Increasing abv to sour

[zigdog]

Hey so I am doing a sour blonde, I was aiming for an OG of 1.046 and only hit a 1.032, I'm thinking because I didn't crush my grains twice for the BIAB method. I am going to have it in the secondary for 16 months with a Roselare blend. I was thinking I could add another lb of Dme with boiling water around the 15 month mark and re pitch a US05. Would the Brett go to town on this and reproduce those unwanted flavors and have to wait for conditioning again. I was just thinking to do it later rather than sooner so that the souring bacteria would have a less harsh environment to thrive and make my beer nice and sour. Any thoughts?

 

[microbusbrewery]

I'm not sure what you're referring to with "unwanted flavors" from brett. Most people want brett character in a sour unless you're doing something that's supposed to be a little cleaner (e.g. gose). Brett is pretty hardy and feeding it along with the rest of the cultures in the blend at the 15 month mark will most likely restart fermentation, but if you pitch a fresh pack of US05 along with it, I suspect the fresh US05 will out-compete the remaining LAB in your beer. Long story short, I don't think you'll see a significant increase in sourness at that point. I think you'd be better off feeding it sooner rather than later...like within the first month. I might even add some Simplicity or Golden candi syrup. IME, lacto likes the simple sugars in the candi syrup. Keep in mind lacto tends to sour in the short term whereas pedio tends to sour over the long term. Lacto is like the hare, and pedio is like the tortoise.

BTW, what did you use hop-wise? As in how many IBUs? And what's your target level of sourness?

 

[zigdog]

As far as unwanted flavors I was just referring to a young unconditioned sour beer. And my ibus are right around 10 with 1 oz of 2% AA hops

 

[Morrey]

I hate to be a killjoy here but I'd be very concerned if I was going to have 16 months invested in a beer that I had doubts about from the beginning.

What you do is certainly your decision, but if it was my beer, I'd pitch 05 in there now and drink it in a few weeks.

In the meantime, go back and figure why you missed your numbers as much as you did and correct that. Some may not consider this any big deal, but if I was going to invest that amount of time in a beer, I'd want it spot on from the start.

 

[zigdog]

I'm actually quite pleased with the mistake. My gravity is already down to 1.005 meaning I'm already sitting at 3.5% abv. And the low alcohol level means that those little buggies have a much better environment to create a great beer! I was just wondering I guess is if I could increase the abv at the end without altering the flavor profile to much. Not at the beginning because I love the mistake that I made! Lacto heaven!!!

 

[ShareBrewing]

Does your beer taste sour right now? With 10 IBU alone that would greatly inhibit Lacto from doing its job. From the sound of it, Morrey might be right to just cut the losses on this and drink it soon.

 

[ShareBrewing]

Especially at such a low ABV. Frankly speaking taking 1.5+ years to make a 3.5% sour ale isn't worth it. If you decide to go forward and age for 16 months, top it off and make sure there is NO headspace in the carboy. If you allow any headspace for that long of a time, you'll end up with near-vinegar due to the acetic acid produced by the Brett consuming oxygen. Trust me, I did what you're trying with an even stronger beer and it turned to almost vinegar. It's barely drinkable, and not worth the wait. The yeast/bacteria cake it produced was amazing, but the beer was awful. If you want to boost the ABV, add candi sugar, honey, or any simple sugar NOW. Not later. There is literally no point to add sugar later. The Brett would restart fermentation, and then your stuck waiting an additional 6-12 months for the beer to clean itself up (on top of the 16 month secondary). That's not I'm even considering the risk of contamination due to the low ABV.