast and bacteria are naturally in the air.
Can't hurt. Fruit flys and such are tiny bastards. I'm not saying don't try it, just that your risk to to reward is disproportionate when you have wort outside. Hell, getting a desirable spontaneous fermentation is risky in the best of circumstances. Cheers
Some forum members have had success cultivating wild yeast, particularly @jbakajust1. But the typical way to do it is to culture up microbes from a promising source (ripe fruit, flowers, that sort of thing) and then pick one that has pleasing fermentation characteristics. Wild yeast is likely to be phenolic and unlikely to be very flocculent, but you never know. If you get a yeast that is suspiciously "clean," it may be that you've inadvertently picked up a domesticated yeast: https://suigenerisbrewing.com/index.php/2022/02/09/better-cider-than-nottingham/ Also potentially of interest: https://bootlegbiology.com/backyard-yeast-wrangling-tool-kit/
You would only put the bucket out until the next morning, and then seal it up like any other fermentation. It will take a few days for the fermentation to kick off. You risk losing all the wort to bad yeast or really bad bacteria taking off before the other stuff does. Were it up to me, I would make 6 gallons of wort, ferment 5 as normal, split the other gallon up into 4 quarts, and try to collect wild yeast from the air or from sources like flowers or fruit.
Forgot about one thing. Squirrels. I may just do a one gallon batch inside house and cut some pollen plants flowers and shake them over wort and seal.
To the best of my knowledge this is best done specifically in the fall, and when the nights are about 40°F. Wort is only in a coolship overnight.
What's your experience with commercial mixed cultures that contain saccharomyces, brettanomyces, lactic acid bacteria, pediococcus, etc., like Rosealare blend, various blends from Bootleg Biology, and others? What about experience drinking commercial beers made from mixed cultures? These are the successful commercial descendents of the spontaneous traditions you would be emulating with your open air, backyard fermentation. There are people who like these types of beers, including me, often. If you are not sure about whether you like sour and funy beers, maybe start there. To do it sponteneously, with no controls, is a crapshoot. Might be fun, but it also might be worth exploring some of the commercial beers or blends before jumping in with both feet. There is a lot of content on conducting spontaneous fermentation, so if you are into it, maybe seek out the Milk the Funk content, or maybe buy one of the kits that bootleg biology sells for culturing wild caught yeast - taming something wild might serve you better here than just letting nature run its course..
My first experience with sour was ordering on from a brewpub called the Lafeyette Inn outside of Philly. I tasted it and it was just bad. Told the bartender who told me I had no idea and was pissed. He could be 100 % right. In reality, it was so sour to the point of being drinkable to me. I've had commercial sours that were much more drinkable. So, I guess I'm 50/50. If anything, I'd like to have some type of French farmhouse ale to come out of this. Will give it a try next week. Squirrels be damned!
I’ve heard, wait until after the first hard frost, but I can’t remember where I heard it. I do remember thinking, what about places where they never or rarely get a hard frost? Maybe you can’t make a lambic style beer in Key West
