My infected peated Malt Whisky

[der wo]

My thread "My infected wheated Bourbon" gets a new episode here.

Minch Glenesk Peated Malt from the UK with 50ppm
Glenesk is a closed distillery in the Scottish Highlands. But they still produce malted barley.

I generally mash Malt Whisky with two waters and ferment and distill off the grain. I aim for 9%.

My plan is to make 3 mashes (second and third infected) and stripping runs, one spirit run, a backset pit including the draff of the mashes, then ferment the backset pit with added sugar, add the feints of the Malt Whisky spirit run to the fermented backset sugarhead washes, 2 or 3 stripping runs, one spirit run.

The first mash got fermented and stripped as usual. No infection.

The draff got in a bucket with a bit water to cover it. For helping the infection I added:
-A bit peated malt (Edit: raw uncracked peated malted barley from Glenesk)
-fresh yoghurt
-cheese with holes (the holes are produced by bacterias, which produce propionic acid, the esters are rum-like fruity)
-a chopped raw potato (vegetables grown in the earth contain clostrodia, which produce butyric acid, the esters are pineapple-like)

Probably because of the sugars in the draff and the yeast on the malt kernels it only needed 24h until first signs of fermentation were detectable. But this fermentation stopped soon and the smell got more and more sour. Hard to describe the smell, because the peat is still dominating it.

The backset from the first mash got some pH risers and after cooling down I added it into the pit. Only little pH risers. This time I want to keep the pH low for more esterification. But lower pH means also less bacterial activity. So I am not sure, if this is a successful detail of my plan. Anyway the pH is 4 now, lower than last time (4.5), and the activity is low.