Souring on yeast cake

frankstoneline · 01-16-2012, 10:15 PM

I've heard talk of autolysis due to extended contact with yeast cakes and such, though until now I havent paid much mind to it, as most of my ales are off the yeast and into bottles in a matter of weeks. The only exception thus far is 3 gallons of brown ale thats been souring for about a year, however even that was moved off of the primary yeast and now only has the result of ~ a year with roselare blend in it sitting at the bottom. However after recently trying the brown and being pleasantly surprised, I'm about to embark on a full on sour red, so I'm curious if leaving it on a volume of yeast will be detrimental?
My plan thus far is such:
Mash hot (~157) and use a grist bill which will impart lots of more complex sugars and starches for the bugs. Pitch a packet of US-05 and let it chomp for 48 to 72 hours in a clean carboy before racking to a sour carboy onto some winesoaked oak and pitching a roselare culture and putting it away to age. Am I concerning too much about issues that aren't?
For reference the recipe is as follows:
39/29/19% 2-row/munich/wheat, 10% 60l and 4% aromatic with saaz to ~14 IBU's

**dwarven_stout** · 01-16-2012, 10:26 PM

Generally speaking, leaving sour beers on a "cake" of something like Roeselare (which includes Brett) will give you a funkier end product. Succeeding generations of organisms will feed on the corpses of their predecessors.

A rule of thumb is to leave lambics on the cake, and rack flanders styles.

Edit: Also, Roeselare contains a primary strain, so there's no need to pre-pitch SA-05 or other yeast.

frankstoneline · 01-16-2012, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwarven_stout

Generally speaking, leaving sour beers on a "cake" of something like Roeselare (which includes Brett) will give you a funkier end product. Succeeding generations of organisms will feed on the corpses of their predecessors.

A rule of thumb is to leave lambics on the cake, and rack flanders styles.

Edit: Also, Roeselare contains a primary strain, so there's no need to pre-pitch SA-05 or other yeast.

I noticed the primary strain in roselare, my main concern was yeast buildup and trying to sour only in a single vessel, so I figured by starting and getting the bulk of the fermentation done with a clean strain before transferring I might reduce amount of biomass buildup.

**dwarven_stout** · 01-16-2012, 10:35 PM

You can do it that way, but you'll lose a lot of potential sourness. If you want the best sour out of Roeselare, I'd just pitch the red on the cake of the brown you did.