Back in July I brewed, now I need advice!

[terodox]

I brewed a 10 gallon batch of a somewhat generic wheat for souring/experimenting. I'm not sure what I was planning to do back in July, but here we are in April and I haven't touched it since I pitched the bugs. When I say haven't touched, I mean I haven't taken any samples or moved them in any way.

The recipe I used is below, and my question is this. What on earth should I do with this! I love sours, this was my first time working with any of these and I have no idea what they taste like. They each have a good pellicle on them.

Anyway, any advice is welcome. Thanks in advance!


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 11.75 gal
Post Boil Volume: 11.18 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 10.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 10.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated Color: 3.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 14.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 71.7 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
14 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 66.7 %
7 lbs Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 2 33.3 %
2.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - Boil Hop 3 14.6 IBUs
2.0 pkg American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) (One per carboy)

Fermented to an FG of 1.015.

Split This into a 5 gallon and two 2.5 gallon batches:
5 gallon got Roselare Belgian Blend (Wyeast Labs #376 Yeast)
2.5 gallon - Belgian Lambic Blend (Wyeast Labs #3278) Yeast)
2.5 gallon - Brettanomyces Claussenii (White Labs #WL Yeast)

If I remember, I'll post pics of the pellicles tonight.

 

[BenS]

The Brett C batch has a pellicle on it? That seems odd. Brett C is a yeast strain with no bacteria in it. I was under the impression that yeast did not form a pellicle. I would sample all three and take notes.

 

[terodox]

Hmm. Attached are pics!
I'll sample each today and update.

 

[LiquidArtisan]

I'd taste them, try not to disrupt the pellicle too much. Then you go from there, maybe age them longer if needed. Or if its where you like it bottle them, or blend them, or rack them on to fruit.

 

[Calder]

The brett-C should be done. Take a sample and if all seems fine, bottle. You can rack from below the pellicle. A pellicle is unusual for Brett-C as a primary yeast, but as a secondary yeast it is common. Could you have some contamination from the other beers? That would explain the pellicle.

I leave sours about a year before thinking about bottling. Again, you can rack from under the pellicle. Take samples; don't worry about disturbing the pellicle, it will reform if needed.

 

[terodox]

Awesome advice. Thanks for the input. I still haven't scraped out the time to do samples. I will update once I have! Thanks again!

 

[terodox]

Sooooooooo. I did some tasting and honestly I thought it would be different, and maybe it's my total lack of experience. The brett gave me little to no additional anything (I have some original wort bottled for comparison). The lambic had a slightly sour nose, but no sour flavor, and the roeselare was intense breadiness of all things.

Did I go wrong somewhere??