Sour an aged IPA?

[cabbie92]

I have an IPA I made in January. The finished product had a banana flavor that was unwanted. I set this beer aside, meaning to eventually dump it while I moved on to other beers. I never dumped it. Now I'm wondering if I can add a Brett/lacto blend to it at this stage and see if it turns into a sour? Will the hops fade enough to allow the bugs to take hold?

Any chance this will work or is it a bad idea?

 

[Bensiff]

Bad idea...investing the time, money, and fermentation capacity to throw bugs at an already bad beer seems like a lot for a low probability of it turning into something good. Could it end up being good, perhaps; but, better to start with a good beer. It's IBU's will be a definite problem for the lacto. There are a few strains that are tolerant to higher IBU levels though. Sour and IBU's do not go well together IMO so that is also another negative. Also, its an already fermented out beer so there isn't much at this point for the bugs to chew on which will likely lead to a less than desired amount of sour/funky character you would want.

 

[foltster]

I'll counter with, you might try some Brett for a few months and see what happens.

 

[chrilr]

Yup, hit it with some Brett. Yeast bay amalgamation is pretty tasty

 

[cabbie92]

Thanks. I thought a "Brett only" may be the only choice. I will give it a shot. I figure I've got nothing to lose other than a few bucks on a Brett yeast. Fortunately I don't need the keg space...I've got more empty than full...no one told me that kids would take so much of my time lol

 

[chrilr]

I would give the brett at least 3 months, before trying.

 

[Sourz4life]

By all means do what you will, but I think this topic about adding brett/LABs(although your planning brett) to a beer that it wasn't meant for originally or added because the beer didn't come out how you wanted isn't a good reason to use it. IMO if the beer didn't come out good in the first place Brett isn't going to make it magically better. I mean you could get lucky, as I've had some beers where this was done and it wasn't bad but they almost never come out great.

 

[gometz]

It sounds like your issue is off flavors caused by bad fermentation control or an infection (wild yeast most likely). Brett loves to consume the esters from other yeasts, and I have read that that's actually what produces the "funk" flavors (which is why 100% Brett beers tend to be more fruity than funky). So I agree, if you don't need the carboy, toss in some brett, let it sit out at room temp, and check it again in 2-3 months.

 

[65C]

I had some banana from S-04 which (unexplainably) was blowing off like a car exhaust for 4 days at 19C room temp

in the end it turned out okay after conditioning