a few beginner wild ale questions

[dye4me]

I am think of starting a wild ale program, so i read wild brews, and now I'm very confused.
First question i have is can i use a sankey keg for my fermentor, maybe with a oak plug for a cork, or maybe i should weld a 6" sanitary fitting to the top of a keg and use a 6in oak round for a cap? or i could turn a 1.5" oak dowel to 1.25" and leave a 1.5" ring that i could sani clamp in like a oxygen emitting oak antenna, or maybe i should just get off my wallet and spend a small fortune having a dozen oak barrels constructed and medium toasted. It seems every winery around me runs barrels until they won't hold liquid anymore so I'm kinda at a loss as to what to use for a fermenter. as the book says oak is best but I'm kinda not looking forward to working with casks. any other ideas for limbic fermentor would be appreciated.

 

[sweetcell]

i would suggest picking up a copy of "American Sour Beer" by Michael Tonsmeire. Wild Brews is 10 years old and a bit dated in parts.

First question i have is can i use a sankey keg for my fermentor,

yes you can.

maybe with a oak plug for a cork, or maybe i should weld a 6" sanitary fitting to the top of a keg and use a 6in oak round for a cap? or i could turn a 1.5" oak dowel to 1.25" and leave a 1.5" ring that i could sani clamp in like a oxygen emitting oak antenna,

the whole concept of using a piece of wood as the stopper in order to let in some O2 has been discredited. O2 = acetobacter = acetic acid, AKA vinegar, which generally isn't desirable in sour beer (some styles like flanders red can have a hint of it). for most homebrewers the challenge is to keep O2 out, not to let it in. plan on using an air lock for your long-aged sours.

or maybe i should just get off my wallet and spend a small fortune having a dozen oak barrels constructed and medium toasted. It seems every winery around me runs barrels until they won't hold liquid anymore so I'm kinda at a loss as to what to use for a fermenter. as the book says oak is best but I'm kinda not looking forward to working with casks.

you do not need to ferment in wood. plenty of great sours are fermented and aged in glass, plastic* or stainless. if you want wood tannins, you can add some oak chips/cubes/etc.

* for long-term aging, use better bottles not buckets... buckets let in too much O2.

 

[NTexBrewer]

the whole concept of using a piece of wood as the stopper in order to let in some O2 has been discredited. O2 = acetobacter = acetic acid, AKA vinegar, which generally isn't desirable in sour beer (some styles like flanders red can have a hint of it). for most homebrewers the challenge is to keep O2 out, not to let it in. plan on using an air lock for your long-aged sours.


you do not need to ferment in wood. plenty of great sours are fermented and aged in glass, plastic* or stainless. if you want wood tannins, you can add some oak chips/cubes/etc.

* for long-term aging, use better bottles not buckets... buckets let in too much O2.

This statement confuses me about oxygen. From literature that I have from Cantillon they state that over a 3 year period their barrels lose up to 20% of their volume which would suggest a lot of air exchange. They do say that a pellicle forms to separate the beer from the air in the barrel.

 

[sweetcell]

This statement confuses me about oxygen. From literature that I have from Cantillon they state that over a 3 year period their barrels lose up to 20% of their volume which would suggest a lot of air exchange. They do say that a pellicle forms to separate the beer from the air in the barrel.

surface area decreases with size. the rules for small carboys aren't the same as for larger barrels.

also, not all barrels lose 20% (that's an extreme case, based on what i've read) and that air exchange, over a lot of beer, takes 2-3 years. you will be aging a smaller amount of beer, likely letting in proportionally more O2, in a shorter time.

 

[m00ps]

I havent made a single oaked sour yet. All you need is a dedicated fermentor that you will either only use for sours or are prepared to clean very well. Also important is a separate set of all "cold side" equipment. Wine Theif, siphon, bottling wand, etc

 

[sweetcell]

IAll you need is a dedicated fermentor that you will either only use for sours or are prepared to clean very well.

depends what the fermentor is made out of:

if it's a better bottle, i would dedicate it to sours.

if it's glass or stainless, PBW + star san = no cross-contamination for me so far.

if it's a bucket, use something else for aging IMO.

 

[m00ps]

yeah I only use glass carboys for sours. I have one plastic bucket that is brett-only, but thats only cause its a pain to dry hop a 100% brett ipa in a carboy multiple times