Can I increase the vinegar in my sour batch?

I pitched Roeselare blend and malto dextrin at the beginning of secondary, and the batch is 6 months old. Its sitting in a mostly full 5 gallon carboy.

It does not have enough vinegar for my taste. Can I put half a gallon of the batch in a one gallon jug with a piece of foil over it, and blend it back into the batch later to increase oxygen/speed vinegar production?

are you really shooting for acetic acid? if so, i'd say just aerate the hell out of it... ymmv tho, i've never "shot for" acetic acid. i've gone for an acetic acid in starters intentionally, but have always tried to limit the O2 post fermentation once pitched.

yes. i want vinegar/acid like Monk's Cafe, Echte Kriekenbier, or Bacchus flemish red.

i don't even know if Roeselare blend has the right microbes for vinegar.

Brett and pedio produce acetic acid, with pedio producing far more than brett. At six months the beer is still fairly young for significant acetic acid production. Check back in on it in another 6-12 months.

If you aerate the beer not only do you risk oxidation flavors but introducing wild yeast (which may not be a big concern with this beer) and acetobacter. Acetobacter will definitely turn your beer into vinegar but maybe more than you want.

ReverseApacheMaster said:

Brett and pedio produce acetic acid, with pedio producing far more than brett.

Click to expand...

Ive never heard anyone claim that pedio produces acetic acid, got a reference?

ryane said:

Ive never heard anyone claim that pedio produces acetic acid, got a reference?

Click to expand...

The chart on p. 87 says some strains do produce it. Maybe not common brewing strains...

http://books.google.com/books?id=cr...epage&q=pediococcus and "acetic acid"&f=false

This one also discusses the heterofermative pedio strains that produce acetic acid:

http://books.google.com/books?id=sE...epage&q=pediococcus and "acetic acid"&f=false

This one too:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15574118


However, I misspoke above. The pedio strains normally found in brewing blends tend to be homofermentive strains that produce lactic acid rather than acetic acid.

Well, I hope I never catch one of the heterofermentative strains, I wonder if they would require free oxygen to produce the acetic acid, or if they could scavenge it from something else?