Search results

Wow! count me in!

+1 to what kingwood said. I would ferment the top off beer with a belgian strain (I use wlp 530) to produce the chemical compounds that the Brett turn into funk though.

I might be interested in the refractometer. What make/model is it? I'd like to check out some specs.

I seem to remember a thread about souring a dry irish to get something Guinness-like. If I remember correctly, the consensus was: Sour a pint or two with lacto for a few days to a week, (like making a Berlinner starter) and add it to the boil to kill the bugs. I love dry irish, but that tiny bit...

I've got two soleras: a 30 gal barrel of Flanders Red that I recently pulled 10 gal out of (1.5 yrs) and a half barrel sankey of Lambic that I started with 5 gal that was a year old. 5 gal of the solera pull was bottled straight, 2.5 gal was blended with an all Brett L red and went on tap, and...

I'm in!

It's pretty standard practice to leave Lambic on the trub for years at a time, so I wouldn't worry about it. As far as flavor goes, this beer is still many months away from being finished. I usually don't bother tasting until it's about six months in.

What was the green weight of the ham? A 30% reduction is a good indicator that's it's dried enough. I like my hams funky though, so they always hang for at least a year to eighteen months depending on the size. I've had some three year hams that were mind blowingly good, so patience is...

I usually fill the jars right to the top and burp it every week or so at first, and less often as the critters go dormant. How's the batch going? I just got vials of Melange, Beersel Brett, and Wallonian, but didn't have time to brew this weekend.

Hmmm. I take it that you didn't start brewing sour beer on purpose. That beer is loaded with bacteria and wild yeast which will continue to eat "unfermentable" sugars for another six months to a year. If you leave it as is, you will have bottle bombs unless they're in Champagne bottles, and even...

Stainless and plastic are both non-reactive, but keep in mind that your plastic may be contaminated after you run bacteria through it. I have a tap in my keezer that's only for sour and brett beers now; best decision ever...

Ha! I guess I have some Pedio in there after all! At least I have a basement and plenty of carboys... Recipe was: 7# Pilsner 1# Caramunich 8oz Flaked Maize 4oz Chocolate (not so traditional, but tasty) 8oz Special B 1/2 oz Hallertau @60 1Tbsp whole wheat flour @ 5 Mashed @150* to make things...

I would underpitch an Belgian strain, as it was most likely what was in the blend to begin with. The byproducts of Belgian yeast (along with many other things) are converted by Brett into the funk that want in our brews. Wlp530 is my go to because I have it sitting around all the time, but you...

I'm doing something kind of similar to this but with some minor differences. I used grain to sour my wort post boil, now have it fermenting with wlp530 and will be pitching wy5526 early next week. I'm skipping the Pedio though, since the grain got things pretty sour on its own. I'm also hoping...

If you make a starter for the Flemish culture it will throw off the balance of bugs and make your pitch really Sacch heavy. If I were working with what you have on hand, I would brew this beer in two stages. First brew a five gallon batch and inoculate it with the vial of Flemish and let it sit...

Sorry, I misread that previous post and thought you were worried about headspace in the the top off wort. Kingwood nailed it, your Brett will be bulking up and scavenging any oxygen it can get it ahold of.

While you have an active Sacch fermentation it will be throwing off tons of CO2, so it will be fine with the headspace.

Reusing a sour cake is kind of an exercise in contradiction. There isn't really a way to add a starter to get the Sacch active without throwing off the balance of the microbes. Since I pull from my solera once a year, by the time I reuse my cake all of the Sacch is dead, but the Brett and...

The only reason I can come up with is what sort of style you're shooting for. Roeselare produces a classic Flanders Red or Brown flavor profile. So if that's what you're brewing, it's hard to beat. As far as the Melange goes, I haven't used it, but I'm sure someone on here has. You can always...

The long/slow souring process is the result of pediococcus, which is much more alcohol and hop tolerant than lacto. The permeability of oak allows a small amount of oxygen into the wort over time, which helps the pedio produce acid.