15 Gallon Solera Primary

[LakesideBrewing]

Hey all,

I was trying to squeeze in a quick batch last week, but the weather here in New England really got in my way; -30* wind chill, no thanks! So because of this thread resurfacing, I started to think about starting another solera. I had bought a single package of Roeselare because I was only doing a 5 gallon batch but now that it's going to be a 15 gallon one, I need more yeast. I thought about buying two more packs of Roeselare and be done with it. But, then I thought maybe I could add two more different commercial mixed cultures, along with the Roeselare, to primary with. Like BugFarm and Lambic Blend. And of course add a bunch of bottle dregs down the road. I've tried searching about this but I haven't seen much info on something like this. Is this a bad idea? Has anyone done this?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[bonsai4tim]

I started this in July last year. First 5 gallons was with Roselare, next 2 were fermented with a belgian yeast. All 3 were combined in at 15 gallon sanke. Took 3 gallons off at December--just the right amount of complexity and sour for me.

plan to pull off 5 gallons in June and reload with 5 gallons fermented with a belgian yeast strain. Some here suggest using the yeast cake from the first 5 gallons of Roselare for a 2nd 5 gallon batch if you want more sour.

Once you are aging, you can use a generic belgian for the primary ferment, and add other dregs to the 15 gallons you are aging if you want more complexity

t

 

[sweetcell]

I thought maybe I could add two more different commercial mixed cultures, along with the Roeselare, to primary with. Like BugFarm and Lambic Blend. And of course add a bunch of bottle dregs down the road. I've tried searching about this but I haven't seen much info on something like this. Is this a bad idea?

nope, not a bad idea. should work great.

go forth and sour.

 

[bovineblitz]

Mixing them is fine. Hell, pitching just the single pack of Roeselare is fine too, my single ECY20 pitch into 13.5 gallons took off surprisingly fast.

 

[sweetcell]

Hell, pitching just the single pack of Roeselare is fine too, my single ECY20 pitch into 13.5 gallons took off surprisingly fast.

i wouldn't compare those two... cell counts are much higher in the ECY. a single pack of Roesalare into 10+ gallons likely isn't going to sour much.

 

[bovineblitz]

i wouldn't compare those two... cell counts are much higher in the ECY. a single pack of Roesalare into 10+ gallons likely isn't going to sour much.

I think it'd be fine. The ECY was over a year old, and a spontaneous fermentation would have waaay less of an initial cell count.

 

[LakesideBrewing]

Thanks for all the info, guys! Just what I was looking for.