Accidental Sours - Who has had good results?

[m00ps]

So my latest BSDA is clearly infected. It tasted very tangy 2 weeks in and I suspected it may be infected. I actually opened up the carboy to let air in and see if a pellicle formed. Nothing did, but the latest sample I took has a noticeable sour taste....

The thing is, its pretty good as far as month old sours go. I have an amazing sour blend that I could build up and add to it to move things along. But Ive also heard that accidental sours are rarely worth it.

Im pretty sure I know what its from. I added 2lbs of candi syrup at high krausen. One of them was like chunky and congealed. It was like squeezing a pound of brown sugar out the little opening of the package. Mustve taken me 5min at least. pretty sure the contamination either came from that or got in while I was struggling with the damn candi syrup.

What do you guys think? Should I devote this carboy to souring it or just forget it happened and dump it?

 

[WI_Wino]

If you have the space and don't need the carboy I would let it ride.

 

[ColoHox]

If it won't hurt your pipeline to tie up a fermenter for a year, pitch your sour blend and see what happens.

The contamination is likely from just a single, or a few, contaminating species. Perhaps, if you pitch a more diverse culture, you will add the complexity that makes a good sour, good.

If an experiment that might be a total waste of time is not worth it for you, best cut your losses now...and clean the heck out of that carboy.

 

[m00ps]

@WI_Wino : I've got enough room to spare. Or can just use it as an excuse to buy another carboy. I harvested your sour blend last night BTW. It doesnt floc terribly well, but the vial has more yeast than most new ones when you buy them. I saved a tiny bit in the starter and added fresh wort thinking I might use it for this thing.

I've done 6 sours/wild beers so far and havent had issue with passing it on to the next batch. I just fill them with PBW and let it sit for a few days usually. Ive got separate sets of equipment for both brett and sours. Stuff like transfer equipment, stoppers, and airlocks too

 

[Agate]

If you can, you might want to get some brett in there. You could have some bacteria making unpleasant by-products, and brett has a decent chance of metabolizing those compounds. If your house culture has some, by all means pitch it!

 

[m00ps]

My sour blend should have a decent amount of Brett in it. Its mostly made from dregs of Crooked Stave, Anchorage, Jolly Pumpkin, and Prairie Artisan Ales. A number of the dregs I added were just bottled with Brett and werent sour.

I do have YB Amalgamation I could start building up too...

 

[Gavin C]

@m00ps

What's BSDA?

 

[m00ps]

Belgian Strong Dark Ale, sorry shouldve just typed it out. My bad

But the fact that it went from weirdly twangy to starting to develop a nice sour character makes me hopeful. I figured most infections would definitely go through that "sick" period that Ive read about. So far I havent had a sour do that

 

[Gavin C]

Belgian Strong Dark Ale, sorry shouldve just typed it out. My bad

But the fact that it went from weirdly twangy to starting to develop a nice sour character makes me hopeful. I figured most infections would definitely go through that "sick" period that Ive read about. So far I havent had a sour do that

Cool. Thanks for that. I'm just displaying my ignorance of Belgian styles.

 

[m00ps]

well I added a dose of my sour blend and some YB Brett Amalgamation I was building up so I'll check on it in a month and hopefully itll have a happy ending

 

[m00ps]

Well they've been going for a few weeks now. I will take a sample of both by the new year and see how they are doing. I'll do my damndest to try to remember to update it so this isn't just another loose thread thread

 

[m00ps]

update: I checked on it yesterday and it tastes great. Reminds me of a flanders red or oude bruin

So for anyone wondering out there, i you find your batch infected, taste it before you toss it. As long as it isnt like moldy or awful tasting at the time, there IS a chance you can save it. I used my brett and my sour blend, but I think you adding the dregs from commercial sours would work as well. Just be sure you have both souring bugs AND brett in there since itll help clean up.

 

[m00ps]

bottled today 10 weeks after adding my sour blend. Never got the slightest hint of pellicle, even after multiple samples. weird, considering the what the other sours ive made with it looked like

After checking the BJCP guidelines, id definitely classify it as an Oud Bruin. We'll see how long I can wait before I feel compelled to check on one. It tasted very well developed at bottling so Im looking forward to how the profile shifts