Long term aging, blending, need help!

[phuzle]

Around christmas, I brewed my first sour beer. It was an extract beer, with a little lactose, I added white labs sour mix. I've been adding a little maltodextrin every few months along with the dregs of a number of sour beers I've been drinking. Its been 5 months, and I know that I should let it keep aging for a lot more time.

Problem is, I'm going to be moving across the country at the end of the summer. So I had the idea, I can leave it in my dad's basement and just forget about it, and come back in a year or two to get it.

So, I thought, why not make a 15 gallon batch and leave it for a few years. I can do an all grain 5 gallon batch, mash hot for more dextrins, blend that with the original 5 gallon extract beer which has all the good bugs in it, and before I go I could add a bunch of fresh fruit and leave it alone.

Anyone have any comments? Recommendations on a recipe for the 5 gallons I'd be adding?

 

[mccann51]

I unfortunately do not have the experience to say anything of much substance, but your idea seems pretty sound. Seems like worse case scenario you end up with a super-sour brew that you can use to blend with non-sours for some nice complexity (in the blended beer).

 

[Dogphish]

i'm no pro, but i've been told that the fruit only needs 3 or 4 months in the secondary or third fermenter.

you plan sounds good to me. two years is a perfect age for sour beer, and people say it is better to age the beer in a large batch as opposed to individual bottles. the amount of air that gets to the beer will influence the amount of vinegar in the beer, so you should figure out how much air your fermenter allows to seep in.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

Sounds like a good idea to me. When I used fresh fruit (cherries), I let the fruit stay in the beer for over a year. Formed a pellicle over the fruit and all. The pits added a nice flavor to the brew too. I don't think that you would end up with a super sour beer because the pH can only go so low; I think it is around 3.4 or so.

When I added the fruit, I added it to secondary and let it sit about a year and a half on the fruit before bottling. After another year of aging, I sampled. Very good.

If you do this, make sure that your airlock stays on securely over that time and it is full of water/vodka/whatever you put in it. If you are going to age it that long in the carboy, use glass, not plastic.