wbuffness
Member
How long did it take to sour? I have 2 brews going (5 gal ea) with it since January and just wondering when I should start checking them. One is a Brown Ale and the other is a Tart of Darkness clone.
Ive used ECY20 (and 01) a bunch of times, every time I have gotten a sour beer pretty quickly, 3-4 months or so. But its really not worth tasting these beers until they are 6 months old, I guess if you really want to get an idea of how it progresses over time then you can but around 6 months you can start to get an idea of what the finished beer will be like.
have you bottled these at six months or do you still let them sit for the 1-1.5 years?
I made a bunch of beers with the ECY20 vial I bought last year. I'm going to leave the ones that just received the blend for at least 10-12 months, but I also pitched some into saisons I made at the time, and I bottled one of them (~4 months old) last week. It took on a really nice sourness at about 3.5 months (it was lightly tart before that), and I'm hoping the aromatics from the brett will increase as it ages in the bottle.
have you bottled these at six months or do you still let them sit for the 1-1.5 years?
I would be surprised if Coff bottled any of his ECY20 beers as early as 6 months. Check out his Solera project on his blog with ECY20 for example.
FWIW I recently repitched (2nd generation) some ECY20 slurry into a new batch and it was at a pH of 2.97 after a month. Time for some blending.
Thanks all for your input. I was wondering if I should taste after 3 months. But after reading all your comments, I know I am in it for the long haul. I just CAN'T WAIT to try my first 2 sour beers. I hope for the best and a year seems like eternity. Since I brewed in January, I will probably try them in November and if I'm satisfied, maybe, just maybe, I can have one for Christmas or NYE.
How long it takes to 'sour' isn't important. How long it takes to reach maturity is. Plan on waiting at least 12 months. I've got two ECY20 beers. I thought the first one was pretty pedestrian at the one year mark so I added some Bambic dregs hoping for improvement. I started adding dregs to the second one around the 6 month mark after tasting the first.
Gabe brings up a good point, these beers need age to come together and round out the flavors of the beer, not to just be sour. The bugs, especially in ECY20, all work on their own schedules and there really is no way around waiting it out. If I could find that chart from Wild Brews I would post it.
I do not think that using ECY20 in a beer that youre trying to turn around in 3-6 months is a great choice. For me I would steer clear of pedio if youre looking at that timeframe for a quick turn around.
Enter your email address to join: