Sampling Sours

[FredTheNuke]

Do most folks take the time to Carbon Dioxide flush the headspace - no matter how small - of your carboy after taking a sample of an aging sour? If I am not nutz this would eliminate the chance of acetic acid formation due to sampling. Sampling once is said to introduce more oxygen into the brew than the rubber bung over the life of the souring process. A 2-3 second CO2 blast from a blichmann beer gun into that headspace would seem (to me at least) to eliminate this issue.

Thoughts?

 

[dantheman13]

I have to admit, I am not a flusher. I don't have a lot of space, and with one CO2 tank tucked behind my kegs in a small fridge, I usually skip getting the thing out. I don't own a Blichmann gun. I probably sample once every 6-12 months. With a couple of sours under my belt in the last 2.5 years, so far I haven't had too much of an acetic problem. We'll see if I get problems down the road.

 

[FredTheNuke]

Hmm.... You aging in glass? What kind of bung and airlock? I'm curious to see just how sensitive this chit is. I have absolutely no intentions on buying barrels - I can stack PET or glass carboys to the moon and maybe sneak in more 60 gallon HDPE conicals without the SWMBO noticing. My gut feeling is we are being too anal about the oxygen issue. Wild Brews kinda makes you worry too much IMO. I ponder this as my sours age and I sip an ultra-rare-on-the-East-Coast The Bruery Rueuze.

 

[dantheman13]

Yeah, I have wondered about that as well. A lot of my sours now were initially aged in 1 gallon glass jugs. I had a couple of the airlocks go dry on me, but the one that turned out very well had a pellicle. More recently (6 months) I transferred them and stepped them up to larger batches (5-6 gallons), and am aging them in Better Bottles with either airlocks or the over priced BB Dry Traps. So far so good.

Most people will tell you that all a pellicle tells you is that there is air getting into the fermenter. That's true, but in my experience a pellicle doesn't always form when air gets in. That's when I've gotten more acetic character, but still not enough to be as vinegary as a Rodenbach. So, if there isn't a pellicle, and you take a no-flush sample, I think there is a much higher chance of getting acetic acid.

 

[ChugachBrewing]

I flush because I have the ability and there is no reason not to. I have had beer tasting more vinegary than I would like, mostly from using plastic buckets, etc and other fermenters with high O2 exchange rates. Nothing from barrels has ever come out that way, especially with a tasting nail.

 

[Coff]

I use one of those hand held co2 thingy's, they are cheap and perfect for this application.

This guy, no reason not to snag one.

http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Innovations-Cornelius-Keg-Charger/dp/B000NV9CE6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1401734909&sr=8-2&keywords=co2+charger

 

[metic]

I use one of those hand held co2 thingy's, they are cheap and perfect for this application.

This guy, no reason not to snag one.

http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Innovations-Cornelius-Keg-Charger/dp/B000NV9CE6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1401734909&sr=8-2&keywords=co2+charger

Interesting. How do you use something like that? Do you need a regulator or tubing, or can you just fire it off into the fermenter?

 

[dantheman13]

Interesting. How do you use something like that? Do you need a regulator or tubing, or can you just fire it off into the fermenter?

Thanks, Coff, I was looking at these a couple of weeks ago and forgot to ask around if anyone has used them. I will pick one up! How long do the little CO2 canisters last you?

@Browne - You use those little disposable CO2 dispensers. My LHBS carries them.

 

[metic]

@Browne - You use those little disposable CO2 dispensers. My LHBS carries them.

Can you link to what you mean Dan? I haven't looked into kegging equipment at all because I don't really have room for it, but being able to flush carboys with co2 would be great. I already have a bunch of disposable co2 canisters for a soda siphon. (Wait, is that what you mean by disposable co2 dispensers?)

 

[ChugachBrewing]

Another cheap method is a bike-tire filler with C02 canister. You screw it in to puncture, then screw out lightly to flush, then keep it screwed in for storage. If you already have one it could work. If not, get one of the ones for brewing like this: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/soda-keg-co2-charger.html

 

[dantheman13]

Can you link to what you mean Dan? I haven't looked into kegging equipment at all because I don't really have room for it, but being able to flush carboys with co2 would be great. I already have a bunch of disposable co2 canisters for a soda siphon. (Wait, is that what you mean by disposable co2 dispensers?)

Yeah: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/12-gram-co2-cartridge-box-of-12.html

 

[FredTheNuke]

Or buy the CO2 canister and regulator ($100) and just connect some tygon to the regulator output and dial up a few pounds of pressure.