Sour Blend Percentage

[BigGreen]

Howdy, I want to make a belgian ale and blend sour beer into it, I see the Belgians do this. I was thinking of pitching a pack of wyeast Roselare into a gallon of wort and leave it go for a year.

1.Would this be overpitching?
2. does anyone know approximately what percentage of sour beer to blend?
3.Dumb Idea?

 

[avidhomebrewer]

No, that wouldn't be overpitching. A year is probably on the low side for aging a sour, unless you make a starter of the bugs that will do the souring, like a lacto starter. Search the forum for one and you'll find it out here somewhere. Definitely not a dumb idea. As for how much sour to add, you'll have to experiment with that to find what you like, but I would say starting around 50:50 should be close, depending upon how sour the sour is.

 

[BigGreen]

Thank You. I guess i'll go for it, I can do the blending in like 10 months and age the additional time on oak.

 

[Oldsock]

I wouldn't make a starter with the blend, you'll be pitching plenty of cells with 1 pack into 1 gallon. Making a mixed culture starter is hard because the different microbes have different optimals for growth (oxygen, pH, gravity, etc...).

If you are going to blend and then age you'll need to kill the microbes in the sour portion with heat, chemicals, or filtration. Otherwise the bugs from the sour portion will go to work on the sugars/dextrins in the non-sour portion. Chemicals have worked well for me, (chill, fine, campden), heat is easy as well but I think it has a bigger impact on the flavor.

Hope that helps, what sort of blend are you thinking? Do you want to just add a touch of acid/funk, or make a beer that is still pretty sour?

 

[BigGreen]

Thank you for the info. you brought up a good point.

Your saying that i wouldnt want the Funk Bugs to be able to eat once I make the blend. Im assuming that would just make the whole party even Funkier. I plan on adding this gallon to 2 more in a 3 gallon carboy next year.

Is this process like wine where i would want to stop fermentation for Aging?

 

[Oldsock]

It just doesn't seem worth the effort to sour part before blending it with more beer and allowing the whole thing to sour. The idea of blending would be to add some acid/funk without letting the whole thing go full bore. If you mix in fresh beer the clock starts over and you'd have to wait probably 12 more months before bottling.

My personal preference is to add all of the bugs in primary along with the primary yeast strain. That has been the only way I've achieved the acid I want in a sour beer. In which case there is no need to ever kill the bugs (I've only done it for an Imperial Stout with Brett that I wanted to get funky, but not too dry). That said, you should pick a technique based on how you want the finished beer to taste.

 

[BigGreen]

point taken.

I guess what I was thinking was trying sour up a malty beer. maybe even sweet. Along the lines of a lambic but instead of fruity with sour it would be malty with sour. Im gonna get started with the sour gallon this weekend.

Thanks for your advise.