My first homebrew sour, couple of questions

[quirkzoo1]

Brewed a lambic style beer. Lost my notes but it was March last year, extract 50/50 Malt/Wheat DME, aged hops. 1.070 starting gravity. Pitched dregs from 4 bottles of krieks (Cantillon, 3F, Bruery, Phantom Canyon [local brewery]), no starter, no additional Saccharomyces pitched. Fermentation was active, never developed a pellicle. Pulled a sample this weekend so beer is roughly 10 months old and it tastes pretty good but I have some concerns.

The sample is currently sitting at 1.018 which seems really high for a beer with brett that is 10 months old. In hindsight I may have underpitched. The taste is nicely tart but I would love for the funk to develop more. Assuming this is just going to take more time. My only concern is that with increase time the sourness will get too much (and/or create too much acetic acid).

A couple scenarios I am thinking through -

1. Throw it on some fruit and don't worry about the lack of funk, just go with a tart, fruity beer.
2. Let it ride and hope for the best.
3. Brew a separate beer and design it to accentuate the funk and then blend the two.

Thoughts?

 

[dimensionx]

You definitely under pitched but it seems to be working albeit slowly, Brett should take the beer down to zero 1.000 so you've still got some time to go.

Seems like you still have some time for #1

Then do #3 but build up a starter with those dregs and it won't take so long.

 

[Snarf1]

#2. Give it time. Considering you started at 1.070 and pitched 4 bottles of dregs, I don't think 1.018 seems at all unusual for 10 months on. The beer won't neccessarily reach 1.000. Keep in mind that a hydrometer measures apparent attenuation, so a measurement of 1.000 isn't actually 100% attenuation and it's neither the limit nor neccesarily the end point. If the beer tastes good now, leave it be for at least another three months (or longer) and then taste it again. If it's still at 1.018 next time you sample, it's done. You can always open a few more bottles and add some more dregs, but if you like the way the beer tastes now, there isn't any reason to. If you do want to see the gravity drop quickly, Jolly Pumpkin dregs are generally considered the thermonuclear weapon of homebrewed sour beers.

Re: #1 If you add fruit now, the flavor will fade over time or at least taste less like fresh fruit. If you are planning on kegging to serve, it won't matter if the beer isn't done fermenting, so you could go ahead and add fruit and then keg it in a month or two. If you're planning on bottling, you really want to know the gravity is stable before you add the fruit, otherwise you might end up bottling and then have the beer continue fermenting in the bottle and end up with gushers or bottle bombs.

Re: #3 It is entirely possible you'll want to blend the beer. There is a reason breweries blend sour beers, often it's the only way to get the best product. You might get lucky and this batch will turn out great on it's own, but it never hurts to have some blending stock. Make another batch of fake lambic, or another style you think would blend well with what you have now. If the current batch turns out great, then you'll have your next project started already. Be careful thought, it's a slippery slope. Next thing you know, you may be buying better bottles in bulk.

 

[quirkzoo1]

Thanks for the input TNGabe and dimensionx.