blending sour and non sour question

[terrenum]

Hi,

Over the years, I have developed my own sour mix with few strains of Lactobacillus and few strains of Brettanomyces. It is a fairly good mix with a great flavour profile but results are not always consistent. This being said I have a sour wheat that turned out too sour for my taste (I usually aim for a PH of 3.5 to 3.7). This wheat has a PH of 3.2. The beer has been stable and aging for 3 months with a FG of 1.002

I want to blend with a Pale Ale I brewed 3 weeks ago. The fermentation is complete and FG is at 1.011

My question is if I blend these 2 at a ratio of 50/50, will the Brettanomyces in the Sour Wheat chew on the residual sugar of the Pale ale and create bottle bombs?

Thanks for your input
Cheers

 

[RPh_Guy]

A blend of the two beers in equal proportions will have a gravity of 1.0065.

You'd expect the Brett to take the blend down to around 1.002 if the brewing conditions and grain were similar enough.

If that assumption is true, bottling immediately after blending will generate around 3 vol CO2 (0.5 vol per point plus 0.7 residual). That's fine for decent beer bottles.
Don't add any priming sugar.

Of course it may attenuate the pale ale more than the sour, putting it closer to 3.5-4.0 volumes, which is a little more risky for normal bottles. I've carbonated in normal bottles to 3.6 volumes without any problems, YMMV. The safest thing to do would be to use Belgian bottles designed for high pressure.

Cheers

 

[mashpaddled]

Definitely a risk of bottle bombs. Unless you've tried this in the past you don't know if blending or the bottling process will push more attenuation on both beers. The pale ale will definitely ferment more but the sour portion might also further attenuate as a result of a variety of factors (e.g. pushing more nutrients into the beer, raising the pH, etc.).

At a minimum I would bottle in heavy bottles with no priming sugar but I would personally blend the two in fermentation vessels and let the beer ferment out before packaging. With the added IBUs from the pale ale it shouldn't get more sour if all you have is lactobacillus in your blend. It should dry out with a higher pH than the sour portion by itself.

As far as inconsistency with your blend, try building starters with a small amount of hops to 8-10 IBUs to knock back some of the bacteria and build up a greater volume of healthy yeast. This should help you get a less sour beer because the yeast are more competitive for sugars. You may have sensitive bacteria that can't handle any IBUs so give it a try growing up a portion of your sour culture so you don't potentially destroy the entire culture.

 

[RPh_Guy]

the sour portion might also further attenuate as a result of a variety of factors (e.g. pushing more nutrients into the beer, raising the pH, etc.).

I'm curious what info you have that suggests this possibility.
CAN you increase attenuation on a mixed culture Brett beer by simply buffering the acidity or adding nutrients?

Regardless, I agree, I would also combine in a fermenter. I don't like taking risks about carbonation level.