What to do with wild ale at 7-8 months...

Gritsak · 09-25-2011, 10:20 PM

I brewed a sour with the following recipe almost 8 months ago:

4 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row)
2 lbs Munich Malt
2 lbs Wheat, Torrified
1 lbs Rye Malt
8.0 oz Caramunich Malt
6.1 oz Corn, Flaked
1.00 oz Select Spalt [2.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 oz Argentine Cascade [3.20 %] - Boil 20.0 min
1.0 pkg Belgian Lambic Blend (Wyeast Labs #3278)
1.0 Starter with Goose island Fleur and Jolly Pumpkin Autumn Fire dregs

OG- 1.056
IBU- 13.2 (or less, hops were aged about 1 year)

I've managed to hold off on sampling it for the the past 5 months. Today i pulled a sample and the gravity is down to basically 1.000. There was no pellicle and the sample is a very clear pale golden with a reddish hue. Taste is very clean and crisp with mild-moderate sourness.

With nearly all the residual sugar gone, i'm debating on what to do next. I think the clean flavor would lend well to fruit, so i'm thinking about racking it on blackberries or possible sour cherries (although i already have a sour cherry wild ale kegged ready to be put on tap). If i decide to do fruit, should i also add some oak cubes? More (fresh) dregs?

Basically i'm just looking for some suggestions/inspiration on what direction to take this.

TIA

ryane · 09-26-2011, 12:53 AM

to me that sounds like a great flavor profile on its own, I would definitely bottle a bit of it as is, and add fruit to the rest

As far as fruiting etc if your interested here is my approach to fruiting sours

I think apricot would be a good choice for your beer, its a bit different than the standard cherry or raspberry and pairs really well with a softer cleaner beer

Gritsak · 09-26-2011, 08:42 PM

Thanks for the link and suggestions. I hadn't thought about apricot, but that does seem like it would compliment the flavor well.