Adding dregs to BMC to sour them up?

[Matteo57]

Anyone ever try this? Figured it was low IBUs and low abv, not much base beer though... i'm sure people have tried this before. Anyone's thoughts on this? How it has/would turn out?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

paraphrasing oldsock/ Michael T/ Mad Fermentationist - Don't try souring a bad beer to try and save it. Start with a good wort/ beer and go from there. Save your BMC for a long drinking night like the super bowl after youve had too many craft beers to be able to appreciate them (too drunk).
And save your dregs for a real sour.

 

[sweetcell]

i've seen a few people ask about this. i don't think it's a serious attempt to make an award-winning sour, i'm pretty sure it's just curiosity - what would the fizzy yellow stuff taste like with bugs?

i say go for it. you know, for science.

 

[dyqik]

Is there anything left in them for the bugs to chew on? Particularly the light, sorry, lite, options.

 

[sweetcell]

probably not much. then again it's such a light beer with little other flavors in the way so methinks a little souring would go a long way.

i supposed you could add some bug food, but that would defeat the point wouldn't it?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I wonder they would work as a growth medium for bugs to pitch a larger culture though?

 

[Oldsock]

I wonder they would work as a growth medium for bugs to pitch a larger culture though?

You need sugars to grow microbes... Macro lagers don't tend to have much residual gravity.

Brett might make some interesting flavors (likely nothing for the lactic acid bacteria though).

 

[Matteo57]

You need sugars to grow microbes... Macro lagers don't tend to have much residual gravity.

Brett might make some interesting flavors (likely nothing for the lactic acid bacteria though).

Yes, even brett, say for instance the amalgamation blend from the yeast bay or even just a single brett strain.
Anyways, it was more just curiosity and to see what would come of it. I doubted that it would make a crappy horse piss beer taste amazingly good, just maybe a bit interesting~!

 

[dcp27]

I pitched some Love Child dregs into a 40 of PBR in the fall to basically see if I could build up the brett/bacteria and keep the yeast at bay. I tasted it after about a month and they're definitely doing something, wasn't particularly good tasting tho.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Maybe you could try a Narraganset Lager, that is the sweetest American lager IMO

 

[sweetcell]

I tasted it after about a month and they're definitely doing something, wasn't particularly good tasting tho.

glad to hear someone has done it. keep us posted on this. can't be too quick to judge after only a month.

 

[dcp27]

oh definitely wasn't judging it yet. Just was checking to see if anything was going on. I'll try to remember to report back when there's updates since I too wasn't able to find anything about someone trying this. I may decant and pitch into some leftover wort in another month.