The background:
I have a Basil Lager fermenting -- it's an idea I came up with last year, did some searching and found that it's been done before, so the concept is valid. I brew a basic pilsner-based lager with a modest bittering hop charge, and then replace the flavor and aroma additions with fresh chopped basil. Brewed it last year, and liked it, but decided I wanted to increase the basil aroma this time. So.....
What I did:
I'm two weeks into lager fermentation, and begin the diacetyl rest. Everything going well. Then I decide, "maybe I should dry-hop (dry-basil?) with some more basil while the temp is up," before racking. So I chop up some more basil leaves, put 'em in a muslin sack, soak it in StarSan, and add it to the D-rest before racking.
Fast forward to this morning:
I am flipping through a recent back issue of BYO Magazine, where there's an article about blending beer and wine. It mentions that grapes often carry lots of wild yeast on them...and then it hits me. I sanitized--but did not boil--the basil that I added as a "dry hop." That would not have addressed wild yeast, if any, on the basil. I have no idea if the same risk would apply here as it would to grapes, but they're both fresh-picked produce, so I'm definitely concerned.
The question:
What do you think -- did I just potentially introduce wild yeast, not only to this batch, but potentially TWO of my four LBK's?
I'm not a Sour fan, so I'm really hoping that I didn't just condemn a batch of beer and half my fermenters to the scrap-heap.
Thoughts / opinions / guesses?
