Infections or What? Help If U Can

My last few Belgians have been coming out with this sour-like flavor to them. They are not too overwhelming, and some people actually liked them how they were. I'm not a fan though.

I made a pumpkin spiced belgian red I made back around Christmas time that had a sour quality to it, but overall the beer was good. I thought, and still may believe that it had to do with my use of the pumpkin; I boiled it rather than steeping it with the grains. The boiling process may have caused the slight sourness to the beer, but I can't be sure.

The Winter Wit II I made a couple of months ago had a similar sour-like taste to the beer. I wasn't too happy with it, but am drinking it down anyway. Others still seem to like this beer too, just like the one before.

The 1st Tripel I made came out great; there was no sourness to the taste, and I was relieved. So I made another Tripel, but this one is tasting sour! This one is only in the bottle for 2 weeks, and maybe the flavors still have to change a whole bunch, but my last Tripel tasted fine after 2 weeks; nothing sour.

The other change in this Tripel recipe was in the yeast, an area that can have a great impact on the taste of a beer. In my 1st Tripel i used a vile of WL Trappist Ale Yeast mixed with a 2nd generation WL Belgian Wit starter. In the new recipe I used a vile of WL Golden Ale Yeast, and a vile WL Belgian Wit yeast.

I made a Chocolate Stout that came out delicious; no sourness. This sour thing seems to be only happening to my recent Belgians.

The temps for the Belgian ferments have been between 67-70F

I want rid of this sour taste in my Belgians! If you have any suggestions, please help!

SL-M

that's probably a perfect temperature for fermentation, obviously depending on your yeast.

they need more time...months, really. solvent and sour flavors will fade over time. I've tried several high gravity belgian-styel ales, and it always is worth the wait.

what did you use to bottle condition them?

Your obvious problem is that you are using vile yeast. The kind I use usually comes in a V-I-A-L.

Puns aside, sourness is a trait of lacto-bacillus infection. Lacto is on all grains. You can make things sour by doing a mash, and just let it sit warm for 2-3 days. Or maybe if your yeast was slow to take off? (do you make a starter?) So maybe you did a lacto fementation? Or maybe your grains have been soured in storage? Or maybe, since you recycled yeast , you have propagated some lacto?

I would just be happy that the poduct is still drinakable, sounds like you don't have to dump any.

5gBrewer said:

My last few Belgians have been coming out with this sour-like flavor to them. They are not too overwhelming, and some people actually liked them how they were.

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Could it be that what you percieve as sour is actualy tart? Wits especially, because of the coriander and orange peel, have a slight to moderate tartness to them and Belgian Wit Yeast is designed to produce a "Phenolic and tart" undertone. If the beer were truly "soured", I doubt you'd have many people who like it.

Was this an all-grain or extract/PM?

You may try using that yeast on a basic Belgian Ale. I used it on my "SWMBO Slayer Belgian Blonde" and it turned out great.

The kind of "sour" that is the result of an infection will also produce gushers (excess carbonation). Two of my batches have turned sour and became gushers after awhile. Unless your bottles are gushing, I'd venture to guess that they're not infected.

What do your recipes look like? I used to get a weird cidery/sour off-taste in my earlier brews---back when I was making all-extract batches. In fact, I had a blast-from-the-past this weekend when I pulled out my last bottle of my third batch...an amber ale. It was sourish/cidery and not that great. Not bad, but compared to my current releases, it was amatuer. So, if you're using alot of extract, that may be the problem. Try going partial-mash if possible, and see if that helps.

If you're already doing PM/AG, then...not sure.

I really don't know what it could be. Now it seems that in almost every belgian beer i drink i taste this sourness. Maybe it's just me. I'm sure the answer is laying on the bottom of a bottle of beer <shrug>