Brewing with tibicos (water kefir grains)
Brewing with tibicos (water kefir grains)
These days I'm experimenting with tibicos as an (almost) non-alcoholic, low carb yet still festive alternative to beer with a very fast turn around. I usually tend to brew quite strong beers in the Belgian tradition (8-12%) because these are my favorite styles, so not getting smashed while still enjoying a tasty drink is always nice.
I was wondering if any of you have ever tried brewing beer with it. The composition of tibicos grains is suspiciously similar to a lot of sour beer cultures (mostly various strains of S. Cervisae, lactobacillus and acetobacter). I was thinking something along the lines of a Berliner Weisse or some light gueuze/lambic.
Have never tried doing a classic wort fermentation with it, just the normal soda thing - sugar, lemon and water, but had never managed to get a stable system going. I'd wonder if the colony is well suited as a whole to digesting mostly maltose from a wort or if the yeast will overpower the others.