Blending question

[brewolero]

I have a sour-mashed Oud Bruin that's ready for bottling, but it's a bit more tart than I'd prefer, and I'm thinking of blending it with some unoffensive mass market lager in order to both balance it out and make it go a bit further.

That said, can I blend the 3 liters I have of the Oud Bruin at bottling with say, 1 L of lager straight from the bottle (exact proportions TBD)? I can only bottle condition here, so I'm wondering what I need to be careful of regarding blending this/is it just plain a terrible idea? Input would be much appreciated.

 

[TopherM]

Blending with a mass-market lager is probably a bad idea. Not becuase it's a commercial beer, but because it's a lager. There are also some oxidation issues with pouring a beer our of a bottle.

I'd make a brown using the same recipe as your Oud Bruin, with a standard yeast instead of bugs, of course. In 4-6 weeks, blend 25% of the new brown with 75% of the Oud Bruin, then bottle. A good number of commerical examples of Oud Bruins, Flanders Reds, and Grand Cru are made using this exact idea, usually 75% two+ year old sour with 25% of a new beer.

Letting the current Oud Bruin sit for another month isn't going to hurt it. If you are worried about it getting more sour, just go ahead and cool it down to fridge temps for the 4-6 weeks.

You could also brew a red to blend with your Oud Bruin to make a traditional Grand Cru.

You could technically do this with commercial bottles, but if the beer isn't going to be consumed pretty quickly, just pouring the commercial beers out of the bottle might introduce some oxidation concerns longterm. You may want to literally siphon each commerical bottle if you want to blend with those, and I'd still use a brown or red, NOT a lager.

Good luck!