Bottling a very old sour

[Indiana Red]

I made a (p)Lambic a while back and split it in to 2 3G CBs. I was a real noob and didnt know what I was doing and so after a few months I tated it and dumped one of them out and chalked it up to a learning experience.
The other one I left alone and forgot about.
3-5 years later... I see it behind some boxes and equipment and think "..Oh yeah.." The airlock has long since dried out So I was not very hopeful
I tasted it and was shocked.
Quite dry and sour, with rather interesting and pleasant woody, Flandersish cherry pie. The sourness coming from the vinegar family of flavors.
Anyway...Its worth bottling.
So my question is, should I be OK with a standard prime and bottle process with something this old and this sour (low PH)
Im thinking Champagne yeast and calc to about 2.5volumes

 

[m00ps]

I would add any regular beer yeast before champagne yeast, though I doubt theres any fermentables left now

 

[Agate]

Yes, champagne yeast will do fine. I would rehydrate it first.

 

[505-Brewer]

Listen to the next to last Sour Hour podcast. You can prep the yeast by making a small starter half wort and half of your beer (roughly). Then add that to remaining sour beer and bottle. Lessens acid shock of the yeast.

 

[mitchard]

Listen to the next to last Sour Hour podcast. You can prep the yeast by making a small starter half wort and half of your beer (roughly). Then add that to remaining sour beer and bottle. Lessens acid shock of the yeast.

I'll have to give that a go. Was just about the listen to the new episode actually haha. I've been trying to read up more on bottling after long term aging, as I have an unblended lambic that will be two years old in a week or two. It'll definitely need some new yeast, and I am scared to death of screwing up the bottling/carb process on this beer.

 

[TNGabe]

I wouldn't bother with all that from the podcast. I've never had a problem with the cheap blue pack cuvee yeast. Carbonation isn't exactly Upland's biggest problem.

 

[idylldon]

I wouldn't bother with all that from the podcast. I've never had a problem with the cheap blue pack cuvee yeast. Carbonation isn't exactly Upland's biggest problem.

Agreed. I just bottled a sour that had been going for 1.5 years. I used CBC dry yeast that I picked up at a brewer's conference last fall and it worked really well. It's designed to be neutral and can tolerate low pH and high alcohol (for those BIG beers).

http://www.danstaryeast.com/company/products/cbc-1-cask-bottle-conditioned-beer-yeast

Cheers,
--
Don

 

[TNGabe]

Agreed. I just bottled a sour that had been going for 1.5 years. I used CBC dry yeast that I picked up at a brewer's conference last fall and it worked really well. It's designed to be neutral and can tolerate low pH and high alcohol (for those BIG beers).

http://www.danstaryeast.com/company/products/cbc-1-cask-bottle-conditioned-beer-yeast

Cheers,
--
Don

That's actually the yeast Upland was having problems with, but I'd imagine that had more to do with the beer than the yeast.

 

[Indiana Red]

...as I have an unblended lambic that will be two years old in a week or two. It'll definitely need some new yeast, and I am scared to death of screwing up the bottling/carb process on this beer.

My sentiments/situation exactly

 

[signpost]

One thing to consider is that after sitting for that long, any residual CO2 that normal priming calculators assume will likely not actually be there. So, that could potentially lead to very low to no noticeable carbonation if you add the typical amount of priming sugar.

There are a couple ways to deal with that.

1) Just add more priming sugar. This is not very precise, but could work out alright. I've done it with some beers that sat a little longer than I had planned, with good results. The calculator says to add 3.5 ounces of sugar? Ok, so add somewhere between 4 and 4.5 ounces instead. That little bit extra won't be enough to cause bottle bombs, but it should be enough to make up for lost CO2.

2) The more reliable method is to add your yeast and a few ounces of sugar to the beer a few days to a week before you plan to bottle. This makes sure your yeast is active and well mixed into solution by having it ferment a bit of sugar. It also leaves your beer with a typical/predictable amount of residual CO2 in solution, so your normal bottling technique should work out fine. I used this method with my first ever sour beer after it had been sitting for 18 months. It ended up perfectly carbed and ready to drink within the same 2 weeks I'd expect from any other average strength beer.

 

[secondbase]

I bottle all my long term sours with champagne yeast. I have used CBC, but usually just pick up a pack of ec-1118 because it's cheaper and I haven't noticed a difference. My beers are fully carbed in about 10 days but they usually take about 3-4 months in the bottle before they really start hitting their stride.

Like another member mentioned, there won't be much/any residual co2 left in solution so most priming calculators will not work. I add .7 volumes of carbonation to my total volumes in these calculators when priming a long term sour.

 

[Indiana Red]

Great info. Thanks everyone