How many dregs are too many dregs?

[Yeroc]

Is there a point at which adding more dregs to your sour beer that already has some dregs added is a moot point? Or do you feel it's worth doing no matter how many dregs have already been added and no matter how long the beer has been aging with other bugs?

I recently brewed a lambic, and I added some dregs along with the commercial sour packs. I don't think I've reached the point of too many dregs with my lambic... yet. I'm curious what others think on the general question: is there a point at which you're not gaining anything by adding more dregs? Some details on my brew below.

AmandaK Lambic Extract Recipe (2 x 5 gallon batches)

Batch 1: hopped to 9.5 IBUs. The yeast/bugs pitched were Wyeast 3278 and dregs from Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere & Biere De Mars.

Batch 2: hopped to 11 IBUs. The yeast/bugs pitched were WLP Sour 1 and dregs from Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere & Biere De Mars.

All bottles these dregs were pulled from where several years old so I'm not sure how viable they are.

 

[mitchard]

The only "issue" I can see arising is if you are just pitching dregs that contain cultures you already have present in the beer. Its not going to hurt, but it probably won't add any other character either.

I have a year old amandak lambic with a long list of dregs in it. No issues to note. Its tasting great.

 

[Yeroc]

Thanks for the reply. Did you add dregs to your lambic over a long period of time or had you collected a bunch in a starter medium before brew day?

It makes sense that adding more bottle dregs of something already added might not be too helpful, but lets say 3, 6 or 12 months from now I have a few new bottle dregs from different breweries that I could add. Is to worth adding given the oxygen exposure that will occur? Is it worth adding given the head start other dregs have had?

My new lambics are in buckets now, and I'll rack them to glass carboys soon for long term aging. At that time, I'll probably add additional dregs. After that, I'm wondering if more dregs are a good idea or not.

 

[mitchard]

I added them as a drank them, so they have been spaced out over the last year or so. Just open the fermenter up and pitch straight out of the bottle. Unless you are planning on using the dregs as a primary pitch, I don't see the need to grow them up to be honest. You're just trying to add some more character at this point.

I'm not really sure about the new dregs having to compete with the previous microbes that have a head start, but i'm guessing it shouldn't be an issue. I have a golden that wasn't getting very sour after 6+ months on Wyeast 3278, but it went sour pretty quick after adding a single bottle of Jolly Pumpkin dregs.

If you're concerned about the introduction of oxygen, purge the headspace with co2 after adding the dregs and you'll be fine.