First Sour - pitch dregs in primary?

[michiganhomebrewer]

I'm going to brew my first sour. I am going to brew BYO's La Roja Clone:

http://byo.com/stout/item/2071-jolly-pumpkin-brewing-company-la-roja-clone

And pitch with harvested La Roja dregs. My question is, should I still have a primary fermentation with ale yeast, or pitch the dregs directly into the primary?

 

[secondbase]

I like to pitch dregs in primary for first generation.

 

[signpost]

The correct answer is a simple yes.

Dregs from La Roja are pretty potent. I pitched some in a completely fermented out Belgian golden ale and got a great sour beer with just a mild sourness. If you want more sourness pitch the dregs sooner. Pitching only the dregs would certainly get you the most sourness. Pitching the dregs simultaneously with a (recommended Belgian) sacch strain would be a bit milder. Pitching sacch and waiting for full attenuation, then pitching the dregs will get you the mildest sourness.

Of course, then there is the limitless variations on pitching dregs letting them work for X amount of time and then pitching sacch to help reach your FG. Regardless, there will be some time involved in waiting for the bugs to really finish out to the 1.000 or lower FG Jolly Pumpkin bugs generally reach.

Choose your own adventure!

 

[michiganhomebrewer]

Thanks for the help. I think for the first time, pitching the dregs and sacch at the same time will be a good place to start.

 

[Aristotelian]

I listened to a podcast with the brewer from Jolly Pumpkin. I think it was on Can You Brew It and they were trying to clone Bam Biere. He said their process is to pitch Belgian ale yeast first and then secondary with their house yeast. But he said people get good results from both and encouraged homebrewers to co-pitch.