I am trying my first sour. It is a 6.8% stout. All grain BIAB. The final gravity came out to 1.012. I have a lacto culture I will add to sour it. I made 9 gallons and have four in a seperate fermentor. I am at an impasse as to whether to secondary to add my bacteria. My worry is adding some oxygen to the wort in transfer as opposed to the risk of leaving a souring stout on the trub for 6 months. I was thinking either just add my culture through the grommet hole of my plastic bucket or move to secondary before adding it. Any thoughts
I think you answered your own question right there... plastic buckets aren't meant for secondaries, especially for extended aging.
This, and what was your IBU? That aside, I wouldn't secondary in a bucket...but some people have reported doing so without negative effects. Again, though, I wouldn't do it.
culture Lactobacillus delbrueckii wlp677 ibu 35 I was thinking of buying a glass carboy. Saw that people didn't seem to have big problems with it. I decided to stay with it as it is a food grade bucket which is much thicker than the normal ale bucket. I may rethink this though.
IBU is too high and this lacto metabolizes simple sugars which are all gone. Save your lacto for another batch.
The thickness of the bucket really doesn't matter much since it the the HDPE plastic it is made of that is oxygen permeable. Go for the glass carboy, or a Better Bottle. I also agree with @Brew_Betty that WLP677 won't do a thing to 35 IBUs. For that IBU level you could try adding a culture from a Nancy's Yogurt if you can get it (if not, try a culture from a fresh unpasteurized real yogurt).
My latest plan is this. I do have a 1 gallon glass fermentor. I figured I would give 1 gallon a go for s**ts and giggles. The other 2 to3 gallons I may add some wood chips soaked in bourbon. That is plan c unless I come up with a plan d. Thanks everyone for their input. I might do a berliner weisse soon for summer drinking.
