Dreg usage for a sour solera

[wickerman]

I plan on starting a few 15 gallon soleras in the near future, but am not quite sure how I should go about using dregs. I'll be using either 15 gallon demi-johns or whiskey barrels for the secondaries, and 3 buckets for primary. Now my question is, if I primary in 3 different buckets (5 gallons in each), should I add different dregs to each bucket, or mix all the dregs together, and add a little of the mix to each?
So, should I pitch 2-4 different dregs in each bucket, or make a mix of all of them and distribute evenly to each bucket?
Thanks,
wickerman

 

[BGBC]

Either way would work, no right answer here.

Me personally, I'd probably try different dregs in each bucket. On the off chance that you don't like one of the buckets, you can choose not to add it to your solera. In a perfect world, if you had more than 3 buckets, you could pitch different bug mixes in each one, then choose the ones you like best to go into the solera.

Once you get the solera going, you can use the recipe and yeast selection for the top off batches to try to control the direction of the solera (higher IBU/no souring bugs in primary to limit sourness, etc).

 

[wickerman]

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking that by pitching different stuff in each, it would allow different yeast and bacteria to grow in each resulting in more complexity when mixed together.
I like the idea of making an extra batch or two in case one is off, or happens to be great, but I don't know how much character will really be present after a month or so in the primary. Seeing as things will drastically change over the course of a year or more, I'm not sure picking out the good/bad really matters that early in the game. That being said, it's just an educated guess from lots of research, but minimal first hand experience.
Thanks,
wickerman

 

[TAK]

I vote for different bugs in each primary. That'll allow those bugs to build up thier populations and contribute thier own characters without competition, before blending in the solera. If each gets the same, one set of dregs may dominate and an another set of dregs may not get it's chance to contribute as much.

 

[coyote68]

I agree with BGBC. if you are using jolly pumpkin dregs don't bother mixing others in with them as they will totally take over.
good luck.

 

[LiquidFlame]

Don't mean to hijack your thread, but I was wondering if you can add to many dregs to a batch. I currently have a lambic that's been aging for 7+ months (6 in primary, then transferred to 10gal oak barrel), and after I have had a sour that I really enjoyed, I'll dump the dregs in the barrel. Can one over do this?

 

[BGBC]

At some point I think you'd just get diminishing returns since the earlier additions will be dominant. You also add O2 and/or break any pellicle that might be there by repeatedly adding dregs along the way, which carry their own risks.