troglodytes
Well-Known Member
So I just did a batch of a heavily hopped Rye Ale with a lot of rye, wheat and flaked (33% of grain bill), and ended up getting lower efficiency than desired. I didn't realize I had run out of rice hulls, so its understandable for this sticky mash. After mashing in my cooler tun, with a brew bag as my filter, I left the drained cooler outside on my porch overnight, brewbag and grains still inside.
This morning I went out to clean it and had found a concentration of wort remaining in the grains had filtered through and I had an extra 2L @ 1.065 runnings in the bottom of the cooler at what felt to be about 90F. Having sour mashed before I figured I'd have a taste of these "3rd runnings" and it was clear that they had started to sour but hadn't relaly progressed too far in only 12 hours. It tasted clean, had no bad smells, but was starting the "thin out" a little, and had a little bit of acididty to it.
So I had an idea; I'd boil it down to match my main batch SG and kill off the bugs/wild yeast it had developed. My think was the dead cells would serve as servomyces alternative for the batch and the little bit of acid from this mini sour mash might add a crispness to rye that would bridge the gap between this being a fall warmer and a more refreshing warm weather beer.
It was pitched post 20 minute boil into what is already an active fermentation so I'm excited to see how this turns out. Has anyone else attempted to do this with successful results or is my desire to try new things a little out there? I'm pretty sure I would have killed any bad guys in the boil so I'm not worried about this still being a clean fermentation; but should I be?
This morning I went out to clean it and had found a concentration of wort remaining in the grains had filtered through and I had an extra 2L @ 1.065 runnings in the bottom of the cooler at what felt to be about 90F. Having sour mashed before I figured I'd have a taste of these "3rd runnings" and it was clear that they had started to sour but hadn't relaly progressed too far in only 12 hours. It tasted clean, had no bad smells, but was starting the "thin out" a little, and had a little bit of acididty to it.
So I had an idea; I'd boil it down to match my main batch SG and kill off the bugs/wild yeast it had developed. My think was the dead cells would serve as servomyces alternative for the batch and the little bit of acid from this mini sour mash might add a crispness to rye that would bridge the gap between this being a fall warmer and a more refreshing warm weather beer.
It was pitched post 20 minute boil into what is already an active fermentation so I'm excited to see how this turns out. Has anyone else attempted to do this with successful results or is my desire to try new things a little out there? I'm pretty sure I would have killed any bad guys in the boil so I'm not worried about this still being a clean fermentation; but should I be?
