High ABV / High IBU Souring Experiment

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specharka

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So I recently brewed a barleywine that I had to split into two batches. Batch 1 was fermented with a sacc mix. Batch 2 got pitched with a Saison-Brett blend (WY3031).

OG: 1.095
SG: 1.015
IBU: 30-40

At this point I'm sitting on a high ABV, high IBU beer with little to no flavor and I want to experiment with long term souring / aging. I understand that many bugs have a low alcohol and bittering tolerance so I may have to get creative with this one. At the very least, I will be racking onto some tart fruit.

Are there any bug blends / dregs which would complement a high ABV blend? Any advice would be appreciated.
 
bugs from cascade and jolly pumpkin are used to produce some big beers so those would be worth trying. and more generally, bugs from any high-alcohol sour.

i'd stay away from bugs from white labs and wyeast. they're too fragile and are unlikely to do anything in a high alcohol beer.

sparrows claimed that pedio has an alcohol tolerance of 8%... anyone have experience to the contrary?
 
I'd say dregs for sure. I'd probably wake up the dregs with a small starter, just to get them ready for the job.
 
yeah just keep tossing in your favorite dregs into a starter and pitch that once you are happy with how the starter wort tastes (dont taste the starter wort too often)
 
In my experience (limited), sour and bitter do not play well together....I like to keep the IBUs very low, using only late addition hops so sour and bitter don't go to war.

H.W.
 
I'd second the suggestion of using some Jolly Pumpkin dregs. I don't know for sure how their bugs handle IBUs, but I'd bet they are strong enough to handle the ABV. I wouldn't even bother doing a starter.
 

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