Newbee Faux pas

[wombat_brews]

I am new to making fermented beverages and decided to take the plunge before the wife and I have the space and resources for me to put together an actual "fermentation lab" (dedicated space for mad scientist brewing and wine making). As such, I'm trying to spend as little as possible, correction: nothing! (how foolish! I know. But we're "house poor" and the wife won't approve the $25 investment in the bare-bones items needed for small batch brewing.)

Any ways, I was curious about using a sourdough starter as a yeast source. Research turned up very little information, but the consensus is that it is possible, albeit, unpredictable in final product. Given this miserly act of conservation, please be gentle in your rebukes.

Recipe:
1 part honey to 4 parts water
For a 1/2 gallon batch - 1 cup honey, 8 cups water
I followed the no-boil method of preparing my must as described in the Gotmead tutorials; however, to accelerate the dechlorination process and to purge my water of microbes, I simmered the water for about 30 mins while my honey was returning to its liquid state (had the honey pot crystallize). Combined honey and water together and let cool to 80 F.

Yeast harvest method was to decant the liquid off of the top of the sourdough starter. I pored this liquid into the bottom of my primary fermentation bucket (1/2 gallon growler) and poured the cool must over that. Shook vigourously for a few minutes to aerate.

I put the growler in an out of the way closet where the temperatures range from 68-70 F. It's been 3 days since I started everything. The foam from shaking the growler has subsided, but no evidence of fermentation other than a few small bubbles gathering at the surface of the must.

I'm concerned that the yeast culture wasn't big enough, let alone any yeast culture. I'm thinking of repitching with a different harvest method,but after reading through the forums, it seems that pH is the most likely culprit. I did use tap water, we have very hard water with naturally high levels of calcium and sulfur, and we use a water softener with rock salt (NaCl for those chemists in the crowd). Again, I'm hoping to remedy the situation without spending any money since the wife doesn't even know I'm experimenting.

 

[stagnant waters]

I'd guess that the amount of starter used wasn't enough. I think I'd build up a big starter fed with a little honey and boiled bread yeast. I've used sourdough starter for ginger ale and it worked pretty well and took off within 24 hours, but a homemade sourdough starter is much more temperamental than conventional yeast. I bake a lot of sourdough and my rise times double if I use tap water rather than filtered. The fact that you boiled your water should have solved that problem, but homegrown babies haven't been bred to withstand big changes in their environment. Keep us posted. I'd like to try a wild fermentation myself(the sour component appeals to me) but I'm new to brewing and thought I'd get my feet wet with conventional yeasts first. Cool experiment. "House poor" sucks, doesn't it?

 

[Midnight Sun]

I concur, you probably used too little starter. Try mixing in some of the solids rather than just the liquid. The other thing you might try is feeding your starter to get everything moving, then pitch some of the flour mixture. Do be careful, there may be spoilage microbes present in your starter.

You could also try adding regular bread yeast to the mix.

Since you are on a limited budget, consider JOAM. That uses bread yeast, an orange, cinnamon, cloves, raisins, and some honey. My very first mead was a JOAM fermented in an empty 1-gallon plastic jug using a balloon for a fermentation lock. Once that experiment turned out well, my wife was willing to spend a little money towards glass carboys and real fermentation locks. Then the hobby turned to an addiction...

Welcome to Got Mead!

 

[wombat_brews]

Update

Thanks for the input.

After reading some more threads, I learned that honey, by it self, lacks essential nutrients for yeasts to thrive. This lead me to consider adding in some of the flour mixture from the starter. Furthermore, this sourdough starter has a history of over 140 years. I got it from a friend whose family traced it back alongside their family tree. This stuff is tough as nails. I've left it unattended in the fridge for 6 months to a year and the worst that'd happened was the liquid had evaporated. Made a fresh round of pancakes and it's as good as new. Figured that the flour that settled to the bottom gave a nutrient source for the yeasts while in dormancy.

I repitched the yeast this morning and thoroughly aerated the must. The viscosity of the must has changed (the foam didn't stick around), so I guess there was some action, but not enough yeasts present to get things going like it should. I'll keep ya'll posted with updates.

As for the spoilage potential, I've taken that into consideration and fully understand this to be an experiment in fermentation. I was hesitant at first to actually commit, but I decided I'd only be out the honey and not all that much since this is a half gallon batch. Wikipedia had some interesting info on the microbes that populate most sourdough starters.

