Jolly Pumpkin dregs & Barleywine

So I've harvested the dregs from a couple bottles and will be stepping them up. (And if I try this I will likely grab a few more bottles.) My last dreg excursion with JP seems to be going just fine on a Dubbel.

I heard Justin on Brewing Network mention a while back that somebody at a festival had a sour barleywine.

What's going to be my best course of action with a 100 IBU+ Barleywine? Make a relatively unhopped batch of wort to sour & a fully hopped batch & then blend them?

I've read Wild Ales. I know some of the bugs aren't down with hops and others don't care as much. I think I'd fully bug both batches just to see what kind of damage the hops do to the bug growth.

Just curious if anybody has looked into this. Was trying to find a style JP wasn't dabbling in.

if you pitch a big enough starter it shouldn't be to big of a problem. it will sour! i think the problem more lies in that bitter and sour clash with one another so the resulting beer will likely be terrible.

Yeah I think the bitter/sour profile is the biggest problem. Something will resist the hops and create sourness. I'd probably cut the hops considerably so the hops are only aiding the sourness in maintaining balance in the beer. I'd probably also focus the hops more towards very late additions for flavor rather than bitterness.

i would think brew an old ale let it sour for about a year then dry hop it.

Bitter and sour are not good together. As suggested it can be good dry hopped. Pedio and lacto don't like the hops where Brett doesn't care. I've made IPA with Brett only but if I sour it I don't go above 15-20 IBU. If your primary sourness is from lacto keep the IBU below 7. This is all my preference anyway.

Did it say that it was an American Barleywine? I agree with everyone else that bitter + sour = bad. If you're stuck on a barleywine, try the English version (and perhaps dry hop it? a la Le Terrior??)

Yeah, I'd lean towards English come to think of it. I'd definitely dry hop. I dry hop everything.

I shot JP an email asking if they'd ever tried and/or if they had advice on an approach. Should be interesting.

HAHA! Here is Ron's (JP's head brewer) advice: "A sour barleywine? Not too familiar with using bottle dregs. Just toss them in, I guess. Hope for the best?"

I like the idea of the English style Barleywine with lowered IBUs and then a ton of dryhops if you want that flavor and aroma. They mentioned dryhopping sours in a Beersmith podcast I listed to a while back before I started my first Flanders Red.

I've had the beer they talk about on the BN. It's called St. Dekkera, from Destihl in Bloomington, IL. I didn't detect much bitterness in this at all. The beer had a wine-like quality and was really amazing. http://www.destihl.com/

Here is their description of the series:
single barrel aged, spontaneously fermented, wild acidic sour ale
ABV/IBU/Color Varies By Barrel
Our St. Dekkera Reserve Sour Ale series are single barrel, unblended, non-inoculated
and either non-fruited or fruited ales that are naturally soured by spontaneous/wild
secondary fermentation and aging for 1-3.5 years in oak barrels with a natural micro
flora of lactobacillus, pediococcus & wild yeast/Brettanomyces present in the wood to
achieve complex esters, naturally balanced acidity from lactic, acetic and other organic
acids and a balanced wood character.
Some beers so far in the series: Flanders/Oud Bruin (winner Silver medal, FoBAB
2011-Wild Acidic Beer), Framboise (winner Bronze medal, FoBAB 2010-Wild Acidic
Beer), Forsaken Barrel Lambic, Sour Strawberry Ale, Sour Raspberry-Strawberry Ale,
Sour Barley Wine, Sour Rye Wine, Sour Brown Ale, Sour Hawaii Five-Ale, Sour
Trappist Wheat, Sour Belgian Double Pale Ale (winner silver medal, FoBAB 2009-Wild
Beer Category), Sour Cerise Stout Impériale

Dark Dawn is about 40 IBUs and 7% abv. JP bugs seem to work on that one.

Above 8% and Lacto and Pedio don't do well.

A Barley wine seems to have a lot of obstacles. Have at it and see what happens.