Sour Cider - I may have messed up

[phendog]

I put together 3 1/2gal of cider from Motts Apple Juice, a bit of simple sugar and dosed it with WLP775 English Cider yeast. I let it go for about 45 days and racked a gallon into a jug with 48oz of Oregon Blueberries in natural syrup and dosed that with WLP655 Belgian Sour.

I have no visible signs of fermentation and color looks the same after two weeks. My theory is that the cider before adding the blueberries and sour yeast was already around yeast tolerance of the sour yeast. Does this sound about right. Next time I'll add the sour straight off.

 

[dmtaylor]

Sour bugs can take several months to have any effect at all. Patience. Give it a couple more months before next tasting.

 

[SOURALLDAY82]

Phendog,

Did you get your sour?

Just my 5 cents - you added blueberry syrup on the 2nd ferment, but if I am not mistaken the WLP655 is a bacteria and not a yeast. So, it's not going to ferment, it's going to inoculate (sour but not get any more alcohol). Thus, adding the syrup will make it sweeter but not cause any more fermentation because there is no more yeast to ferment the sugar!

You could (have) added more cider yeast and the belgian sour - I would want to know how that taste in the end!

But from what I have read, if you want the sour to kick in, you have to heat it up and hold it there (I think about 117F)....

Finding the right equipment for this is tricky and is a bit of an investment... but if you like sour, I think it is the way to go.

After you heat it up - you have to boil it to stop the souring, fyi.

Good luck and send me a six pack if it works!

 

[phendog]

Phendog,

Did you get your sour?

Just my 5 cents - you added blueberry syrup on the 2nd ferment, but if I am not mistaken the WLP655 is a bacteria and not a yeast. So, it's not going to ferment, it's going to inoculate (sour but not get any more alcohol). Thus, adding the syrup will make it sweeter but not cause any more fermentation because there is no more yeast to ferment the sugar!

You could (have) added more cider yeast and the belgian sour - I would want to know how that taste in the end!

But from what I have read, if you want the sour to kick in, you have to heat it up and hold it there (I think about 117F)....

Finding the right equipment for this is tricky and is a bit of an investment... but if you like sour, I think it is the way to go.

After you heat it up - you have to boil it to stop the souring, fyi.

Good luck and send me a six pack if it works!

Well, it's 5 months old now and really fantastic. I got some funk, some sour and a nice tartness. WLP655 does have some Saccharomyces and I did indeed get a very mild secondary fermentation. I racket it out after 2 months with the blueberries and bulk aged it for a while. Pretty unbalanced at first, but really starting to come around now.