stephelton
Well-Known Member
I made an English Barleywine a couple weeks ago and went to rack it to secondary today. It's got a pretty strong sour character to it. I'm guessing it's acetobacter and/or lactobacillus. It's actually really enjoyable for being a 16 day old, accidentally soured, English Barleywine. It's attenuation is 1.091 -> 1.027 = 70.33%, so I imagine there is still some yeast-chewable sugar and a good bit of bug-chewable sugar left.
I've had a few accidental sours before, and some have been enjoyable and some have been terrible. So my question is: could I really drive the sour character of this beer by adding some specific bacteria/yeast to steer it? And what would you suggest, to that end? Maybe a Roselare Blend to inoculate it with a lot of different bugs?
I also have a 5 gal whiskey barrel that has a 3 month old Flanders Red (in which I pitched Roselare). I could throw this beer in there in the next 1-3 months or so and not interrupt my plans for the Flanders.
Lastly, I've been taking good notes, and it is very evident that this fermenter has caused some infection, so I'll be retiring it. No need for a sanitation lesson
[Edit: further note, I only subjected my 'wine thief' to the beer, which I'll also be replacing (more accurately, relegating to sour beers from now-on). So no other equipment was compromised.]
I've had a few accidental sours before, and some have been enjoyable and some have been terrible. So my question is: could I really drive the sour character of this beer by adding some specific bacteria/yeast to steer it? And what would you suggest, to that end? Maybe a Roselare Blend to inoculate it with a lot of different bugs?
I also have a 5 gal whiskey barrel that has a 3 month old Flanders Red (in which I pitched Roselare). I could throw this beer in there in the next 1-3 months or so and not interrupt my plans for the Flanders.
Lastly, I've been taking good notes, and it is very evident that this fermenter has caused some infection, so I'll be retiring it. No need for a sanitation lesson
[Edit: further note, I only subjected my 'wine thief' to the beer, which I'll also be replacing (more accurately, relegating to sour beers from now-on). So no other equipment was compromised.]