Souring with WLP672

[T_Wrecks]

I brewed a low alcohol (~4%) wheat beer using aged EKG hops. The IBUs were calculated around 20. The beer was fermented at 68F using WLP007 for two weeks, and finished around 1.010. 53 gallons of this beer was added to a used oak barrel on top of ~20#s wild black raspberries. The beer was racked into the barrel before being crashed to carbing temps, so there would have been a decent amount of yeast still in suspension. I then added four vials of WLP672 (homebrew size), at room temp. I can't say for certain that the lacto was at room temp. I believe it was sitting out of the fridge for maybe four hours before I added it. There was definitely activity in the barrel for the next 48 hours or so, but I figured it was most likely the suspended yeast chewing through the sugar from the raspberries.

It's now been six months, and the beer doesn't seem to be souring. It has been aging at ~68F (ambient). I know temperature matters with bacteria, so for the last two months the barrel has had blankets on it trying to keep it a little warmer. Either way the beer isn't as sour as I was hoping. It actually isn't sour at all. It tastes great, but it isn't sour. I had planned on letting this beer age for twelve months, so I have about six more to go.

Should I add more lacto, or just let it age?

[brewinhard]

While L. brevis is capable of producing more acidity than L. delbrucki, 4 tiny white labs vials of this bacteria will do very little in 60 gallons of beer. 20 IBU's is also quite high and can inhibit the growth of this bacteria to an extent. This strain also ferments better at warmer temps and will produce more acidity around 85-98F. You would have been better off souring your wort first with a large built up starter of this bacteria in a low IBU wort (below 15) to help it grow faster. Keeping the temps around 95-100F for 7 days and minimizing available oxygen will allow the bacteria to reproduce quickly and produce more acidity in your final product.

With that being said, you could try giving it more time (but blankets wrapped around a barrel will do very little to increase the temps unless you have a very active fermentation going on) and see what you get but as stated before, 4 vials without a starter is hardly any bacteria to properly sour a 60 gallon barrel. If you are truly hellbent on souring the barrel, then you could add some pediococcus which would most definitely sour your beer but brett would also need to be added to clean up any diacetyl produced by this bacteria strain which would probably take another 6-8 mos minimum.

Another option to consider is to start pitching the dregs of a bunch of commercial sour beers that you enjoy the profile of. This will help to sour the barrel and is quite effective. The only caveat is that you will never know exactly what is in the barrel from here on out. You could also add lactic acid to the barrel or at packaging time to help enhance the acidity, but I have always found this method to be lackluster and not what I was looking for (less complex). Just some things to think about...

Good luck!

Brewinhard

[T_Wrecks]

While L. brevis is capable of producing more acidity than L. delbrucki, 4 tiny white labs vials of this bacteria will do very little in 60 gallons of beer. 20 IBU's is also quite high and can inhibit the growth of this bacteria to an extent. This strain also ferments better at warmer temps and will produce more acidity around 85-98F. You would have been better off souring your wort first with a large built up starter of this bacteria in a low IBU wort (below 15) to help it grow faster. Keeping the temps around 95-100F for 7 days and minimizing available oxygen will allow the bacteria to reproduce quickly and produce more acidity in your final product.

With that being said, you could try giving it more time (but blankets wrapped around a barrel will do very little to increase the temps unless you have a very active fermentation going on) and see what you get but as stated before, 4 vials without a starter is hardly any bacteria to properly sour a 60 gallon barrel. If you are truly hellbent on souring the barrel, then you could add some pediococcus which would most definitely sour your beer but brett would also need to be added to clean up any diacetyl produced by this bacteria strain which would probably take another 6-8 mos minimum.

Another option to consider is to start pitching the dregs of a bunch of commercial sour beers that you enjoy the profile of. This will help to sour the barrel and is quite effective. The only caveat is that you will never know exactly what is in the barrel from here on out. You could also add lactic acid to the barrel or at packaging time to help enhance the acidity, but I have always found this method to be lackluster and not what I was looking for (less complex). Just some things to think about...

Good luck!

Brewinhard

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to try and add a few (6 - 10) vials of WLP655. I'm hoping there is enough pedio in the mix to sour this, and obviously the brett is there to aid in the diacetyl cleanup. I've read that after pitching this mix, I should add some more fruit in after a few months to help feed the culture. The blankets were more of a hope, and prayer. I thought the same thing (that it was pointless), but figured it was better than nothing.

I'm going to try and steer clear of using lactic acid. I don't want to fake the funk.

I also plan on purchasing, and reading the American Sour Beer book before trying this again. That, or retiring sours from my brewery until I can afford a separate set of EVERYTHING and just funk on the hot side.