The pilot experiment was a success!

In discussing the next-generation sequencing with Zymo Research, we became worried that our 16S rDNA sequencing to determine the bacterial portion of the sour beer microbiome would be swamped out by DNA from the barley.  Obviously, barely isn't a bacterium, but its chloroplasts and mitochondria contain genetic material that was derived from ancient bacterial symbionts.  At least initially, before the resident bacteria have a chance to flourish, a sour mash is mostly barley, so this could have scuttled the project at step 1.  However, we used gentle extraction methods and were able to ID many bacterial species on our barley samples, as well as in a sour mash:

 

The different colors each represent different species.  You can see that the gray color predominates in the sour mash samples, and that corresponds to Lactobacillus spp.  As the souring proceeds, the lactic acid bacteria take over.

Anyway, it looks like we're set for the full experiment!  Jeff will be heading to IU in a few weeks, and we're going to generate nearly all of the samples over 4 or 5 days.  We'll keep you posted :-)