Souring beer w/ WLP 655 in the low 70s?

[Sechelter]

Greetings all,
I've got a 9 month-old Flemish Red on the go, 1.051 OG, 15 IBU, simple infusion mash at 154 F. Nothing fancy like turbid mash. I had planned on the Roeselare blend but no luck when shopping, so got the WLP 655 instead and pitched it with Wyeast 3787. The primary was pretty active and lasted about 6 days.
Its aging in a glass carboy, filled to near the neck, with airlock. I'm keeping it in warm spots in the house but this is Canada and 'warm' generally means ~72 F, though with summer finally here it may get to the mid- to high-70s for a bit.
I don't mess with it much and I can see some activity (small bubbles, the occasional air lock burp). I sampled some yesterday and the Brett character is quite pronounced (horse blanket) but the sour is not. pH is 4.1. I like a sourer beer and am hoping for an end point around 3.3 pH. Based on others' experience, is this going to get there? Suggestions? Are my low temperatures benefiting the brett over the lacto and pedio?
Thanks in advance!

 

[RPh_Guy]

I haven't used that blend.
At 15 IBU Pedio may take 18 months+ to sour.
As you suspected, your low-ish temps probably aren't helping but if it's at least 65F you'll probably get some sourness.

You could blend with a more sour beer.
Or you could add some maltodextrin to your current batch to give the Brett and Pedio some food.
Or you could mix in an acid blend or lactic acid if you want to cheat. Make sure it tastes OK in a sample first. A touch of malt vinegar is nice too, in my opinion.

If you wanted to invest in an inkbird and fermwrap or other heating pad that would let you increase the temp.

Bottle dregs might get you some more aggressive LAB, but that's unpredictable.

Consider using <5 IBU or aged hops for the next batch

Cheers

 

[Rob2010SS]

The second beer that I brewed was NB's Dawson's Kriek. That used Wy3278, so a bit different, but I let it go for 9 months as well and it stopped at like 3.7 pH by about month 7. Month 9 it was the same.

Long story short, I think yours might be done where it's at.

I agree with @RPh_Guy you could add the maltodextrin to see what that does. But if you're filled up to the neck on the carboy, not sure if you have the room for that.

If it were me, I'd probably try the bottle dregs and see what that does. If it doesn't do anything, I'd call it finished and tweak it for next time.

 

[Sechelter]

Consider using <5 IBU or aged hops for the next batch

Thanks Rph ... good point on the IBU. I was reading that this higher IBU is correct for the style but it seems to be in conflict with the lacto for sure. I'll let this run till fall and if stable will adjust w/ malt vinegar for the acetic (which I like) and some lactic ... this'll work in the end. My latest sour is only 4 IBU. Cheers!

 

[RPh_Guy]

The commercial lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are pretty wimpy from what I can tell and what I've heard. I'm guessing they're propagated on unhopped media, which causes them to lose hop tolerance.

You can also kettle sour up front if you want a high IBU and don't want to wait forever.

 

[brownni5]

The waiting option might be best - 9 months is not that long to age for a mixed fermentation beer, especially with Pedio. Probably not too late to add dregs from a commercial sour either. Good luck!

 

[Sechelter]

My thanks to those who replied. As an FYI, I've swapped some stuff around and its now at 80 F. I'll give it some time and I can move to another carboy if I decide to add more food - will keep you all posted. Cheers!