Thoughts on souring a RIS?

so, on Jan. 1 of this year, i brewed a HUGE RIS. OG was 1.122 and i split the wort between two yeasts. 5 gallons got us-05 and attenuated down to 1.022, which was perfect. the other, i used WY1450 (denny's favorite 50) and it only attenuated to 1.036. just so sickly sweet and it hasn't budged. I kegged it long ago and carbed it, in hopes that one day, i'd be able to drink it. that day hasn't come, and i'm unsure if it ever will.

so i'm thinking, why not purge another fermenter with co2, then transfer it under pressure and add some bugs.

have you every had an intentionally sour/funky stout? if so, what was your impression?

what bug blend or strain would you add?

At a BrewClub function a fellow brought his RIS. It was ever so slightly soured and he was tempted to not offer it for the sampling (this was a small BrewFest and we were there to edumicate on HB awareness).

It. was. fantastic. And, frankly, more people came back for the sour RIS than those who came back for more of the Blue Ribbon winners.

And, lest you forget, (while it ain't a RIS) Guiness is blended with sour beer too. So, yep, it works.

i had a porter that soured slightly. i particularly didn't care for it, but after tasting some commercial sours, i bet people who enjoy sours would have liked it. it's all down the drain now tho, lol.

May I suggest you use a little Beano, It will chop down the sugars, allow the yeast to finish them up, as a result your beer will be dryer. PS: this also means it will have a thinner mouthfeel too. About 1/2 a tablet or one drop will convert the whole keg, easy does it with Beano additions.

I have a RIS that's infected with Brett. I was pissed at first but I think it's nice. Beano with dry it out a LOT and you won't be able to stop it.

I'd pitch brett directly into the keg and let it sit at room temp for a couple weeks. Take the gas poppet out of the post and rubberband some plastic wrap over it. When it attenuates to your liking, chill it down again and enjoy.

Ive made a cherry ris in the past that I let sour, and it was quite tasty, the chocolate and cherry notes played very well with the sourness and some brett funk

I think by adding some brett L (cherry nose) and adding the dregs of a JP calabaza blanca that you stepped up slightly you could have a very nice beer on your hands

Bobby_M said:

I have a RIS that's infected with Brett. I was pissed at first but I think it's nice. Beano with dry it out a LOT and you won't be able to stop it.

I'd pitch brett directly into the keg and let it sit at room temp for a couple weeks. Take the gas poppet out of the post and rubberband some plastic wrap over it. When it attenuates to your liking, chill it down again and enjoy.

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which brett (white labs... i have a gift cert.) would you pitch?

A group of us have a bourbon barrel aged ~1.080 stout that we infected. The flavor is excellent, should be bottling in the next few months.

If you want it sour t will be tough since the beer is already ~12% ABV, I'd suggest going with bottle dregs they seem to have more acid/hop tolerance than the ones you can buy from Wyeast or White Labs. If you just want it a bit dried and with some funk, but no sourness Brett C is what I would use (its sister Brett A did good work for me in an RIS a few years back). Good luck.

also, i figure i should probably take the keg out of the fridge soon to degas, right?

been out of the fridge since last week, have been releasing the gas. should be getting my brett today, i'll make a starter tomorrow night and get it going for a few days. then i'll dump it in the beer and wait.

how did this turn out?

I am also interested to know how it turned out....

No idea how this specific beer turned out, but I have a RIS style beer being fermented with Wyeast 9097 as well as another brewer on here.

If you're looking for a do it or not, I say do it. Just make sure you mash high. I did a decoction mash at like 160F. I wanted residual sweetness and with the brett I figured I needed to mash high. I mashed my 11-11-11 old ale at 158 and that ended up at 1.018 so hopefully at 160 and the massive amount of roasted malt I'll end up north of 1.020. I actually contemplated using a pedio/lacto culture in this beer.

I just tapped my first wild ale this week. A RIS refermented with Brett B and aged on Zinfindel infused oak chips for 17 months. Its excellent.