Roselare Yeast Cake

[guiriguiri]

I started a brown sour with a Roselare blend around 3 weeks ago and was considering racking it to secondary to free up the yeast cake for another sour since I've heard the blend gets sourer and funkier with each brew. My question is, at only 3-4 weeks, will the yeast cake contain the full complement of yeast/bacteria or will it largely just be the ale yeast at this point since the brett/pedio/lacto haven't really started to work their magic yet?

 

[deadwolfbones]

Roselare needs like 1-2 years to reach full expression. You should prepare to leave it there for at least that long. It's not meant for quick turnaround.

 

[cactusgarrett]

To me, common sense would dictate the funky good stuff has yet to fall out this early. Comparatively, sacc is the earliest flocculator. Moving the beer then re-using the young cake would likely throw off the ratio of sacc:bugs. I know you're worried about the viability of the cake itself, but you should also consider the original (first) beer's health/quality. The funk (brett, et. al.) likes the cake and eventually feeds off it during long-term aging. Making that unavailable could alter the quality of the original beer in the long run.

 

[6midgets]

a lot of people forget that unpasteurized beer can be used to inoculate the next batch. I would be comfortable racking that beer off and a new beer on.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I've heard the blend gets sourer and funkier with each brew

It stands to reason the increased funk in subsequent batches comes from decaying cells (and perhaps other trub as well) and the increased sourness comes from a higher LAB population.

It'd be an interesting experiment to lyse some yeast and pitch into a young Brett beer primary to see how much extra funk you get. Dregs are probably the way to increase complexity by increasing biodiversity.
As cactusgarret said, racking to secondary greatly reduces the food/compounds available to Brett/LAB and consequently may affect funk/sourness for that beer.

Increasing sourness is more straightforward if that's what you want. Options:
1. Start by kettle souring.
2. Add maltodextrine after a few months.
3. Blend with a highly sour beer.

 

[jfolks]

There is much debate as to whether to rack to secondary in sour brewing. I’ve done both - both methods can make sour beer. Your plan is fine!