2nd generation Roeselare results and dilemma

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RJSkypala

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Just took off some small tasting samples of my sours. The first is a sour blonde that I fermented with Roeselare blend and is currently in secondary. It tastes great, pretty tart with a nice complexity already forming. It also had several bottle dregs added to it in primary (Jolly Pumpkin, Russian River, Dri Fontenien, etc.)

I am an avid reader of Mike T's blog so I took his advice and reused the yeast from this batch with the idea that the microbial population will favor the souring organisms. I pitched a sour brown on top of the cake after I moved the blonde to secondary. I brewed this beer about a month ago and I just tasted it today. The sourness is highly pronounced and puckering, just the way I like it. I am sure that the 2nd gen. combined with the bottle dregs that were already in there really helped. This beer is already incredibly sour, I am looking forward to seeing how it mellows out with some age and some oak/fruit.

I am, however, contemplating whether I want to continue using this yeast slurry one more time to ferment 10 gallons of flanders red. Any thoughts? These are my first two sour beers so I have not had a full cycle of first-hand experience. Any danger of producing a too-sour result?
 
I don't think you would produce a 'too-sour' beer, seeing as the pH can only go so low. I think, but I'm not sure, that the pH of a sour is around 3.5 or so. Lactic acid is only so strong (actually a rather weak acid) and it will only bring the pH down to a rather consistent level. I think you would be fine in using the dregs again.
 
I dunno, most of time with my sours now Im dealing with them being too sour and I have to blend to achieve a level of acidity thats tolerable when drinking a whole pint

I would pitch some of the slurry but also add a half packet of a dry yeast to help eat up some of the sugars in your fresh wort
 
If it ends up too sour you can always use it for blending. I would agree with ryane, ferment it with a clean yeast first and then pitch the roselare cake in secondary if you're concerned. I'd personally just roll with it and if it ends up too sour, like I said you can use it to blend. That being said, I like my sour beers, REALLY sour.
 
a beer can be too sour? :)

ha, yes unfortunately it can, unlike most people who cant get it sour enough, mine are always far far too sour, they are sour to the point where your teeth hurt after half a glass if I dont blend them, think cantillon x 2
 
I have five barrels in the fleet.

Last weekend I tried 3 of the small barrels that were filled around 7-2010.

The first taste from the 10 gallon barrel, an Irish Red base with D2 syrup added, had a slight oak flavor, light brett and tart.

The second base is a high amount of Munich and some carafa. The color is very dark red with a hint of mahogany. The flavor is also tart with some brett background.

The third is very, very sour! Like others have stated, to sour. No real pleasent flavors to go along with the sourness. It will be a blender.

All barrels have a furry pellicle and are inoculated with ECY bug farms, EYC brett blends and lacto after primary with t-58 and WY3787.

BW
 
I repitch dregs from the previous batch along with a fresh Roeselare pack for the saccharomyces yeast each time. Works like a champ.

I've done this too. I could not BELIEVE how different the second iteration of the same beer was compared to the first when i did this. VERY sour with some cherry notes already at 2 months in. Going this route the second time around allowed me to avoid feeding with malto-dextrine (as i did with the first) to achieve the sourness i want.
 
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