Flemish Red: aged 19 months, still at 1.010. Safe to bottle?

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ICWiener

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Sampled it on Christmas and it tastes amazing, bracingly sour...in a good way. Looks like the gravity hasn't moved since 2/2013. I've been told not to bottle at 1.010 or higher, but I think it's done. I'm leaning towards bottling it this weekend. What do you all think?
 
It sounds like its stable and safe. I'd bottle and if you want, send me a bottle and I'll test it. I'm pretty nice like that.
 
If you're really concerned with it I would prime at the lower end of the carbonation scale for the style. Then if it's a little higher it's not that big of a thing. Just insurance.
 
Having been stable for 10 months, you don't have to worry about bottling at 1.010.
 
Update: Bottled this on Saturday, 1/4. 5.9 oz of priming sugar and about 2 grams of Montrachet. Smelled and tasted fantastic. Hopefully it tastes good in about 8 weeks, when I crack the first one.
 
Update: Bottled this on Saturday, 1/4. 5.9 oz of priming sugar and about 2 grams of Montrachet. Smelled and tasted fantastic. Hopefully it tastes good in about 8 weeks, when I crack the first one.

Almost 6 oz of priming sugar? Tell me this is a 5 gallon batch!
 
6 Oz Is waaaaaay too much. You would be risking bottle bombs!

1 oz /gal priming sugar would be on the higher end of carb levels.
 
6 Oz Is waaaaaay too much. You would be risking bottle bombs!

1 oz /gal priming sugar would be on the higher end of carb levels.

Depending on what calculator you use, 6 oz of table sugar in 5 gallons of beer at 68F will yield about 3.1 volumes of carbonation. Considering that the OP's beer is 19 months old, 6oz of table sugar will more likely yield 2.6-2.8 volumes of carbonation.
 
Op never stated what type of priming sugar, but imho, there is still much risk of bottle bombs in this scenario.

Crack a bottle after 2 weeks to gauge carbonation and go from there.
 
Op never stated what type of priming sugar, but imho, there is still much risk of bottle bombs in this scenario.

Crack a bottle after 2 weeks to gauge carbonation and go from there.

Any beer that is finished (even one that is just a few weeks old) will not be at risk for bottle bombs at this priming level. Do you really think there is a hard line between 3 and 3.1 volumes. We would be reading about bottle bombs all the time; especially since a lot of new brewers bottle too soon. You will find that most bottles can stand about 6 volumes. However if you bottle close to that level on a regular basis, you will weaken the bottle through fatigue, and it may then blow at a much lower pressure.

Most bottle bombs are the result of an infection slowly continuing to chew the complex sugars, or from bottling before the beer has finished. Next time you have a bottle blow, open another of the same, let go flat and measure the gravity; I can pretty much guarantee it will be much lower than you measured at bottling.

The worst you will get with a little extra sugar, is a lively beer or a gusher when you open it. Since this beer was 19 months old, I don't think the OP has anything to worry about.
 
6 Oz Is waaaaaay too much. You would be risking bottle bombs!

1 oz /gal priming sugar would be on the higher end of carb levels.

I don't see a problem with this.

I always prime my Saisons with 6oz of sugar and they are fine. They get bottled at 3-4 weeks. 19 months would be super flat before bottling.
 
Thanks to everyone who chimed in. I was under the impression that regular bottles couldn't take over 3.0 carb levels. Sorry for the red flags. Cheers!
 
I've carbed them to 4.5 volumes in order to enter my lambics into competition. I taped caution labels to them though. All competitions should allow champagne bottles for sour categories.
 
Thanks to everyone who chimed in. I was under the impression that regular bottles couldn't take over 3.0 carb levels. Sorry for the red flags. Cheers!

Don't forget that after extended aging, the beer will have much less residual CO2 than if you did a non-sour, shorter duration fermentation. That's why Gabe said:

Depending on what calculator you use, 6 oz of table sugar in 5 gallons of beer at 68F will yield about 3.1 volumes of carbonation. Considering that the OP's beer is 19 months old, 6oz of table sugar will more likely yield 2.6-2.8 volumes of carbonation.
 
Yeah, close to zero residual carbonation left in there. To the person who asked: I used organic table sugar, and my figures were based on normal priming + another .7 volumes to compensate for the age of the beer. I'll likely end up around 2.5 volumes or so.
 
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