Reddit reviews Swanson L. Plantarum Inner Bowel Support 10 Billion Cfu 30 Veg Drcaps … (1)

By lactose, do you mean lactose sugar? Lactose sugar doesn't contain any live cultures (I mean there may be some dormant wild yeast/bacteria in there), so that's just going to add more food for whatever eventually takes hold of your ferment - wild yeast, Lactobacillus on the peppers, etc.

If you mean pitching Lactobacillus cultures, yes that would work and probably help a bit. Something like this would work well (it's what I use for kettle-souring beers), but a healthy ferment consists of several species of Lactobacillus, and you may get less than optimal results relying on a single strain. Some good literature on this available here, but doesn't appear to be full-text :(

Another solid option would be to pitch a little bit of brine from a previous ferment, especially kraut brine which will have a nice mix of all the good Lactobacillus spp.

Liquid whey should work too, but I've never tried it myself.

I use Swanson L. Plantarum pills, 2 pills per gallon. Cheap and easy, works like a charm. Sours to my preference in ~18-24 hours. Lately, after having one batch go a bit too sour, I've been erring slightly on the side of undersouring, and finishing with a small dose of lactic acid to dial in that last bit of punch.

​

https://smile.amazon.com/Swanson-Probiotics-Regularity-Gastrointestinal-Supplement/dp/B00BZ3YWXC?sa-no-redirect=1

There is a pure l. plantarum product made by a company named Swanson: https://www.amazon.com/Swanson-Plantarum-Support-Billion-Drcaps/dp/B00BZ3YWXC/ref=sr_1_4_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1500557987&sr=8-4&keywords=Lactobacillus+Plantarum+299V

I just had a Berliner this weekend that was made with Goodbelly probiotic drink, which I believe only contains l. plantarum as well. I am currently souring a batch of Berliner with the Swanson product FWIW.

I get mine from Whole Foods when I travel to the nearest large city.

If you don't have a Whole Foods type place nearby to look, you can order Swanson's probiotic capsules. These are the same lacto strain and will sour the same as Good Belly.

Interesting, have you gotten decent tartness from it? I figured it was just a dud.

Never tried good belly but my most recent attempt was with the Swanson's probiotics. I made a starter with three capsules and pitched it into 6 gallons of wort a few days later. 36 hours of recirculating at 85-90F and it was almost too sour but the taste was considerably cleaner than anything else I've tried (Wyeast, Omega, grains). I can't recommend it enough.

I use these, you can find them a little cheaper from other sellers if you look. Get 3-4 brews for under $10 and works really well.

Swanson L. Plantarum Probiotics Bowel Regularity, Gas, Bloating, Immune Support, Gastrointestinal Balance 10 billion CFU Supplement 30 Veggie Capsules https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BZ3YWXC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_BE4vCb9SZXJGJ

Swanson Probiotics. These are the exact ones I ordered from Amazon and were recommended to me somewhere (either here, or Milk the Funk... I can't recall).

I did a 1L 1.040 starter with DME and 10% apple juice and used two capsules. Seemed to work so far!

I used this to sour my berliner. used 10 capsules for a 5gal batch at 100f, left it for ~4 days and it got down to 3.1ph. plantarum works at lower temps than a lot of lacto, so while it could take longer, it will still chug along at room temp and get you where u want it eventually :). oh, and its prime, so you can likely get it before your brewday if you order now!

Your 6-row malt is not necessary as you're using malted wheat (which is enzymatic).

Skip the protein mash. I would also recommend against souring the mash, especially if you're not using a lactobacillus culture. This method is hit-or-miss with results, and you will be more likely to have a better product if you lauter and pitch a pure lacto culture into your kettle. http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Wort_Souring#Souring_in_the_Boiler_.28Kettle_Sour.29

If you have a health foods store, you may be able to find goodbelly. Use the straight shot if you can, or use the juice (peach mango orange would be a good option). I'm not a huge fan of goodbelly, but lots of other homebrewers swear by it.

http://goodbelly.com/where-to-buy/

Otherwise, the health foods store might have lactobacillus plantarum capsules.

https://www.amazon.com/Swanson-Plantarum-Support-Billion-Drcaps/dp/B00BZ3YWXC?th=1

Here’s the bacteria I’m using
https://www.amazon.com/Swanson-Probiotics-Regularity-Gastrointestinal-Supplement/dp/B00BZ3YWXC

I treat this like yeast in that I make a starter and pitch the bacteria. 100g of malt extract, 1kg of water and 5 capsules of bacteria.

Mash normal for a wort and drop temperature to 40-50C and pitch the bacteria starter. It takes 24-36hr to get the pH down to 3.4-3.5ish.

Then I boil the wort again to kill the bacteria, cool and pitch my yeast.

I'm about 3 weeks into fermentation of my first kettle sour attempt. I used Swanson L. Plantarum capsules, 10 of them, rather than goodbelly. They worked really well, as I was down to 3.5 pH after about 16 hours @ 95F (I had pre-soured to 4.5 with lactic acid). https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BZ3YWXC/

Depending on your culture of lacto, I have heard it can take as much as 72 hours, especially if you are trying to go really low with the pH. But going beyond 3 days is sketchy IMO. I'm just learning the kettle sour process myself but I wouldn't want to leave my wort more than 1-2 days before boiling and pitching yeast.

My guess is your goodbelly shots did not have enough lacto in them, so it was just a really slow start. Pitching more next time would probably be safe. The capsules worked great though, if you want another method to try. I don't know if the flavors are different between the capsules and goodbelly, they might be, but the simplicity was key for me. I would guess any differences are minimal.

By the way, make sure to keep your lacto no hotter than 100. It can actually do just fine in the 80s or even at room temp. The quickest pH drop supposedly happens right around 95 though. Source: http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Lactobacillus#Commercially_available_Lactobacillus_strains_and_their_pH_change_over_time

​

It's made in Boulder, CO so you might be able to get it in grocery stores in Montana. Or you can order these from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00BZ3YWXC/ref=cm_cr_srp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

Make a starter with 5 capsules. Ideal lacto pitching rates are 100-125 billion cells per 5 gallons.

Hopefully I can answer your questions! Berliner Weisse is one of my favorite styles. MTF is a great resource, so definitely check that out.

1. Use a good calculator to figure out how big of a yeast starter you need. There are plenty of guides online. You shouldn't need a starter for your bacteria if the pack isn't old. If you can't get your hands on OYL-605, you can use GoodBelly Probiotics, which you can find at most health stores or even Whole Foods. The mango kind will impart the least amount of flavor to the beer. 8-10 oz per 5 gal of beer is enough. You can also use Probiotic pills to sour. Again, no starter necessary, just pull apart a few pills (4-5 is plenty) and dump the powder into the fermenter. Whatever you use, I recommend that it contains L. plantarum.
   
   
2. You can buy lactic or phosphoric acid from a homebrew store and a calculator like Bru'n water to figure that out. However, I never bother with this step. Sours usually have terrible head retention, and I don't mind it.
   
   
3. The last few times I've made a Berliner, I just sour for 24-48 hours in my fermenter, then pitch yeast. As long as you pitch a healthy bacteria starter, you shouldn't have to worry about pathogenic aerobic bacteria joining the party.
   
   
4. Yes, that is kettle souring. I don't because I'm lazy and have separate cold-side equipment for my sours. The advantage of this technique is that you don't need to worry about the bacteria getting onto your equipment and infecting clean beers. Someone who runs a production brewery or a brewpub would be more concerned with this, since they are likely using the same fermentation, lines, and kegging equipment for all their beers.