So yesterday I was brewing a French Saison and i decided I wanted to try to add some natural lacto from the husks of some unmilled 2-row. I suspended a hop sack with about 1 pound of grain in it after completely finishing my boil and cooling. I then purged with pure co2 to get the oxygen out, closed the lid and sealed it with a ton of saran wrap. I put a heating pad under it to keep the temp up and left it for 24 hours wrapped in a blanket. I came home and was unpleasantly surprised by the smell. It was unbelievably bad. Like asparagus, rotten eggs, and a little bit of metal... I have heard of other people using this same method but didn't read about any smell like this. I boiled my wort again today hoping to stop any more souring then cooled and pitched my yeast. Am I screwed or do you think I stand a chance with racking, cold crashing, and aging for a while?
It sounds like you may have gotten some enterobacter action (e. coli, etc). No health risk, except to your taste buds. This happens with lambics so most of the nastiness will probably be purged by CO2 during fermentation, modified by yeast or aged out - but it might take a few years. Spoiled sour mashes are not that uncommon; that's why I do a separate sour mash and add it in at sparge time. In your case, it would have been good to pull off a small portion of your wort to sour and add back in. Your saison will probably be drinkable eventually but might require some patience.
I use the method you're describing for a berliner weisse and I get the same smells. Hot garbage, vomit, etc. I find that a little bit of the smell carries to the final product but most of the time it's negligible and I haven't gotten an infection yet.
Like they all ready said. you should try a very small amount of wort first and build from there. lacto should smell very clean, just like lactic acid, mostly just like yougourt. My first attempt with a sour mash turn really bad with all the awful smell you describe. I, like you, also try to save it by boiling the wort, after like 6 month was better but it always had a hit of cooked cabbage. I wouldn't have high hopes but just give it some time. The thing is lacto does not like hops or alcohol. Assuming your saison was probably 20 or more IBU plus some late additions then it was a very hostile environment for lacto and a very good one for enterobacteria. I recently collected like a pint of wort in a mason jar before boiling and trow some grains in there after had cooled down to about 100 F. after 4 day at room temp it has a white pellice and smells and tastes very clean, just lactic. I plan step up that to a 2 L or a gallon and then used to make a berliner weisse, probably souring half the wort. .
Thank you! This makes me feel a bit better. I noticed the smell is going away already and fermentation is kicking into high gear. I imagine if I let it age 6 months it may be okay. Do you think its better just to use an actual bacteria culture instead of the natural stuff? To get more control out of it?
I think yeah, pure culture will be your best bet. with the natural stuff any oxygen getting in may trigger the enterobacterias.