Hard to believe that I chose a risky, wild yeast fermentation with little documentation from which to gain guidance as my first foray into brewing and wine making. Ah well, that's typical me.

 

[stagnant waters]

A 140 year old starter would give me faith, too. Your experiment might give me enough faith to try myself.

 

[Chevette Girl]

Well, with any luck you won't stain the kitchen ceiling with your first foray into fermentation like I did (wild grapes, backsweetened and bottled without stabilizing). But then, I started with absolutely no theory at all other than "stuff plus yeast equals wine?", before the internet was such a useful resource. Or at least before I knew it to be such a resource.

Edit: And 140 years? that's well worth the risks, just for bragging rights

 

[wombat_brews]

Victory!

I am the proud owner of an actively fermenting mead must. Repitching the sourdough seems to have done the trick. A thin layer of krausen has formed. When I went to aerate this morning, the seran wrap had bulged and as I started to swirl, the gasses escaped. Put a pin hole in the seran wrap to prevent it from over filling and popping off. The whole thing smells of honey and bread yeast. we'll see what the final product is.

 

[THawk]

Well, with any luck you won't stain the kitchen ceiling with your first foray into fermentation like I did (wild grapes, backsweetened and bottled without stabilizing). But then, I started with absolutely no theory at all other than "stuff plus yeast equals wine?", before the internet was such a useful resource. Or at least before I knew it to be such a resource.

Edit: And 140 years? that's well worth the risks, just for bragging rights

Must have been one hell of an MEA to hit the ceiling... or did you have Canada Day fireworks when your bottles exploded?

 

[ambloplites]

Wombat - if it smells good, it will taste good!

The JAOM recipe mentioned earlier is certainly an easy way to go ... makes an excellent mead ... and easy on the wallet!

And sourdough starter ... I have been pondering that myself ... hope to hear that it has gone well for you!

 

[Chevette Girl]

Must have been one hell of an MEA to hit the ceiling... or did you have Canada Day fireworks when your bottles exploded?

I think it was later in the summer, wild grapes aren't ready till August or September. Learned not to bottle directly after backsweetening an unstabilized wine that wasn't past the yeast's alcohol limit. Never found the cork.

 

[wombat_brews]

Status Check

Checked up on the sourdough starter mead today. Swapped the seran wrap for a balloon (poor boy's airlock). didn't take long for the balloon to fill with enough gas to poke the pin holes in the top. I also snuck a taste; sweet with a citrus note, although the distinct yeast flavour was present. Two weeks and primary fermentation is still going strong.

 

[wombat_brews]

final results

So on June 26, I revealed my mad experiment in mead to my wife. I'd racked it to secondary fermentation before it actually finished in the primary. Let her have a taste. Sour with citrus zing and the yeasty alcohol taste. She's cool with the experimentation, but we gotta keep the costs low.

I took the mead to my brother's wedding that weekend. Got too drunk to have much more than a tasting for everyone there at the stagg. After getting home, I kept everything in the fridge. A month later and it smelled of sourdough only and I dumped it all. Especially since smelling the hydromel I started made me feel sick (hints of hooch and yeast, etc...)

Soon after dumping the mead, but before touching the hydromel, I learned that fusel alcohols can be aged out of the mead, part of why aging mead takes so long. I also learned of the importance of tannic acid, so the hydromel is ageing with a half cup of strong brewed tea (thanks chevette for sharing your processes and procedures in other threads). We'll see if the hydromel hooch can mellow into a nice, citrus zing instead of being lemon flavoured paint thinner. Just because mead can be forgiving, doesn't mean it'll be drinkable.

 

[Jim H]

I don't know if it would work for you, but on my first hydromel, I used heavy toast oak chips. They mellowed the batch, and at the same time added some tannins. I didn't have that knowledge about tannins and oak beforehand... I merely had read Schramm's book, and he advised using some oak to improve the flavor of any batch of mead. I found out about the tannins later.

In a next batch, it might be worth a try, and you can compare the taste to adding tea.

It's kind of fun, isn't it?

 

[Chevette Girl]

Some batches can be tweaked, some turn out really nice, and some just never really get any better...

 

[mannye]

JAOM JAOM JAOM. Cheap cheeeeeeeeeeeeep and so goooood. Good enough that if you follow directions, wifey will be demanding you make more!