Plastic OK?

[ruger988]

Just brewed a Consecrationclone (more beer kit) and its my first sour. Just need some reassurance that all will be ok a year from now when its done. I brewed the beer, let primary fermentation finish for two weeks and then racked onto currants and pitched Brett in a 6.5g plastic big mouth bubbler. I decided to go with the BMB because of the extra headspace and the fact that it will be a lot easier to get two pounds of currants out of after a year.

Just want to make sure the fact that I'm letting it sit in plastic for so long is ok? Seems most secondary in glass or SS.

 

[MileHighBrewer]

Don't open it to sample all the time and you'll be fine

 

[masonsjax]

Plastic is fine.

Brett alone won't make a beer sour. You'll need some bacteria in there too. Adding bottle dregs or a commercial sour blend will do it.

 

[ruger988]

Plastic is fine.

Brett alone won't make a beer sour. You'll need some bacteria in there too. Adding bottle dregs or a commercial sour blend will do it.

Thanks.

Willbe pitching Roeselare in a few weeks, followed by Cantillon/Bruery/3 Fonteinen/De cam dregs overthe next year as I drink good funky beers.

 

[maverick0524]

I always use plastic and if it's still smelly before the next brew day I soak it for 24hrs prior in oxyclean. That seems to do a good job at removing unwanted aromas.

 

[ruger988]

I always use plastic and if it's still smelly before the next brew day I soak it for 24hrs prior in oxyclean. That seems to do a good job at removing unwanted aromas.

I'll probably keep sours going on this yeast cake after its done, so no worries there. I was more worried about the plastic breathing too much since its going to be sitting for ~1 year +.

 

[maverick0524]

I'll probably keep sours going on this yeast cake after its done, so no worries there. I was more worried about the plastic breathing too much since its going to be sitting for ~1 year +.

I had my a sour red on age for a year in a spigotted bucket and over the year I couldn't resist several small samples of it. I can say I didn't end up with vinegar and it was still a pretty fantastic sour.

 

[FredTheNuke]

Thanks.

Willbe pitching Roeselare in a few weeks, followed by Cantillon/Bruery/3 Fonteinen/De cam dregs overthe next year as I drink good funky beers.

If you open it each time you want to add dregs you could end up with too much oxygen.

Have the big mouth bubblers been tested for oxygen permeation rate yet (primarily at the lid gasket)?

 

[masonsjax]

The bung is the weak point of Better Bottles, so I would think the larger opening on the Big Mouths would make them a less suitable choice.

 

[ruger988]

Plan is to never open the big opening, but rather just pop the bung and pour dregs in that way. Shouldn't be any different than a better bottle unless oxygen permeates them more...?

 

[wingedcoyote]

No personal experience, but I think opening to pitch dregs should be fine. Lots of people have had good results supplementing sour fermentation with dregs, and how else could they be getting them in there -- injecting through the bung with a syringe?

 

[FredTheNuke]

the difference is in that he is not intending to open the large lid of the carboy - but instead add the dregs via the bung hole.

 

[masonsjax]

The weak link on a carboy is the bung. That makes me wonder if there's a much larger amount of o2 getting in through the much larger lids on the big mouth. How permeable are the lids on those?

 

[sweetcell]

6.5 g, unless you have a 6g batch or more, seems like a really big vessel to age a full year in regardless of what it's made of. too much headspace for my liking. add the fact that i don't trust the big lid on a BMB to seal perfectly, and i'd definitely be worried about how much air is in there & how much exchange is going on. the plastic walls of the bubbler aren't going to the problem, it's the length of the screw-top that presents opportunity for O2 to get in.

i would top up your batch with some wort (and maybe some additional currants) until you're relatively close to the top of the carboy to cut down on the amount of headspace in there. but that's my and my paranoia about leaving something with too much air above it.

 

[ruger988]

I saw mention in another thread of using sanitized (obviously) glass marbles or stainless ball bearings to add volume and kill headspace. Is the headspace going to be enough of an issue to justify going that route?

There are already 2 lbs of currants in there and they didn't seem to add all that much volume, I'd hate to go way overboard with them and ruin my beer.

 

[FredTheNuke]

I can tell you that I was very distraught as I poured 1/2 gallon of my Consecration clone down the drain last weekend.... It sucked to have to waste a drop of that precious stuff.

Why you might ask? I made three 5.5 gallon batches so the trub/losses due to currant absorption would not reduce my batch size less than 5 gallons (one full cornelius keg). After adding the currants and Brett my 6 gallon carboys were right to the top. I had to remove some to add the oak cubes, bacteria and 250ml of red wine into each carboy.

 

[maverick0524]

Should of bottled it.