I’d like to share my experience using Lallemand Philly Sour yeast for fermenting vegetables, maybe it might help someone else.

I grow my own chili peppers and have tried fermenting them several times in the past to make hot sauce. However, the results were always disappointing—both the taste and aroma were off, with "funky" notes that I disliked. As everyone probably knows, vegetable fermentation at home usually relies on "spontaneous fermentation," trusting that the wild local yeast and bacteria will yield something edible, tasty, and healthy. After my failures, I assumed the wild microbiota in my home would always produce those unwanted flavors, so I set vegetable fermentation aside.

That changed this summer while brewing a Berliner Weisse. To keep things simple, I used Philly Sour yeast, when it struck me: couldn't this yeast be the solution to my hot sauce problems? Why wouldn't it break down the sugars in chilis and other vegetables the same way it does with wort? I tried to google if anyone had tried this before, but didn't find anything. So I decided to test the idea.

I used 0.5-liter jars, filling each with chopped chilis, garlic, spices, and a 3% salt brine. I just sprinkled a small amount of Philly Sour yeast on top and placed the jars in a warm spot (kitchen counter).

After ~2 weeks, I drained the excess liquid, pureed the chilis in a food processor, passed the mixture through a sieve and bottled.

The result: it worked just great! There were no funky off-flavors at all, just a clean heat and acidity, and the fruitiness of the chillis. Later, I used the same method to ferment cauliflower with carrots and jalapeños, which turned out just as good.

Of course, this experiment doesn't meet even basic scientific standards since I didn't include a control group. It's entirely possible that this year's wild bacterial and yeast strains were different and that the results would have been fine without Philly Sour. Testing that will have to wait for another year, though, because thanks to a rainy summer, this year's harvest was rather poor.

As a sidenote- I usually have problems with kahm yeast in my vegetable fermentations- this time it didn't show up at all. If that has anything to do with Philly sour is of course up for debate, but my guess is that kahm might have been out-competed.

So I've brewed for half a year now. Around 10 batches. I've gotten to the point where I make nice beer people like which is nice and for the first time i kegged the last beer and it went amazing. The carbonation was so nice and I got rid of the yeasty taste that sometimes is in bottles. But the few i bottled from this batch and primed with 3 sugar tablets, (where only 2 was recommended for 0,5 liter bottles) went really flat... I've had this issue quite a lot with my last couple of batches. In the past I've had some decent carbonation every now and then, but ultimately they always been kinda flat.

Info about my secondary fermentation:

20 ° celcius stable for 2 weeks once bottled. I always use carbonation drops / tables from the homebrew store and use the recommended amount. Sometimes I have waited 3 weeks no difference.

I always store at least 24 hours in fridge before pouring or more. I often feel no difference.

I mainly use saf ale 05 and 04 or lallemand neipa yeast.

What do you guys do? More sugar? Is there something I'm missing?

Hello friends, newbie here,

I've made a small batch of about 4 litres of (hard) cider in a demijohn. It all seemed to be going well, left it alone for 2 weeks, the bubbling through the airlock went from super active down to very very slow. After 2 weeks, i opened the bung, took a sample for a gravity reading and a cheeky taste, with decent sanitisation, It was as i would have expected, I think the gravity was about 1.002? if I'm reading the hydrometer correctly, right at the top, squarely in the yellow section labeled 'bottle'. Also tasted like cider (pretty rough, quite acidic but I was satisfied). I believe the ABV to be in the 8% range. Alas bottling that day was not convenient, so it's been sat a few more days,

My concern is that since then, the bubbling through the airlock has become much more frequent. I didn't expect there to be enough sugar left in there to keep fermenting much longer. And it certainly hasn't gotten any warmer in my flat. So I'm worried that checking the gravity has introduced oxygen and/or whatever it is that starts the process of turning it into vinegar. One possible explanation is that I tipped some of the airlock liquid out, do you reckon that having less liquid in there would increase bubble frequency? Even so, I wouldn't expect it to continue consistently once the gravity got so low?

I have just taken another gravity reading and it's not really moved as far as i can tell, and it still tastes fine (as fine as it was) so that's reassuring at least.

TLDR how likely is it that i accidentally triggered a secondary ACV vinegar fermentation in the 2 minutes exposed to air that it took to check gravity? I thought it was fermented dry but bubbling through the airlock has increased in frequency

Hey everyone,

I went and added some speciality malts into some orders for shits and giggles with no prior plan what to actually brew with it: 250g of Viking Cookie Malt, 250g of Viking Caramel 400.

Since I also have some Aromatic Amber Malt leftovers, I was thinking of either doing a pastry Brown Ale or ESB (veering slightly toward the latter). Anyone wanna chime in? Would be much appreciated; my questions are down below, but first my recipe so far...

CHOMP BOX v1 - Cookie ESB
Method: All Grain
Batch Size: 23L Mash / 5L Sparge / ~23L Fermenter / ~19L Post-Ferm
Equipment: Speidel Braumeister 20L

Grain Bill:

• 4.5kg (85,7%) Maris Otter Pale Malt
• 250g (4,8%) Dingemans Amber Aromatic Malt
• 250g (4,8%) Viking Cookie Malt
• 250g (4,8%) Viking Caramel 400

Estimated Color: 28 EBC

Hop Bill:

• 30g Challenger (or similar) @ 60min
• 25g East Kent Golding @ 15min
• 25g EKG @ 0min (Hopstand @ 80°C for 15-20min)

Estimated IBU: 31

Mash Profile:

• Mash in @ 35°C
• Single Infusion Mash, 60min @ 67°C
• Mash Out: 10min @ 78°C

Estimated ABV: 5,0%

Yeast: 1pckg Mangrove Jack's M36

Fermentation Profile:

• Active Fermentation: 3d @ 19°C
• Ramp up: 3d @ 20-21°C
• Diacetyl Rest: 4d @ 21-22°C
• Cold Crash: 2d @ 2°C

Carbonation: 1.8 Vol. (Kegging)

Water Profile (untreated local tap water - naturally free of chlorine)

• Calcium (Ca²⁺): 75.7 ppm
• Magnesium (Mg²⁺): 14.2 ppm
• Natrium (Na⁺): 14.6 ppm
• Sulfate (SO₄²⁻): 73.0 ppm
• Chloride (Cl⁻): 27.0 ppm
• Bicarbonate (HCO₃⁻): 196.8 ppm
• Total Hardness: 248 ppm
• Total Alkalinity: 161 ppm
• Residual Alkalinity: 98 ppm

Ratio SO₄²⁻/ Cl⁻: 27.1 : 1

--> Add in 3.5ml Lactic Acid (80%) for a presumed mash pH of 5.42.

Questions:

• Anyone got any experience with the Cookie Malt? Will that plus the Aromatic plus the Caramel be a hat on a hat on a hat?
• Anyone got any experience with the M36? I read that it'd provide a nice, medium-heavy but still dry body which would balance the overall sweetness of the malt - though I have no real world knowledge to back that up.
• Any thoughts on the hops? I'm on the low end of the ESB IBU scale, but don't know how more of the stuff would play with the grain bill.

No priming sugar...I lost it. Looked everywhere. I know I can use table sugar to prime but I do NOT have a scale so I measured a cup and a scant quarter. Some say it must be weighed.....I do not have a scale and no car this weekend. How much is safe to prime a 5 gallon batch of Hefeweizen?