I have been thinking about trying my hand at yeast wrangling in my backyard for months. Some muscadine grapes finally ripened and I happened to have fresh wort handy. This should be an interesting experiment. The wort sample I have is from my recent Berliner style weisse beer, which has a pH=3.51 and Brix=8.0.
On Monday, October 16, 2017, I put about 190 mL of the low-pH wort in a sanitized Ball pint jar and dropped three ripened grapes right off the vine into the jar. Placed a lid drilled to hold a rubber stopper and airlock, and placed in my fermentation refrigerator which is currently at around 65°F.
10/25/17 – 12:30 pm: Below are two photos after 10 days. One with the flash and one without. The muscadine grape skins have split open. I have seen some white feathery stuff along the edge of the jar that is now covered up by the bubbles. Also see some green stuff floating as well.
10/26/17 – 10:30 am: I posted a picture of my concoction on Milk The Funk’s Facebook page asking for advice. It created a lively discussion. On the advice of a couple of folks from Milk The Funk, the presence of mold is pretty much a no-go for moving forward with wrangling a useable funk. Since there is fermenting activity, a couple of folks suggested to let it ferment out, re-start/grow it in another wort and repeat this a few time to eliminate the mold and its harmful effects. I swirled the jar, poured through a filter into a new jar to remove the solids and put the lid/airlock back on. The solution smelled pleasant: a little fruit, bread yeast and perhaps a little vinegar.
11/05/17 – 8:00 am: Although I did get some nice looking results, I have decided to terminate this wrangle because of the mold in the original capture. The beer smelled bready, yeasty, fruity and a bit of wine. Perhaps some vinegar as well. I am very pleased and excited about this capture. I will try again with some muscadine grapes.
