First Tastings on 6 month old Red and Brown. Feedback on gravities please.

In the last half a year or so, I have done two sours, both are my first attempts. Both were pitched with roselare blend, the red was pitched first with a packet then the brown was put on it's yeast cake.

http://reverendtenhigh.blogspot.com/2010/07/flanders-red.html

The red was 1.058 @ pitch and is down to 1.010. A pellicle formed but has now dropped and just some floaties remain.

http://reverendtenhigh.blogspot.com/2010/08/sour-brown-ryedark-rye-kriek.html

The brown was 1.055 and is at 1.014 now. Again, a pellicle formed, but has now dropped and just some floaties remain covering the top of the fermentation...not a whole pellicle.

Both have a great nose and great initial taste. They taste and smell exactly how i want them to, but the tartness and pucker is very mild and goes away quickly...it doesn't permeate the soul of the beer and thats what i'm looking for The brown tastes very much like the sourest of browns, but the pucker goes away right away. I'm concerned that the bugs have stopped doing their things? The indicator i'm looking at is the lack of pellicle (which I know is influenced by oxygen presence) so that isn't very accurate, and the still high gravities of both beverages.

Can anyone give feedback on what their gravities were @ six months? Am I just being impatient?

Should I pitch more bugs?

I'm very hopeful about both of these...they taste great, I'm just looking to get more sour and wonder about the timeline of the gravity drop denoting that I should add more bugs or not is my main question I guess!

Any thoughts and feedback appreciated.

Thanks!

I have not had a ton of experience with sours, I am 6 batches in so far, but I think 6 months for these beers is still very young, and will take more time to develop acidity. My first red is 11 months in, and still just has a bit of tartness. I think your best bet here is to be patient, and let the bugs keep working.

Agreed, you still have some gravity to drop, and the bugs sound like they are active (don't worry about the lack of pellicle). Rodenbach always has some ~18 month old beer, and New Belgium uses ~36 month old beer for acidity (6 months is more like the young beer that is blended in for balance).

If you want a SOUR beer, I'd toss some dregs into the carboys, those microbes tend to be more agressive.

You might add some oak for the buggies to chew on.

sweet. yea i dumped some russian river dregs into the brown and i have a cantillon i'm hoping to pop open tonight to put on the red. thanks for the responses!