2 year old first sour. Attempt to save or dump?

[bedman]

So my first foray into sour brewing is just about 2 years old and I am at a crossroads.

It is the Northern Brewer Oud Bruin de Tabla extract kit. I pitched Roeselare in primary and transferred to secondary (probably a mistake) after a couple of weeks. Checked in on it twice. After not much souring added 8oz of maltodextrine to try to sour it up a bit. That was 6 months or so ago.

It has a lactic aroma but almost no souring to speak of. The maltodextrine added a slight bit of tart but not much. It is very thin and doesn't have much flavor/character at all.

I am thinking of two options. Option one: Dump. Cut my losses and pitch some fresh wort on whatever is in that carboy. I know roeselare is notoriously not spectacular on the first go round so I figure I can dump and hope for the best with some fresh wort.

Option two: Fruit it and add some oak. With the fruit (raspberries perhaps) I am hoping to kick up some activity and give this thing some souring and character. With the oak I am hoping to add some character and body.

What do you think? I was hoping to blend with a year old all grain our bruin that I pitched ECY20 into but that is tasting spectacular and I think I am going to bottle that up all by itself. It would really suck to dump 2 years of work down the drain.

 

[kcmobrewer]

I'm no expert, but if it were me.. I would get some of that canned sterile fruit puree and dump it in. Should be able to find it at your LHBS. Shouldn't be too expensive, and worth a shot to not waste 2 years of work. That is of course, just my opinion. Not sure if it will work out or not, that's just what I would do.

Although, if it is thin, and you don't like it, this probably won't fix that aspect of it.

I wouldn't oak it unless you get it tasting good though.

 

[passedpawn]

If there are no defects, go ahead and add fruit. I suggest getting a bunch of cans of tart cherries in water (I get them at walmart, Oregon brand). I'd add several 14 oz cans. Throw some dates in there, too, or zante currants.

 

[bedman]

Yeah I was thinking about going for the Vintners Harvest Puree found in most home-brew shops. How are the oregon brand cans? I see them in my supermarket.

I wouldn't mind it being thin if I could just give it some sour/funk character.

Would it be worth a fresh pitch of some bugs or dregs as well?

 

[bevoduz]

Agree to fruit it, if there's no defects. Regarding pitching something new on it, I personally only do this with batches km happy with.

 

[passedpawn]

Yeah I was thinking about going for the Vintners Harvest Puree found in most home-brew shops. How are the oregon brand cans? I see them in my supermarket.

I wouldn't mind it being thin if I could just give it some sour/funk character.

Would it be worth a fresh pitch of some bugs or dregs as well?

If the ABV is up there, you might want to get a fresh roeselare and pitch it. Re: dregs, sure, I do that whenever I drink a sour and I've got one fermenting.

 

[MaddBaggins]

If it's kinda thin, I was thinking blending it with something new, pitch more Roselare and wait another 6-12 months.

Keep in mind, I have no experience with long term aging beers. The longest I left anything in the fermenter, so far, is 6 months.

 

[TNGabe]

It is very thin and doesn't have much flavor/character at all.

Dump it. Fruit can add some flavor and acidity, but no reason to throw good money after bad. Adding fruit to a thin and flavorless base beer isn't going to make a good fruit beer.

 

[Gus_13]

I ran into this as well. I went all the way out to 26 months on one and nothing helped it. I added fruit, tried dregs and just couldn't get anything added to it. Actually, over time, from adding things I started getting a band-aid astringency to it. I'm pretty sure it was infected with Acetobacter as well. I ended up dumping it as there was no saving it. Dumping beer is just part of sour brewing.

You could try to save it, but you will be spending more money towards possibly a lost cause.

 

[Dirty25]

Don't dump it. First run Roselare takes forever...like 16+ months forever. Watery ness will go away after some more time I bet

Nervermind i just reread at 2 years ain't much you can do. If it taste good save it for blending but you can't blend 2 bad beers to make a good beer

 

[joshrosborne]

I'd try adding dregs to see if it helps with the lack of acidity and complexity.