Souring infected beers

[thedigitale]

I see some people trying to salvage infected beers by adding bugs. Just wondering if anyone has had success with this. I have an infected batch and though I haven't tasted it yet, was curious as to what people's experience adding bugs was.

Yes I know it's infected. Yes I know why it's infected. This is not an "Is my beer infected" thread.

 

[flyangler18]

Souring shouldn't be done to salvage an infected batch, IMO - because not all styles lend themselves to the funk.

What is the source of the infection and what is the base beer style?

 

[thedigitale]

I tend to agree, which is why I was curious as to what other people have turned out by trying this.

The batch doesn't really have a style. We oversparged a nut brown and had some very low gravity wort. We added some old amber extract, and a bunch of cascade hops I had laying around. Dumped it into a carboy on a Saison cake I had just racked off of, and topped up with tap water. It was a disaster waiting to happen and I would have been surprised if it didn't get infected. It was at the end of a 15 gallon double batch brewday, and me and the brew buddy said what the hell, let's go for broke.

There was never any plan for this beer... just thought it may have been interesting. lol

 

[thedigitale]

I guess if you really wanted a style you could call it an Pale Nut Saison

 

[flyangler18]

I guess if you really wanted a style you could call it an Pale Nut Saison

That's quite the Frankenbier! Nothing suggests blending well with souring bugs - I'd say that one is destined for worm food.

Any thoughts as to what kind of infection we are dealing with here?

 

[thedigitale]

Not sure... forming a pellicle now... I'll probably take a whiff and (whiff pending) maybe a taste tonight. Since I wasn't expecting anything from this, I'm actually looking at it as a good experience. It's kind of neat to watch the progression.