First sour questions

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Channel66

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So Im not new to brewing by any means but this is my first real attempt at a soured beer and I have a few Q's.

First off my recipe. I went extract with this one didnt want to have to make a big production out of it seeing as its mostly an experiment.

4.0 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
4.0 oz Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)
3 lbs Light Dry Extract [Boil for 60 min](8.0 SRM)
3 lbs Light Dry Extract [Boil for 15 min] (8.0 SRM)
0.50 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 10.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 10.5 IBUs
1.0 pkg Roeselare Belgian Blend (Wyeast Labs #3763)

Pretty straight forward for a saison, I basically just converted my AG saison to extract and changed the yeast.

My questions, because this is a low grav beer (1.046 measured) am I going to run out of food for the wild beasties?
Should I cut the fermentation time in half?

Would this benefit from me making a second saison with traditional yeast, racked onto blueberries and blending the two at say... 8 months? I have never blended a beer before, so I am just trying to wrap my head around the various options that I have from this point.

Any thoughts, suggestions, ramblings about how sour beer is ruining the world?
 
I think wild/sours are revolutionizing the world! I am welcoming it with open arms! =)

I think your recipe looks good! From what I know of the Roselare Blend it will eat normal sugars like a Sacc would but the Brett will eat what the Sacc will not/cannot. If I am not mistaken the blend is the two of these yeasts. Hopefully someone will chime in who knows of the blend. Whenever I make sours I use Jolly Pumpkin and Orval dregs.

Cheers & good luck!
 
The makeup of Roeselare is as follows; Belgian style ale strain, a sherry strain, two Brettanomyces strains, a Lactobacillus culture, and a Pediococcus culture. The ratios are a mystery, but that is the blend. I havent worked with any of the bacterias on any level. I was always afraid to infect my gear but as my brew process branches out it seemed to be the next natural step. I would like to start making at least 1 wild beer for every 4 regular, just need to refine my process some first.
 
Channel66 said:
The makeup of Roeselare is as follows; Belgian style ale strain, a sherry strain, two Brettanomyces strains, a Lactobacillus culture, and a Pediococcus culture. The ratios are a mystery, but that is the blend. I havent worked with any of the bacterias on any level. I was always afraid to infect my gear but as my brew process branches out it seemed to be the next natural step. I would like to start making at least 1 wild beer for every 4 regular, just need to refine my process some first.

Thanks for the info!
 
I have a four month sour with that yeast and am planning on doing some kind of a blend later on that is yet to be determined. The first step in making a sour is making a sour. Just do it and think about what to do with it later. You've got months and months to ponder your options. I got hung up on the planning for too long so I just said screw it, I'll brew it and figure it out later.

That said, if you really like sour some people say that Roeselare will not get you there by itself and you should add some dreggs for another sour.
 
Brew a basic Saison recipe, but keep the IBUs low. Around 10.

Pitch the Roeselaire blend and put beer away for 12 months. No secondary required. The Brett will feed off the dead sacc yeast. Very easy really; just need patience.

I usually brew with a straight sacc yeast, then after a week (before the beer is cleared), I rack and add my 'bug mix'. Racking early, leaves a lot of the trub behind, but still leaves a lot of yeast in suspension for the Brett to work on.

No need to blend. Blending is done by large producers to try and get the product consistent, and to lower or raise the sourness depending how the beer comes out. With 5 gallon batches, just take what you get.

I've not used the Roeselaire blend, but many say it is not very aggressive. You might want to toss the dregs of a couple of sours in with it. You can add dregs at any time.
 

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