Observations Log & Open Questions¶
Version 1 · Disclaimer
Empirical record — my own beers, process and outcomes, AI-structured. Ground truth for what happened; interpretations are directional and small-sample. Append new entries with dates; this file is the wiki's log.
1. Process history (as practised before the current protocols)¶
Single infusion (69–70 °C) for years, latterly step mash with ferulic rest; Grainfather G30. Co-pitched POF+ Sacch + stir-plate-grown Brett at day 0; bucket primary 18–21 °C ~2 weeks; 5 L glass secondaries at steady 22 °C, 6 months–2 years; sampling every few months with brief airlock lift + small dextrose; fruit/spice ~month 12; 375 mL corked+capped or 330 mL crown; EC-1118 at bottling (confirmed effective on THP).
2. Headline outcome pattern¶
- ~60% of beers develop funk eventually; typical 2–3 years; rare 6m–2-year exceptions; some never (figure is a characterisation, not a tracked metric).
- Non-funk beers drift acidic rather than staying clean — LAB stays active where Brett phenolics don't dominate.
- Clove (POF+ primary) → leathery/hay/funk fade is the reliable diagnostic that VPR operates; magnitude is the variable. This pattern motivated the whole precursor programme (04 §1).
- Acidity fades over very long ageing; becomes pronounced whenever oxygen is allowed.
3. Strain dossier (perceived patterns; small samples)¶
| Strain | Observed behaviour |
|---|---|
| Cantillon-derived | Fruity, cherry/cider-leaning (unconfirmed) |
| Boon-derived | Funk emphasis when (aged) bittering hops present; good with aged hops specifically |
| Holy Goat isolates | Expected prominent pineapple/tropical, but unable to achieve; Perceived as clean POF+ brett |
| Brut du Ferment (WBC bottle isolate) | From a very funky bottle; limited data |
| WBC culture | Capable but very inconsistent; initially strongly acetic under any O₂, responsible lacto later removed. Solid mix for funk and versatile base |
| Funk Weapon #1 | Delivered hard once; historically shelved over acidity — capability real, manage acidity via controlled LAB instead (05 §5) |
| WLP645 | Expected prominent pineapply/tropical, unable to achieve; Soapy, heavy when used as primary fermenter; Limited data |
| WLP648 | Expected some pineapply/tropical, unable to achieve; Fast primary, produces clean solid base with brett character; Limited data |
| Wy5112 | No data |
| Same blend across years | Inconsistent results despite consistent inoculation (proportions ungoverned) → the driving variable is substrate/conditions, not strain identity |
4. Additions — funk outcomes¶
Enabled: hibiscus; hibiscus + pink peppercorn; aronia; sable grapes; marigold petals; candied tropical fruits; cassis liqueur; juniper; apricots; plums. Did not enable: dates; lemon; elderberry; mulberries.
Pattern: enablers are caffeic-derivative-rich (hibiscus loads multiple pathways). Lemon adds citric (not MLF-convertible) + antimicrobial terpenes. Elderberry is the standing anomaly — decent literature chlorogenic content but no funk here; cyanogenic glycosides/inhibitors suspected (07 §3).
5. Failed experiments (settled — don't repeat)¶
- Cotton bung / loose top: hypothesis "more O₂ → more funk" → horrible beer, no funk, acetic + cardboard. Upper bound on oxygen established; sampling-pulse micro-oxygenation is the calibrated dose.
- Koji-fermented wheat bran: aimed to liberate bound HCAs; got LAB sourness, no funk — koji feruloyl esterase too weak on bran cell walls. Fun, but a waste of time and money.
- Grist manipulation for funk (various bills, high-temp mashes for Brett sugars): no consistent funk correlation — grain precursor pool is not the binding constraint in this system.
6. Open questions¶
- Is caffeic specifically the bottleneck, or HCAs generally? Enablers load multiple pathways; the four-carboy p-coumaric vs green-coffee experiment is the first isolation test.
- Are there any unaccounted inhibitors Topic not explored to any extent yet.
- Sequential vs co-pitch in this system — theoretically settled (04 §6) but never directly compared here; worth one paired batch.
- Is steady 22 °C a co-limiter? Activation-phase trial (24–25 °C months 2–9) will answer alongside the substrate work — note the confound if both change at once; stagger across carboys.
- Why does WBC Brett swing so widely? Likely O₂/condition sensitivity; low priority now that better-behaved strains lead.
- Which Shrinebuilder colonies are the tropical drivers? Isolates were promising on test-tube experiments, but failed to deliver the expected aroma in mini-beer.