Yoghurt vs Sour beer (bacteria count)

"yoghurt" - Australian for "yogurt"

 

I think you'd get better luck posting this under Homebrewing than Beer Talk...many homebrewers are using yogurt or probiotic supplements instead of "brewers" lacto for souring nowadays. It's cheaper and easier to attain a diverse culture.

 

You can also sour mash, but ^^^

 

I think Homebrewing has way more "people in the know" than Beer Talk does. Have you read any of the things posted here on Beer Talk?

 

Yogurt, Yank for yoghurt.

 

Don't be shy, cut and paste your original post in a new thread under Homebrewing...I'm sure you'll get a few quick intelligent replies from people with the right experience.

 

I don't think specific numbers are available, but some really good info here.

 

If you found the answer, what would you do with it?

 

Probably depends on what specific brand of yogurt and what specific beer.

 

I would base a back of the envelope calculation on food content for original cultures in the beer and in the yogurt. You might assume an OG for the beer and then calculate grams of sugar required to make that OG. Compare it to the amount sugar in the volume of milk required to make a 5.3 oz tub of yogurt (it is greater than 5.3 oz; when I make yogurt I would guesstimate the final volume is about 80% of the starting volume (pouring off the water liquid); if it is Greek yogurt, it is probably more like 67% of the starting volume. As a first stab, I'd say the one with the greater amount of starting sugar ought to support more cells. Certainly there may be other considerations: is the sour exclusively a lacto derived beer or did the lacto have to compete with Brett or Sacch to get sugars, how fermentable was the wort, what was the final gravity, in what other ways did the fermentation environment differ, etc. It seems like you might be comparing apples to oranges which makes me wonder the same question as @brewbetty above.