Souring an Imperial Stout?

[fastricky]

I brewed an Imperial Stout (OG: 1.106, FG: 1.029).

I've got it in a oak barrel and tho' it finished as it should have it's pretty dang sweet for my taste.

So I thought why not use this beer to experiment with sour aging - the bugs will have plenty to chew on.

I was thinking using Wyeast 5526 Brettanomyces Lambicus, as to my mind's palette a sour cherry flavor would go well with the Imperial Stout.

Any thoughts? And if you guys like this idea, how does it work, just add one smack pack into the beer? Two? The 5526 + another brett strain?

It's my first sour aging attempt so clearly I got lots to learn. Thanks!

All suggestions welcome!

 

[smokinghole]

I actually have a beer very much like this in a fermentor at the moment. I hit 1.117 and gave it the wyeast old ale blend which I suspect has their lambicus strain based on the flavors I got in the 11-11-11 old ale. I transferred it to secondary two weeks ago and at that time it was sitting at 1.040. I'm hoping it ends mid 20s.

 

[ryane]

I suspect has their lambicus strain based on the flavors I got in the 11-11-11 old ale.

I think it was confirmed over on BBB that its actually Brux in the old ale blend

 

[fastricky]

Help a newbie-bug brewer out y'all!

 

[tasq]

Roasty and sour don't belong together IMO. I'd personally add a straight brett culture.

 

[fastricky]

You wouldn't think so, but I recently had a Dutch stout that was soured and it was outstanding - it's where I got the idea from. It wasn't very roasty at all, I don't know know if the bugs had anything to do with that tho'...

 

[smokinghole]

I seriously considered tossing pedio in my stout but I didn't want a super attenuated beer. What I might do is brew up another stout around the time I bottle this and sour a portion with lacto and then add it in to the blend for a total of around 7gal of finished beer. It should get some nice flavor from the brett in the old ale blend and the lacto souring will add a soft sourness.

 

[WolvinMaine]

I am not doing this with a RIS, but I do have a stout that I fermented down from 1.060 with Safale 04 to 1.020. I then transferred to a secondary and tossed in some ECY 02 Flemish red washings. I decided to try this after sampling an old bottle of Madrugada Obscura by Jolly Pumpkin. It was pretty terrific and pretty tart. It got me to rethink the whole roasty/funky/sour combination. I suspect much of the original "stouts" from 19th century London had a similar profile. I think Guinness still sours a small amount of their beer, pasteurizes it, and blends it back in to get the right tang. Right now, the carboy samples have a nice cherry note to go with the roasted tones, and the acidity is coming up. I really am enjoying it. It is down to 1.016 now after about 4 months in secondary, going to let it sit a few more before bottling. Maybe take a gallon or so, put them in glass jugs, mix in some bugs/dregs, and see what happens?

 

[boostsr20]

I seriously considered tossing pedio in my stout but I didn't want a super attenuated beer. What I might do is brew up another stout around the time I bottle this and sour a portion with lacto and then add it in to the blend for a total of around 7gal of finished beer. It should get some nice flavor from the brett in the old ale blend and the lacto souring will add a soft sourness.

LActo/pedio/brett L is what I used from the get go on a 1.100 stout I did. Hopping was in the upper 20's and after 6 months it stalled out and cleared at 1.020. Its been stable it bottles for a long time now and this beer is amazing. Scored a 43.5 at the Michigan Beer Cup.

 

[smokinghole]

Interesting. I guess it makes sense because the bacteria would die at the high alcohol level before being able to superattenuate. Hmmmm Maybe next year!

 

[rexbanner]

Interesting. I guess it makes sense because the bacteria would die at the high alcohol level before being able to superattenuate. Hmmmm Maybe next year!

Indeed, doesn't lacto stop at 8% alcohol? I wouldn't think it would do anything in a barleywine.

Why not just use brett? It won't make it sour, but it might fix the sweetness problem. I've got a huge old ale I did dosed with brett right now, but I really can't tell you how it is, because it's got about 8 more months to go.

 

[smokinghole]

I think the strain of the lacto/pedio depends on what alcohol level it can withstand. It does seem to be the average alcohol tolerance of these types of bacteria though.

I actually have an oud bruin that ended up with higher gravity than I had planned. So it might not be sour at all. I will use it to blend in the future if that's the case. I used the ECY20 strain, but not sure how well it will do at the higher alcohol.