Re-pitch lacto for a Gose-type brew?

[FlimFlamFlo]

Hello,

I have a Gose-type brew in the fermenter (as in, there's salt in it ;-)). None of it really went to plan - I missed my target (got 1036 instead of 1049) and the lacto delbreukii phial I pitched at the same time as the yeast exploded on opening so I'd say if I'm lucky, half went in but probably a lot less. I chickened out on the 25g of salt the recipe called for too - and added 17g towards the end of the boil.

22 days in, I'm at 1006 and it's got enough fizz to it to suggest it's worth leaving it sit a bit. Problem: I was worried about brine but there is zero salt taste. And zero suggestion of sourness. It tastes pretty basic with a minor suggestion (probably delusion) that it could develop a little bit more.

I'm about to add some grapefruit peel to the fermenter and wondering if it makes sense to chuck more lacto in? Also, is there any sensible way of adding a little more salt?

Should I chuck it down the sink?

Any advice appreciated :-)

Recipe:

2.27kg wheat malt
1.7 kg pilsener malt
California Ale Yeast
Ahtanum (6%AA) 60m
Ahtanum 7g 20minss
Ahtanum 14 flameout
25g maldon/salt (I only used 17g)
1 x phial lacto bacillus delbreukii
5 x grapefruit peel - in secondary.

[garciaBernal]

Lacto hates IBU unfortunately so you would want to be down around 10 to 5 IBU and even at that it's going to take months for your pH to drop not a matter of weeks. Whats your IBU coming in at?

[FlimFlamFlo]

No idea what the IBU is - I've never really tried to measure more than Charlie P's 'HBU' but maybe I need to improve my maths if I want to get better at this :-) Thanks for your help - I knew it was going to take months but wasn't really sure what to expect either.

Good learning curve for me on multiple fronts. Any opinion on trying to add a little more salt now?

Thanks again,
Flim

[Ciaran]

Haven't brewed a Gose before but the carbonation will add a bit of extra acidic bite as well as helping to bring out the aromas etc so maybe not a total lost cause.  Also you could try adding some lactic acid if it's not sour enough, or dry hop it for some extra interest - might be a better option than chucking it out. 

[mr hoppy]

17g is plenty salt. The two traditional German goses only have a hint of salt whereas 25g in 20l is, as you say, briney. If you are souring post boil I would not put more than 5g of low AA kettle hops in. Saaz for example, and really gose doesn't need any hops at all.

At this stage you could add a hop tolerant lacto strain, but being hop tolerant you'd need to handle with care.

[garciaBernal]

How many grams of Ahtanum did you use at 60min and what was your starting boil in litres and into fermenter in litres? We can try and work out your IBU for you and then we'll see if it's worth pitching any more lacto. WLP677 is supposed to work up to 20IBU but I think 15IBU is the max in reality. It sounds like you're in the correct ball park for the amount of salt though.

[imark]

If you're already down to 1.006 I wonder if it's worth persisting with. Might be better off adding lactic acid to taste so you can enjoy that brew and try again.

[FlimFlamFlo]

How many grams of Ahtanum did you use at 60min and what was your starting boil in litres and into fermenter in litres? We can try and work out your IBU for you and then we'll see if it's worth pitching any more lacto. WLP677 is supposed to work up to 20IBU but I think 15IBU is the max in reality. It sounds like you're in the correct ball park for the amount of salt though.

Thanks a million for that - might as well learn from this even if it goes down the sink. Lesson one being to take better notice of the details.... I 'think' the boil started around 27litres. I mashed with 14.2l, sparged with 17l. 19l into fermenter>>> I'm using a grainfather.

Should have said, it was 7g of Athanum at 60mins.

If it's not too much hassle to hand hold - how do you calculate from that?

Thanks again for all your help.

[FlimFlamFlo]

@imark - it's at 1.004 now but I feel like I'm flogging a dead horse. Haven't inflicted the grapefruit peel yet but am wondering if even that would be a waste of ingredients!