Stabilizing Sour to not funk up kegerator!

I'm thinking about making some all brett beers using wyeast 3110 or wlp645 inspired by Wild Brews and want to keg them instead of my normal bottling of sours. With that said, has anyone stabilized their sours with either sulfite or sorbate with good results? I don't want to funk up my beer lines!

Thanks,
J

I've used campden tablets to stop brett fermentation before blending with a sacc fermented beer and bottled it. No problems with overcarbonation or explosions. (It was Oldsock/madfermentationist's recommendation.)

ReverseApacheMaster said:

I've used campden tablets to stop brett fermentation before blending with a sacc fermented beer and bottled it. No problems with overcarbonation or explosions. (It was Oldsock/madfermentationist's recommendation.)

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I mean I don't see why it wouldn't work...I do it all the time for backsweetening wines and ciders. Hmm, anyone else tried this?

You'll want to do a bit of research on how the stabilizers work. I don't know all the biology and chemistry but a quick search has camden tabs killing bacteria, but only says that it inhibits yeast growth. Sorbate also only keeps yeast from multiplying, but doesn't kill them. This will stop fermentation, but if you're trying to prevent cross contamination you'll probably just need to up your cleaning regimen or dedicate parts.

HalfPint said:

I'm thinking about making some all brett beers using wyeast 3110 or wlp645 inspired by Wild Brews and want to keg them instead of my normal bottling of sours. With that said, has anyone stabilized their sours with either sulfite or sorbate with good results? I don't want to funk up my beer lines!

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I don't keg, so I really don't know the answer. But, any beer in the lines will only be there for a very short period, and Brett and sour bacteria take a long time to develop their flavors. Is it really a problem. And if you flush the lines between batches, any 'contamination' that may be left must be really small that in the time the beer is in the lines, I would not have thought it would have made a difference.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has had a problem. I can understand contamination from seals in kegs, but not from the lines.

Calder said:

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has had a problem. I can understand contamination from seals in kegs, but not from the lines.

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If you run a sour beer through lines, then run a non sour beer through the same line, the lingering bacteria/brett in the line could swim from the line to the inside of the keg, because while the keg is tapped there is an open connection from the tap handle to the inside of the keg. I think that's the concern.

It wouldn't cost much at all to keep an extra line with connectors around for sour/brett beers only. Then you'd just have to worry about making sure the facet is clean.

If you don't kill everything you will need to use separate equipment. The beer WILL stay in the lines for extended period of time unless you tap the keg and empty it within 5 minutes. So unless you kill off all the bugs they will be sitting in the lines with the beer. I have been wrestling with this same question, and I think my answer is to just have a dedicated line/tap on my keezer for brett beers. That being said, I hope you find a way to do it and then post it on here!

I made a Brett beer once that I wanted the Brett to stop before I bottled it. I pasturized it by holding it at 180 F for about 5 minutes.

Due to having to move it twice (kettle then keg) you risk oxidation doing it this way.

I have used campden tablets during blending of sour and non-sour beers with good success. Like pohldogg said the tablets really just inhibit the wild yeast.

If your cleaning and sanitizing procedure is very good then you should have no problem going from funky to clean beers. I don't want to have to be concerned so the extra $15 in disconnects and line (I wrap my sour line with blue masking tape) are worth it.

yellowthere said:

If you run a sour beer through lines, then run a non sour beer through the same line, the lingering bacteria/brett in the line could swim from the line to the inside of the keg, because while the keg is tapped there is an open connection from the tap handle to the inside of the keg. I think that's the concern.

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Not likely. At storage and serving temps the brett/bacteria would be dormant and if we are talking a sour lager, well, yeast don't "swim". So, the only real chance of tranferance of bugs is through deposits in the lines, on gaskets, in crevices, etc...