What to brew? Cuvee Rene starter.....

I don't quite now what to brew with this 1000ml starter I have going but I know some of you do! Should it be a light colored grain bill with low ibu's? Should I pitch the whole thing or decant off to taste after a few weeks? I started this one at 62F 12/18 and now around midnight on 12/20 I decided to bring it out of the ferm chamber to a 72F temp controlled room. Any thoughts out there?

Edit: I will add that I like a light colored gueuze best. I'm not a fan of oud bruins or darker colored sours, say any darker than a pale ale.

Well what does it taste/smell like?

Is it an active culuture?

I would pitch it in the primary or secondary of a "belgian" pale ale. Do somthing like 60% pils and 40% raw or malted wheat, and perhaps a touch of lite crystal.

My favorite sour that I have brewed so far is a starter from hanssens oude geuze pitched into a pale ale.

70% pils
10% malted wheat or spelt (i prefer spelt)
10% vienna
2.5% carafoam/carapils/dextrin malt
2.5% acid malt

1.044-1.054 og
Mash single infusion 60 min @155

Cool to 70 and pitch the full starter
12 hours later pitch smack pack of 3522 no starter, unless you went over 1.058 og

Leave in primary 8-12 months

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419096506.833202.jpg
Smells great! Like a bit of banana, vinous, earthy, etc. Hard to describe since my sense of smell is not so great. It was sour at first whiff about 12 hours after the pitch but now at 66F and 24 hrs later it appears sacc is making more of a statement.

Both of your recipes and suggestions sound great. This "starter" is actually a bpa that is as follows:
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419097726.865013.jpg

It was a 4 gallon batch at 1.061. The red wheat is Bob's red mill so it was raw.

Being that you both mentioned a pale ale and the fact that this culture is in a bpa it is fitting to do the same. Coincidentally I have about a full cup of 3522 top crop that is ready to go whenever I need it.

3522 is my go-to for nearly all things belgian and sour, unless i am testing out a commercial blend.

Forgot to add, keep the ibu to 8-12 bittering, and no other additions

Duly noted, thanks!

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1420597903.266339.jpg

And we are now....looking forward to throwing this all in but the lil pellicle is nice to look at. Is it advisable to decant and taste? Or to throw the entire thing in? This was a share of the BPA wort to be sure.

Toss it all

I was thinking to bottle up a bomber and a 10oz bottle with that beer since it was a brew and not a starter. Although the brew was a starter for the bugs. So......it's rather confusing. Would it be worth trying to save the beer for carb and tasting? The only concern is whether the gravity will be stable or not. Is this something that may take months to stabilize? Or is the timeframe for a stable gravity never consistent while using the bugs as a primary strain? Sorry for the confusion.

I just took refractometer readings and it stands at 5.9 Brix from a 14.9 brix start. It tastes absolutely splendid! Moderate tartness with a mild sourness. I can at least get one full 750 bottle out of it. Assuming a wort correction factor or 1.04 the fg is 1.006-7.

Just an update. I did bottle that 1 liter ferment in a 750 ml bottle and it was very tasty with a mild tart/sour component, nothing like a lambic. Just a tart and slightly sour pale ale. I took the dregs and pitched those in a 4.5 gallon batch that is on day 5 of a primary ferment. Instead of 3522 I used 1388 and fermented from the mid 60's pitch (with a sizable 18 hour lag time) to 80-82F at this very moment. It started with sacc fermentation aromas and now has a slight sour smell with a small krausen leftover. Should I drop the temp or keep it at the current 80-82F?

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/tear-jerker

Been sitting on a basement floor at 62F for about 1.5 weeks now and will do so for the next 8 months maybe. Had the Wlp545 catch a small lacto or aceto infection and the result was very very tasty!

Didn't get to take a picture but the pellicle is thick and looks cheesy, veinlike, folds of silk, white colored, and without large bubbles.

Very nice souring at this point and taste like any other general sour beer that I've had. Brewed on 3/2 and at 6/2 the stats are:

Original Gravity- 1.051 Original Brix - 12.6 Current Brix - 5.8 Current Gravity - 1.006 - 5.89% abv

Anybody have ideas about what to do about the leftover pellicle and cake when I bottle this? Would you just lay another batch on top?

This being my first sour and the first time using a bucket for such a brew it soured pretty quickly and I don't think I'll need to leave it in there for 8+ months unless there is a better way....thoughts?

Keep it going. I believe the recommendation I've read is to reuse the cake and pitch new yeast.

Well I do have have a rather old pack of the Schelde and my new wild basement yeast that is fermenting a 2 gallon batch right now. I guess you mean to let it sit for much longer? It's already rather sour probably based on me using a leaky bucket fermenter.

Oh, I couldn't start to comment on how long to let the current one go, sorry. I just meant that as long as you have a good sour cake, you might as well keep using it.

Thank you for your input burninator

Well I used it again for the first time based on many others' experiences and so far after just 2 weeks it's souring up whilst pitched along side the DeKoninck yeast. Can't wait for another 4 gallons of sour! The first batch was bottled since it hit the puckering sweaty mouth level and formed some pellicles in the bottles that are just now dissipating. Got one ready to be tested in the next day or two which I will comment on. It was a bucket fermentation started on Mar.3 2015 and bottled about 2 weeks ago.

Just had the tester and ureeka! My first sour turned out great! It's like the cuvee Rene though slightly not as sour. Behind that is a wild yeast flavor of earthiness and hay. Very very tasty and I'm glad I have at least about 4.5 gallons bottled up.

Still having a bottle or two every few weeks of this brew and it's quite tasty for it being in a bucket for so many months. It's sour on the nose and has some complexity. I would say there may be a teeny bit of acetic acid? Though not nearly enough to ever compare it to vinegar. I like it a lot and would not rate it highly against the cuvée Rene I had but for the amount of effort I put into it I would say it was worth it. Being in bottles I would assume the longer it sits the better it may be? Being under an airlock on secondary could be considered similar to bottle conditioning, right?

At this point I have another two buckets I will blend together; a re-pitch of the cuvée and my own wild basement yeast. They were brewed on 8/12/15. Brix was 14 and a month ago it was down to 5.8. Used a sterile dropper to taste both at that time and they both were very palatable but the wild yeast bucket had a bit too much tart apple flavor so I pitched a scoop of the cuvée into there(9/15). Tasted again a couple weeks ago and it was souring up nicely. Maybe I'll let them sit another month and check gravity to bottle?

Yeah, I'd think you want to let it go a couple of months more anytime you add a new culture, in case fermentation kicks off again and you drop another gravity point or two.

Was this the Lindemann's Cuveé?

Yes sir it was the Cuvée Rene Geuze

Today on 11/11 the DeKoninck sour bucket is 5.8 Brix and the Wild Yeast sour bucket is 5.4. Gravities are 1.003 and 1.001 respectively. The DeKoninck is stable but I'll wait for another month to recheck the Wild yeast although 1.001 is a pretty dry brew 🏜

djbradle said:

Yes sir it was the Cuvée Rene Geuze

Click to expand...

Nice. Gave some of that to a friend, but never tried it, myself. Sounds like I need to pick up another bottle for myself.