Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Yes you still use yeast

Yep, the sour corn starter just replicates the acidic pH conditions, and flavour of adding backset. The yeast is needed for fermentation as normal :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Brendan wrote:Yep, the sour corn starter just replicates the acidic pH conditions, and flavour of adding backset. The yeast is needed for fermentation as normal :handgestures-thumbupleft:

:text-+1:

Been reading the bko discussion keen to add some wheat and barley to my uj just wondering how many starters do you guys use. I think i read bt1 aims for about ph of 5 so i was going to go for this as i now have papers never really tested ph in the pastcheers WS

I use about 2/3 of a mason jar topped with water for my starter for a 60lt wash, but I have noticed it is never the same ph (the starter) some finish more acidic than others. So I normally do up a few jars and add until Ph 5.5 is reached :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers urra ill give that a go :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Can you use fresh corn kernels? Or does it have to be dried corn (cracked corn)?

Depends how processed/if they have been washed - if your peeling the greenery off them you should be fine

Leaving the jars out side uncovered may work if they have been washed, your chasing a wild yeast lacto infection with this process, if you can't get any to start, you can just use citric acid for the ph controll for the first generation, then move into the backset from there forwards for the flavor effects

so this corn and liquid gets added to the fermenter to start the sour mash instead of a new fresh corn gen 1 wash is that correct? aiming to get into flavour on first distillation?

To adjust ph mostly...if you made enough would help kickstart flavour though I imagine..

So, a sour starter is basically a Lacto infection - right?!?

If that is so, why would you not start off as tho trying to pickle the corn using a salt fermentation method (like SauerKraut) then add that to the fermenter ... not sure if the salt content required (3%) would be detrimental to the alcohol fermentation or not, but it could get your first Gen off to a flying start...

DISCLAIMER: I have only used Lacto fermentation to make fermented chilli sauce and have never used it to in an alcoholic fermentation!

i ended up using pop corn, has worked well! :handgestures-thumbupleft: