Can I leave Roeselare for the whole fermentation?

Plan on starting my first sour this weekend, using JZ recipe for a Flanders Red. Going to be using Wyeast Roeselare for the souring. From what I read, going straight with that will produce a more sour beer, which is fine with me. Question is if I pitch the Roeselare right from the start, should I move it off the dregs at any time. I am planning this as a brew it and put it away until next summer (2012). If I take it off the yeast, when should this be done. I am just a little worried that the yeast will autolize in the year and a half that it will be sitting.

For a Flanders Red, you'll want to rack off the cake after primary is complete. Typically, only lambics sit on the yeast for the duration.

Someone correct me if I'm misinformed.

That is correct if you are brewing to style.

I'm planning on doing the same beer in the next few weeks, pitching the Roselare directly. I asked JZ about his procedure and his response was to leave it for about a week in primary, then moving it to a secondary for longer term aging.

Like someone said, it depends on what style you're making. If you're not sure, and its an experiment, you're definitely able to just leave it in primary for over a year and the dead yeast will become food for the other things.

Hmmm. Mine has been going for 2 months on the Roeselare. The JZ recipe. Maybe I'll transfer it off the yeast now. I was going to just leave it, but hell this is a good excuse to have a taste

I leave my reds on the cake for the duration, it gets a bit funkier and has more esters than racking off the cake going this route

ryane said:

I leave my reds on the cake for the duration, it gets a bit funkier and has more esters than racking off the cake going this route

Click to expand...

What is your ferment duration, and what temps? Do you also use Roeselare?

Aging - 1-2yrs
temps - 60-80F (I avoid the highs as long as I can, so I usually brew in late fall)

yes, I use roeselare, although its long been augmented with lots of other wild critters

ryane said:

Aging - 1-2yrs
temps - 60-80F (I avoid the highs as long as I can, so I usually brew in late fall)

yes, I use roeselare, although its long been augmented with lots of other wild critters

Click to expand...

For the augmenting with other critters, how do you do that? Just dump in as you go throughout the 2 years or a scheduled approach. I have a few sours in the fridge that are waiting for the right time, can I just add the bottoms when I get to drinking them?

Its been a mixture of isolated pure cultures and bottle dregs that Ive added, and its basically whenever I have some to add, although I prefer to add it earlier on in the fermentation

I generally suggest trying out any bottle dregs on say a 1gal jug prior to adding to a whole batch, that way you can check out if the flavors it adds are good. I do this now because Ive had a couple batches go bad after adding dregs, and a couple of these "starters" have been nasty as well

any updates on this? I just brewed my Flanders Red and was probably gonna leave it on the primary for six months or so before racking and aging another six months to a year.

cmybeer said:

any updates on this? I just brewed my Flanders Red and was probably gonna leave it on the primary for six months or so before racking and aging another six months to a year.

Click to expand...

I've made 2 reds, both between 6 months and 9, both stayed on the yeast for the duration. Both were quite sour without any negative effect from staying on the yeast.