Jnco_hippie
Well-Known Member
Originally brewed using WLP500, then transferred and innoculated with wlp655 at transfer. 3 or 4 months ago we put in 28 oz of montmorency sour cherries. Within a few hours, we had a vigirous re-fermentation that lasted days followed by months of slow steady fermentation. 3 days ago we noticed all the cherries had suddenly dropped to the bottom. We added another 14 oz of tart cherries.
When we added the new can, all the cherries sunk straight to the bottom. The first 2 cans we put in floated immediately. Now, 3 days later not a single sign of life in the fermenter and the cherries remain at the bottom.
I tasted the beer when opened it to add cherries. It had sour tinge, but is still short of the level of sourness we are hoping for. Definately has a strong dirty funk to it.
This beer sat 7 months before getting first cherries, but had plenty of live hungry yeast and bacteria at the time. How can they all be dead 3 months later?
I can always force carb ans serve it, but my plan was to bottle condition and age it for years possibly.
Should I just give it a fresh bit of bottle dregs or maybe even some cultured brett? Or should I let it ride a few months then keg it with the unfermented 14 oz of cherries thus gaining a flavor boost and an ever-so-light sweetness? Or am I missing something about sour brewing? This is still our first full on sour beer.
When we added the new can, all the cherries sunk straight to the bottom. The first 2 cans we put in floated immediately. Now, 3 days later not a single sign of life in the fermenter and the cherries remain at the bottom.
I tasted the beer when opened it to add cherries. It had sour tinge, but is still short of the level of sourness we are hoping for. Definately has a strong dirty funk to it.
This beer sat 7 months before getting first cherries, but had plenty of live hungry yeast and bacteria at the time. How can they all be dead 3 months later?
I can always force carb ans serve it, but my plan was to bottle condition and age it for years possibly.
Should I just give it a fresh bit of bottle dregs or maybe even some cultured brett? Or should I let it ride a few months then keg it with the unfermented 14 oz of cherries thus gaining a flavor boost and an ever-so-light sweetness? Or am I missing something about sour brewing? This is still our first full on sour beer.