Solera Questions

[theQ]

Alright. I am attempting my first Solera.

On 3/19 I did boil some LME around 12lbs + 2lbs table sugara nd added a pack of Roeselare Ale Blend 3763. It did start to bubble right away and yesteday 3/29 I took a reading. It was 1.020, I have no idea what was the OG(aproximating 1.040, wanted to have it light). The PH dropped to 3.9. It smelled really nice, had a hint of sour frutis but when I tasted it it was really sweet. I didn't trust to drink it all althou I think at that PH may have been ok.

Looks like this is slowly going, a bit too slow ?!
Any comments on the above would be welcome. Should I hit it with another pack ?

I bought some Oak spiral, medium toast
1. when can I add them.
2. how do I add them ( thinking to place them in the over for 45 mins at 160F)
3. Do I ever remove them, how do I remove them - I use keg to ferment it in? I plan to keep this solera going for years to come.

Any thoughts, even random thoughts ?!

Thanks!

 

[youreanimpulse]

I'd say that's not too slow. It could take 9 mos to a year to fully attenuate. The oak can be added in the last few months but I'm not sure you'd want to leave it in there. Transfer some to oak and top up perhaps? Wouldn't want to over oak a solera.

 

[theQ]

I'd say that's not too slow. It could take 9 mos to a year to fully attenuate. The oak can be added in the last few months but I'm not sure you'd want to leave it in there. Transfer some to oak and top up perhaps? Wouldn't want to over oak a solera.

It shouldn't be any issue with adding oak and keeping it then. Think of the oak barrel used for sours. the wood is exposed beer for years. Some would say actually the brett, pedio would get stuck in the wood giving the beer same character even between the batched.

I'd let it going. The fact that the pH dropped is a good thing I think.

 

[sweetcell]

Looks like this is slowly going, a bit too slow ?!
Any comments on the above would be welcome. Should I hit it with another pack ?

sounds like your primary went just fine. a pack of roesalare doesn't contain enough sacch for a proper pitch, but that's on purpose - you want the beer under-attenuated as this leave behind sugars for the bugs (aka your current gravity of 1.020). over the next months the bugs will chew that down.

It shouldn't be any issue with adding oak and keeping it then. Think of the oak barrel used for sours. the wood is exposed beer for years.

there will be an issue. a barrel has 55-60 gallons on beer in it, while you're making 5 gallons. so your beer shouldn't be exposed to more than 10% of a barrel's inner surface - your spiral will be way more than that. also, most barrels used for long-term aging are used - the wine or spirit that was used before the beer has already extracted most of the oak character. your spiral is new so it will be a lot more potent.

my suggestion: wait for your beer to age out (say a year). then add the spiral for 2 weeks. taste. if not oaked enough for you, wait another week. once the taste is right, pull out the spiral, pull half (or whatever) and top up with fresh beer or wort.

The fact that the pH dropped is a good thing I think.

indeed, the pH drop means that fermentation was successful. a pH below 4 protects the beer from many sources of infection.

 

[theQ]

I was planning to add 2 spirals - I have 13 galons, maybe I'd only add one. I might boil one out and then add only the wood.

 

[dantheman13]

I've had spirals sit in soleras for months and haven't had any issues. You don't want to over oak it, but oak does fall out over time. Brettanomyces can break down cellulose, so perhaps there is even more going on there than you might think about initially. Also, if you do over oak it, have another sour beer to blend it back with. You probably want to set up a blending program with a solera in general due to the low yield it gives anyway.

My 2 cents. Good luck!

 

[theQ]

My concern about oak is that once I put the spiral in the keg (I use a 1/2 keg) I will not be able to fish it out. If the solera goes for years I might actually never get it out till late when I'd maybe decide to clean the keg up.

 

[chefchris]

I think I'm just going to throw a quarter of a spiral in mine at first. I can always add more later.

 

[GTG]

Get some stainless steel wire and wrap around the spiral. Make it long enough to leave a bit out of your sealing mechanism and you can fish it out as you please. It could be used to inoculate another vessel that way as well.

 

[theQ]

Get some stainless steel wire and wrap around the spiral. Make it long enough to leave a bit out of your sealing mechanism and you can fish it out as you please. It could be used to inoculate another vessel that way as well.

I will see what I can do about that, it's a good idea.

I have one of these
http://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/sankefermenterkit.htm

I have to find a way to hook the SS-wire. Might be very doable.