Help with my first Sour

[popmedium]

Hey pals!

In advance, thank you for your help. I'm usually on Aussie Homebrewer but from all the reading I've been doing, seems like ze Americans are more in to sours.

First, my question: I've brewed my first sour beer, I'm a few months in to fermentation and I'm concerned about the flavours I'm getting.

In short, the flavours are very hot - phenolic and estery. I followed the guidelines given by white labs and fermented at 25 Celsius (77 F). Now this is really high but that's what the site said.

So my question: should I be worried? Or being that there are still another 7 months or so before the beer should be ready, will the character change a lot when the bugs start doing their work?

Stats on the beer:
Belgian brown ale, soured, with port soaked oak chips added at the end
OG: 1.068
Fg: currently at 1.017
Yeast: wlp655 (Belgian sour mix - it has sach, pedio, lacto, brett)
Brewed in July 20

Appreciate any help or advice you guys can give

Thanks!

 

[riceral]

I can't answer your question but will add that there is a forum directed to limbic and wild brews.

Maybe asking your questions there would help with answers:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/

Not saying you wouldn't get good answers here. Possibly get more answers.

 

[popmedium]

Thanks heaps mate! I'll repost it over there...

 

[dobberson24]

25c is too hot for the sac in your yeast blend. That explains you fusels. I would have kept it around 18 for about a week for primary to finish. Then you would be okay the ramp it up and let the bacterias go to work and start souring.


Sent from my iPod touch using Home Brew

 

[stpug]

IMO, your fermentation temperature wasn't too hot. It may have even been on the reserved side of things (according to White Labs who recommends 80-85+ °F). Either way, I don't think 77F was a problem at all.

I suspect that this beer is going to change A LOT over the next several months, possibly even going through a stringy/sick phase from the pedio. Brett "works" on esters and fusels so I would not worry too much about those at this point; besides, some fusels become fruity with time (12+ months) leading cherry and other stone fruit qualities.

BUT, moving this thread over to the wild section of the forum would garner responses from more knowledgeable sources.

 

[joshrosborne]

I don't think that the temperature you used is too hot for the sacch. It's a Belgian strain, which can handle high temperatures pretty well. I wouldn't worry about it and just leave it alone. Stop tasting it because you're going to introduce oxygen that isn't going to do anything good for the beer. What it tastes like now has pretty much nothing to do with how it will taste in a year.

Edit: to be clear, though, I would try to get it a little lower. I I try to keep my Brett/bacteria stuff between 60 and 70.

 

[Xpertskir]

Stop tasting the beer, it's so young that the flavors are not meaningful to what the end result will be. Taste it once it's 12-18 months old.


Everything in your ferm practices sounds fine. My advice is to forget about it and be patient.

Brew a Berliner if you want something sour to drink in the meantime

 

[popmedium]

Thanks so much everyone, this is all great advice and if I can cunner use all your points: I should just chill out. Let it do its work, taste in a year.

In a related point, I was going to add port soaked oak chips towards the end of the whole process. Is this something I should consider doing sooner? Everything I've read suggests that wood chips can actually work quickly and that the beer may not need for than a few weeks in contact with them. Which seems odd to me because when beer is barrel aged commercially, it can sit in the barrels for much longer

Once again, thank you all for your advice.

 

[lousbrews]

As far as phenolics and other flavors that will be due to the brett and pedio. It doesn't produce very charming flavors while it's working. Anywhere from buttery from diacetyl to just straight up ass. Let it sit and it will clean it self up.

As far as oak flavor is concerned your comparing now surface area. You have less surface area that comes in contact with the beer on a commercial scale vs home brew scale.

For more sour beer info refer to madferementations blog. Loads of helpful info!

 

[Xpertskir]

Use cubes and not chips, use the process that the madfermentationist details

 

[popmedium]

Thanks so much you guys, seriously, advice very much appreciated.

 

[sweetcell]

In a related point, I was going to add port soaked oak chips towards the end of the whole process. Is this something I should consider doing sooner? Everything I've read suggests that wood chips can actually work quickly and that the beer may not need for than a few weeks in contact with them. Which seems odd to me because when beer is barrel aged commercially, it can sit in the barrels for much longer

most sours are made in used barrels, where another beer/wine/spirit has already extracted most of the oak character. you're adding new cubes or chips... hence the need for a lot less.