Unintentional Wild Pale Ale

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SkiGladys

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After doing a lot of research and looking at pictures, it looks like my Haus Pale Ale has developed a pellicle that resembles pics of Lacto (or maybe Brett?). The beer had an off flavor and seemed too bitter at the end of primary, so I let it sit in a secondary for the last 3 months. Now it has a thick white layer on top with bubbles (some larger than a golf ball).

I just tasted it again and the flavor has improved since the primary fermentation finished. There is no acetane flavor; just a tartness. Because it is not awful (but still not great), I would like to experiment with this batch. I have never considered or tried brewing a sour beer before.

I read another thread where the brewer of an unintentional sour brown ale was encouraged to add cherry or peaches and oak. Do you all think that would work with a bitter (approx 50 IBU - Cascade and Centennial) pale ale?
Any suggestions of what fruit would go best?
 
FWIW, you can't cover up an unintentional sour with any amount of flavorings or tannins (e.g., oak). It'd be like trying to shine a turd. ;)

Give it a couple more months and check the gravity along the way. Once the gravity stabilizes, taste it and hopefully you won't vomit. :eek:

Or, consider it a lesson learned and move on...Personally, I'd do the latter.
 
I'm not actually trying to cover up anything. I am more interested in doing something that takes advantage of the "tart" flavor brought out in this batch by the wild yeast. As I noted above, the taste sample was not "vomit" awful, but actually pretty interesting. I just hope that I can make this better. I have a surplus of equipment, and a good place to store this, so no need to move on - I'd rather play with it and see what happens. I can always throw it out in a year if it doesn't work.

Here is the link to the thread about an unintentional sour brown - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/13-gallons-unintentionally-wild-brown-can-i-use-133003/
 
SkiGladys said:
After doing a lot of research and looking at pictures, it looks like my Haus Pale Ale has developed a pellicle that resembles pics of Lacto (or maybe Brett?). The beer had an off flavor and seemed too bitter at the end of primary, so I let it sit in a secondary for the last 3 months. Now it has a thick white layer on top with bubbles (some larger than a golf ball).

I just tasted it again and the flavor has improved since the primary fermentation finished. There is no acetane flavor; just a tartness. Because it is not awful (but still not great), I would like to experiment with this batch. I have never considered or tried brewing a sour beer before.

I read another thread where the brewer of an unintentional sour brown ale was encouraged to add cherry or peaches and oak. Do you all think that would work with a bitter (approx 50 IBU - Cascade and Centennial) pale ale?
Any suggestions of what fruit would go best?
Click to expand...

peaches seem to wipe out hop character from what i've seen, might be a good choice if you're looking to tone down the hops.
 
The general consensus with sour ales is that sour and bitter don't go very well together. That's why most lambics are made with aged hops.

So if you really want to keep this beer plan on hanging on to it for a while. That way the bitterness and hop character have time to mellow. It will probably take 6 months for the bitterness to drop to an acceptable level.
 
SkiGladys said:
After doing a lot of research and looking at pictures, it looks like my Haus Pale Ale has developed a pellicle that resembles pics of Lacto (or maybe Brett?). The beer had an off flavor and seemed too bitter at the end of primary, so I let it sit in a secondary for the last 3 months. Now it has a thick white layer on top with bubbles (some larger than a golf ball).

I just tasted it again and the flavor has improved since the primary fermentation finished. There is no acetane flavor; just a tartness. Because it is not awful (but still not great), I would like to experiment with this batch. I have never considered or tried brewing a sour beer before.

I read another thread where the brewer of an unintentional sour brown ale was encouraged to add cherry or peaches and oak. Do you all think that would work with a bitter (approx 50 IBU - Cascade and Centennial) pale ale?
Any suggestions of what fruit would go best?
Click to expand...

Not sure you have lacto growing in a 50 ibu beer...just saying

maybe a wild yeast or something. I guess try adding cherries or something but I dont think you should feed an infection
 

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