I'm a dumb@ss...

So, my friend and I brewed a big wee heavy yesterday, and ended up with a few gallons of liquid left in the mash tun. So, I decided to let it sour, which it did, and see what it came out as.

Now, here's the dumb@ss part of the story. I ran to the LHBS to grab a few 1gal carboys and some yeast, got home and sanitized, pitched the yeast, set up a blowoff.....and realized that I never boiled.

After feeling like a dope for a while, I figured I'd come here and see if there was any way to salvage it, or if I should just dump it.

Berliner Weisse is sometimes not boiled. Run with it and report back!

But, will it be safe to drink?? I thought that, besides driving out off flavors, boiling was key to sanitation also

mtandy said:

But, will it be safe to drink?? I thought that, besides driving out off flavors, boiling was key to sanitation also

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Well, yes. But "sanitation" for wort would kill things that create sour beers, like lactobacillus. Since you're making a sour beer.....................

Awesome! I wasn't sure if any harmful pathogens would grow in unboiled beer. I know they don't in boiled wort...

Also, naturally, not boiling means no hopping. I'm gonna do a little extract brown to blend into, so we'll see!

mtandy said:

Awesome! I wasn't sure if any harmful pathogens would grow in unboiled beer. I know they don't in boiled wort...

Also, naturally, not boiling means no hopping. I'm gonna do a little extract brown to blend into, so we'll see!

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My understanding is that no harmful pathogens can grow in fermented wort. So the first thing I'd watch for is probably just the gravity.. if it ferments down to around the FG you're expecting, then it shouldn't be harmful (although that's not to say it will necessarily be good.)

And if at that point it looks and smells like normal (sour) beer, it's probably fine, give it a sip and see if it tastes decent.

If there's something terrible growing in it, I would assume it'd be fairly obvious. Hopefully...

You know, if you had time you could just pour the wort back into your boil kettle and boil it. If it's only been a few hours not much has had time to happen. It'll kill the yeast you pitched but just pitch new yeast, shouldn't cause off flavors, yeast nutrient is basically just dead yeast.

I don't think any pathogens can survive above 2-3% alcohol. Lacto and Pedio on the other hand will love this wort. Might make a decent oud bruin?

Weizenstein said:

You know, if you had time you could just pour the wort back into your boil kettle and boil it. If it's only been a few hours not much has had time to happen. It'll kill the yeast you pitched but just pitch new yeast, shouldn't cause off flavors, yeast nutrient is basically just dead yeast.

I don't think any pathogens can survive above 2-3% alcohol. Lacto and Pedio on the other hand will love this wort. Might make a decent oud bruin?

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Unfortunately, I just got home. Was posting from a bus before. It's all fermenting violently (the wee heavy is blowing off so much gas, the blowoff bucket looks like its boiling!)

I was thinking it may be a nice oud bruin. May blend in a little brown just to balance it out

Well, the beer tasted pretty weird. Definitely got a nice lacto culture, but without a boil, and thus, hops, it's pretty freaky tasting. My brew partners SWMBO liked it tho, so onwards with conditioning. I'm guessing that if I'd have boiled it to stop the lacto and pitched brett, it'd be a solid bruin sort of thing. Overall, a good experiment in sour mash brewing, which I'll try again in more structured a setting