WildBrew Philly Sour
Lallemand · wild · Dry
A single-strain souring yeast (Lachancea thermotolerans) that makes lactic acid and ethanol in one step — no bacteria, no kettle souring. Clean, fruity sourness that's far more predictable than Lacto or Pedio.
7 brews
About
A single-strain sour yeast (Lachancea thermotolerans) that produces lactic acid during fermentation without any bacteria. Isolated in Philadelphia by undergraduate Stiven Mita in Dr Matthew Farber's lab at the University of the Sciences, from a graveyard next to the campus. Unlike traditional sour brewing with Lactobacillus or Pediococcus it ferments and sours in one step, which makes sour beer accessible and predictable, and the sourness is clean and fruity with low funk. The acid is built from glucose and not from maltose, so an all-malt wort caps how far the pH will fall whatever the temperature or pitch rate — added dextrose is the lever that actually moves it. Standard OG/FG ABV calculations are valid on this strain despite common advice to discount them; it is apparent attenuation that reads low, because the lactic acid stays dissolved and holds the final gravity up.
Specs
- Attenuation
- 74–82%
- Flocculation
- High
- Temperature
- 20–35°C
- Optimal
- 25–30°C (warmer = more lactic acid)
- Alcohol tolerance
- 9% ABV
- Ferment time
- 5–10 days at optimal temp
- Pitch rate
- 100 g/hL; rehydrate or direct-pitch
- Form
- Dry
Recipe pairing
- Grains
- Light, fermentable grain bills; the lever that moves acidity is added dextrose rather than mash temperature
- Hops
- Fruity hops; NZ varieties complement the citrus acidity
- Adjuncts
- Dextrose at ~2% of the wort, up to 2.5–5% to reliably clear pH 4.0. Fruit added during fermentation increases acidity; fruit added post-fermentation adds flavour without more sourness
- Suited to
- Sour IPA, Berliner Weisse, Gose, Fruited Sour, Sour Blonde
Brewing tips
- The acid comes from glucose, not maltose. An all-malt grist carries only 7–8% of its extract as glucose, which caps the pH whatever else you do — a beer finishing above the 3.2–3.5 band usually wasn't given the substrate. Add dextrose at ~2% of the wort, 2.5–5% to reliably clear pH 4.0.
- The gravity trace runs in two parts. A slow first phase of roughly 8–9 points a day while the glucose goes, a brief ease as the yeast switches over, then a hard acceleration onto maltose at 30–40+ points a day. The first phase is where the acid is made, and its depth is a readout of the dextrose you dosed.
- That ease in the middle is not a stall. Glucose represses the maltose machinery while it's present, so when it runs out the yeast has to build the transporters before it can carry on. The plateau is the changeover.
- Take the pH reading after the curve turns up, not on a timer. The usual 24–72 hour window is a proxy for 'while the glucose lasts' — warm and well pitched that can be nearer 50 hours.
- Pitch warm (25–30°C) and at 100 g/hL or above. Under-pitching is a common reason a beer lands short of the band.
- Don't judge whether fermentation has finished by attenuation. Lactic acid stays in solution and holds the final gravity up, so the attenuation figure reads low relative to the sugar actually consumed. ABV off OG and FG is fine — published titratable acidity is only 0.1–0.4%, far too little to shift the calculation.
- Do not repitch (its behaviour changes), and do not use it for bottle conditioning — use LalBrew CBC-1 instead.
- For a drier finish, co-pitch a Saccharomyces strain (e.g. Nottingham, Voss) 24–48 hours after the Philly Sour.
- Not suited to high gravity (>1.070); alcohol tolerance is only ~9%.
Handling & storage
- Rehydration
- Direct-pitch at fermentation temperature, or rehydrate.
- Storage
- 2–8°C.
- Shelf life
- 2 years refrigerated.