First real sour

[Brett3rThanU]

80% pilsner malt
20% wheat malt
pitched 3724 saison yeast + bottle dregs from Jester King RU55

I brewed the above about 2 months ago and took my first sample the other day and to my surprise it was already sour (gravity was 1.006). Tasty, but kind of one dimensional sour, not very complex. My plan has been to let this sit for 9 months, then add some oak cubes for some amount of time (not sure how long yet), and finally raspberries for 3 months before kegging.

My first question is, should I have racked this off the original yeast cake in the primary? I've read contradictory things on whether it's okay to leave a sour on the primary yeast cake for the duration ( 9 months in my case, before I rack onto raspberries).

Second, I was kind of shocked to find it already sour after only 2 months, but I suspect it will only get better the longer I age it? Should I still follow my original plan of 12 months?

 

[dantheman13]

I've left sours on their yeast cakes for 2+ years without off flavors (and one with off flavors that went away eventually). Racking shouldn't hurt either, assuming there wasn't too much oxygen introduced.

Age benefits these beers a lot. The one dimensional lactic acid flavor you are getting is typical of young sour beer that has been exposed to a healthy culture of Lactobacillus. The good complex flavors (from the Brett) will start coming in a year out, and will continue to develop if you let the beer go. I like how my beers taste at the two year mark, and start using them at that point to begin a "solera" from which I will bottle only a portion of the beer. The hope for me is that this "solera" method will allow me to maintain the flavor of an aged sour while not having to wait 2 years for every batch!

There is no problem with bottling at the 12 month mark, but you'll probably be missing out on the full potential of the beer. I feel like a lot of commercial American sours are bottled too early. Then again, time is money!

 

[Brett3rThanU]

Thanks for the reply. I did read that the brett character does take longer to come out vs the lacto, and that's what I think my sour is missing so time will definitely help that. I'm in no rush so I'll just let it sit and won't bother racking either.