Forgotten Sour

[NextFoolMartyr]

I have a sour beer in my basement that I forgot about for three years. It smells kind of awesome. I am thinking about bottling 3 gallons out of 5 and doing a new sour using the dregs from this batch.

A. What are the bottling process for this? I have never bottled a sour so I’m new to the game, this will be first.

B. After 3 years, should I do more or less? I would like to do another bottling in a year or so, but again, I’m super new to the souring beer .

c. This aroma is amazing. What do I do to keep this up? Split batches from the dregs? Maybe a blond, red, and a stout? Given this is a forgotten batch that is only topped off in the air lock every few months, and I don’t want contamination to my clean beeers, any advice is welcome!!!

I can provide photos... gimme a minute

 

[RPh_Guy]

Hi, welcome to HBT!

A. What are the bottling process for this? I have never bottled a sour so I’m new to the game, this will be first.

First, taste it. Aroma can be deceiving. You don't want to bottle something that tastes awful.

When bottling an aged sour I highly recommend adding yeast from an "acid shock starter" in order to avoid/reduce THP formation. There are a couple protocols on MTF: http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Packaging#Acid_Shock_Starters
I am developing my own protocol but it's not quite perfect yet.

When calculating the priming sugar needed, increase the desired amount of carbonation by about 0.5 volumes since the beer will be thoroughly degassed at this point.
As normal, put your priming sugar solution in your bottling bucket, transfer the beer onto it (gently, with tubing to create a whirlpool).
Add the acid shock starter yeast halfway through transferring (do not dump it right into the priming sugar solution).

B. After 3 years, should I do more or less? I would like to do another bottling in a year or so, but again, I’m super new to the souring beer .

If you have smaller carboys, I would just suggest that you save 2 gallons for blending if you don't want to bottle all of it now. It's fine to re-pitch some of the sediment, along with you preferred primary strain(s).

c. This aroma is amazing. What do I do to keep this up? Split batches from the dregs? Maybe a blond, red, and a stout? Given this is a forgotten batch that is only topped off in the air lock every few months, and I don’t want contamination to my clean beeers, any advice is welcome!!!

The possibilities are endless! Brettanomyces makes some pretty fantastic beer in general and if you follow a few basic principles it's easy to make great sour beer.

Hope this helps.