Starting gravity way to high, what to do?

[doughanson78]

So I was going to do a sour experiment with bottle dregs.
Using extract, I accidentally calculated for a 5 gallon batch instead of a 1 gallon batch. OG was supposed to be about 1.054 and it ended up 1.175. I didn't realize this until I put everything into beersmith the next day.
I used 3lbs light DME, 1lb wheat DME, and 1oz malto-dextrin. Ended up being a little under 1 gallon into the fermenter.
I've pitched dregs from 3 bottles of commercial sours and a straight Brett beer. 72 hours later no airlock activity. There is a huge slurry/sediment on the bottom of the jug.
Will this ferment eventually, after the yeast and bugs get acclimated, or is the OG to high?
Suggestions?

 

[microbusbrewery]

Did you make a starter or direct pitch the dregs? If you made a starter, what was the OG? I've never tried doing a sour with that high of OG but here are a couple things I can think of. First, if there is a huge difference between the density of your wort and your starter, you can have issues. I can't remember the term (any scientists out there?) but essentially osmosis will draw water out of the yeast and bacteria cells which will at least stress them. Assuming they are still viable and will acclimate, a lot of the souring bugs aren't super tolerant of high alcohol levels, so they tend to stop working sooner than they would in a lower gravity brew.

As for suggestions, I don't know if topping off to five gallons would work, but it might be worth a try. Or let it ride for a day or two more and see what happens.

 

[Zoidberg]

Water down with at least a couple gallons of distilled, ideally 4 and put in larger fermenter or lots of gallon ones. I can't see this fixable otherwise

 

[doughanson78]

This essentially is/was supposed to be the starter.
Being there is no alcohol yet they should still work up to a certain alcohol level right? Assuming they are still viable. I pitched 2 Cascade dregs of 10%+ beers, so they should be fairly tolerant.
Again this is my first experiment like this. Just going off what I've been reading so far.
The stuff at the bottom, is that just wort sediment or is it a growing yeast/bug slurry?

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[dcHokie]

Did you pitch any sacch, or just the dregs?

 

[doughanson78]

Just dregs. But one bottle was a straight Brett Brux beer.

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[doughanson78]

Water down with at least a couple gallons of distilled, ideally 4 and put in larger fermenter or lots of gallon ones. I can't see this fixable otherwise

What exactly is making it unfixable?

 

[dantheman13]

Water down with at least a couple gallons of distilled, ideally 4 and put in larger fermenter or lots of gallon ones. I can't see this fixable otherwise

This is what I would do. Either dilute into a larger fermenter, or several smaller ones.

The one time I did Cascade only dregs there was no activity after a month. I had to add some Sacch. So, if your third bottle was a Brett only beer, I would assume you aren't getting any viable Sacch. I don't think that is the end of the world, but the Brett alone may not be strong enough to ferment out this beer in a timely manner (even if you dilute it). I think with a slow sluggish fermentation, even with Brett, you can risk infection and off flavors. If you don't get any visible fermentation after a week, add some Sacch.

 

[microbusbrewery]

+1 what Dan said. I think your best case scenario is it'll be sluggish. I realize it's a sour/wild ale but if it's too sluggish, something undesirable like mold might take hold.

 

[doughanson78]

Thanks everyone. Getting some distilled water now.

 

[Calder]

I don't think distilled water is a goodrecommendation. It doesn't have any minerals. Any dinking waer would be better.

You may be lucky, and there may be something alive in there. I would expect any sacc yeast, and probably the brett will be dead due to osmotic pressure (high sugar levels). The bugs may still be alive.

When you have diluted it, you need to at the least, pitch some yeast.

 

[doughanson78]

So I put it into a 6.5 gallon carboy. Let sit for a few days. It was smelling pretty sour. Yesterday I pitched a 1L starter of wyeast 1056. This morning it's happily fermenting. Super acidic. Lots of krausen.