Simple Souring Method - No New Equipment?

[Aristotelian]

I am thinking about branching out into souring and starting with a simple experiment. I don't have a large space so I am hoping to keep new equipment to a minimum but I haven't come across a tutorial or thread to deal with this.

My thought is to rack to secondary directly in bomber bottles, then add a bit of brett dregs to each bottle (a tablespoon? teaspoon?). Age for X number of months (any advice?). Then add a sugar cube and cap.

Any reason this wouldn't work or would be ill advised?

 

[masonsjax]

Brett won't sour your beer, you'd need bacteria for that. Lacto, Pedio, Aceto. The method would probably work though. If you mash high so there are enough complex sugars for the bugs to work on you'll get more sour. You'd need some kind of airlock on each bottle to avoid making malt vinegar, and you'll get a lot of sediment, especially if pellicles form. The sugar cube may not get you any carbonation since by the time your beer has soured, any sacch will be long dead. You should add a little dry yeast when you're ready to add the sugar and cap them. I'm not sure of how much sugar you actually need for a good carb level in each bottle, I've never bottle conditioned a beer.

 

[oceanic_brew]

Do you have an empty corny keg?

 

[m00ps]

how are you planning on adding a "teaspoon" of dregs?

This doesnt sound like a great idea. Taking gravity readings would create so much headspace and the whole process sounds like it would create a ton of oxidation. I would try 1g secondaries before anythign like this. But I would certainly get a new bottling wand, and preferably a new bucket for future clean beer. Use your current ones for the sours

 

[Aristotelian]

how are you planning on adding a "teaspoon" of dregs?

This doesnt sound like a great idea. Taking gravity readings would create so much headspace and the whole process sounds like it would create a ton of oxidation. I would try 1g secondaries before anythign like this. But I would certainly get a new bottling wand, and preferably a new bucket for future clean beer. Use your current ones for the sours

Moops, the idea would be that the secondary with brett would be done in the bottle. Brett would never touch the bottling bucket or equipment.

The dregs would be as simple as pouring a small amount into each bomber, then cap with an airlock.

I did not think about taking readings. My thinking was that this wouldn't be necessary since primary fermentation with sacc would take care of the majority of sugars, then I could just let the brett work on the rest.

To avoid bombs, I would prime, cap, carb for 10 days, and put straight into the fridge until ready to drink.

 

[Aristotelian]

Never mind...I found some threads on "bottling with brett" which is even simpler than what I am describing. I will give it a shot with a couple of bombers and put them in a waterproof container.

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2012/08/bottle-conditioning-with-brett-belgian.html

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/brett-at-bottling.169460/

 

[rhys333]

Subscribed. This is perfect timing from me... I've been thinking about doing the same thing to carb a couple beers. I was just going to add the dregs from a commercial bret conditioned beer and cap without priming. Isn't the trick getting FG to the right numbers to avoid under/over carbonation?

 

[rhys333]

Here's another one I read recently:
https://byo.com/bock/item/2848-brettanomyces-tips-from-the-pros

Two important points I took from the article are a) Brett isn't to be feared as long as your sanitization schedule is good, and b) critical FG information if bottle conditioning with brett (see bottom of article).

 

[Sailingeric]

I have a sour on tap right now. I put some lacto in some unhopped wort, let the lacto do its thing until I got the low end of the sour wanted- about two weeks at room temp. Then I boiled and hopped the wort, and then added my yeast to do the fermentation. The boiling kills the lacto and you can minimize how much stuff gets into contact with the lacto. Once fermented I kegged and when it was carbed there was it more sour from the CO2. Yum! Next time I will try it with some fruit.

 

[Aristotelian]

Subscribed. This is perfect timing from me... I've been thinking about doing the same thing to carb a couple beers. I was just going to add the dregs from a commercial bret conditioned beer and cap without priming. Isn't the trick getting FG to the right numbers to avoid under/over carbonation?

Exactly. From what I am seeing you can bottle with brett only (no priming sugar) but most seem to add at least a small amount of priming sugar along with the brett. I think I will go with about half my normal priming sugar--1 sugar cube per bomber or 1/4 tsp sugar per bottle--and cross my fingers.