My first attempt with dregs and some questions

[tugbucket]

I am doing my first sour this weekend. A variant on a Flanders Red. In the secondary I am going to add 1oz oak cubes and pitch Wyeast 5112. Now I have a 4-pack of both Goose Island's Matilda and Sofie. My girlfriend loves the Matilda but she can't very well finish off (or want to) all of them in a weekend.

So would is be okay to drain off 4-6oz of the wort and keep in the fridge. And then, as we finished off a bottle of either, add them to the wort and keep this going until we have finished them all off.

I know we should be able to do this pretty quickly but, we are going out of town for a few weeks in between primary and secondary. So when we get back I will rack to secondary but we might not have more than a bottle of each finished.

In all honesty, I see the wort having two inductions of dregs before we leave. I could go ahead and pitch that when I pitch 5112 but, can I continue to build up the dregs over the course of say a month and then add them to the secondary?

 

[ryane]

so, this is a F Red with only Brett and the dregs?

As far as your approach its fine, I like to build up dregs a bit to make sure they dont produce off flavors, but with something like this thats probably not likely. My reasoning is, and its been awhile since Ive had Matilda so correct me if Im wrong, but I think that both Sofie and Matilda are brett/sacch only beers and there isnt any bacteria in them.

If that is true, then you have no place for the sourness to come from. Instead of the brux, I would suggest pitching 3763 to ensure you get some bacteria, OR augment the dregs and brux with other sours. Preferably fresh US sours like those from JP, Odell, etc

 

[Almighty]

I echo what Ryane said.

The mini starter is a good idea and should be fine assuming you have good sanitation. Remember to make sure the bottles settle in the fridge for a couple days, then pour slowly and continuously and leave about 1/2" in the bottom. Then flame the lip and pour.

This beer won't taste like a Flanders Red without Lacto or Pedio. Do you have access to the Rosealare yeast blend. It is a great blend and will really give you the results you want.