Flanders Red - Should I bottle?

[hijukal]

I brewed a Flanders Red in February last year (February 15th!), and a month later moved it under the house. The entire time it's been on the yeast and is in a plastic fermenter. I only pitched Roeselare directly (i.e. no starter), and a week or two later some dregs from a Tilquin.

Two or three months ago, I tasted it, and it tasted pretty good, though a little "thin". Common wisdom in this case is to give it another six or twelve months and that's what I'd planned to do.

The other day I had a taste (around 10mL only) and it tasted a little off. I don't think it was autolysis from the descriptions I've read, and I'm not sure it was oxidation either. Not really sure what is was. It may also have been something in my mouth since immediately before I'd had similar amounts of a spontaneously-fermented dubbel, and a Berliner weiss (along with some of the pellicle, that was ... interesting).

Anyway, I've started to get a little panicky about it, and am thinking about getting it off the yeast. I don't really want to transfer it to another fermenter and leave it like that, so was thinking about bottling it and leaving it in the bottles for another year before drinking, hopefully allowing it to mature but not get any worse (if it even is doing that) in that time.

Can some of you more experienced chaps suggest whether I should get it off the yeast? Normally I'd have moved it months ago, but it's a little different with a sour (never used Roeselare before) so I'm a bit unsure which way to go.

 

[ColoHox]

If it's been a year, you are probably safe to bottle. What was your SG/FG? Autolysis flavors will likely be hard to taste in a sour. The flavor profile will continue to develop in the bottle.

 

[secondbase]

As long as the gravity is stable, go ahead and bottle!

 

[hijukal]

Thanks guys. The OG/FG was 1.050/1.007 (the FG was measured the 15th March 2014, so may be different, but it was stable for over a week before being moved), so I'm certain the fermentation is done.

But as it's a sour I was most concerned about the flavour profile. If being bottled is likely to allow the flavours to develop in a similar manner to being in the fermenter I think I'll bottle it in the next few weeks.

I have a French oak chardonnay barrel stave, I may soak that and then add it to the fermenter for a week or two prior to bottling as well, to try and save some of the bugs. The alternative is to pitch another beer onto the yeast but given it's so old I'm not sure I want to do that.

 

[jnacey]

I'd add more dregs from some sour beers directly to the carboy. Maybe think about adding around 4oz of maltodextrine in some cooled, boiled water to add some complex carbs for the bugs to chew on. Let that go for a couple of months and taste again.