Beer Forum

I have an English pale ale that I could not get below 1.020... I kegged and force carbed, it tasted worty. Its was good, just needed to ferment out. So I transferred to a carboy let it sit for 24 hours and pitched the Roeselare blend from whyeast. A couple days later I added some dark cherries(no pits). Where do I stand. do I need to reck of the cherries?
can it sit for a year? If the FG Drops to 1.000 can I keg it or is the yeast still working, well it be sour?
First time using bugs. If I use my glass wine thief to get samples for testing, what cleaning treatment will insure I don't contaminate other batches?

norfire0 wrote:I have an English pale ale that I could not get below 1.020... I kegged and force carbed, it tasted worty. Its was good, just needed to ferment out. So I transferred to a carboy let it sit for 24 hours and pitched the Roeselare blend from whyeast. A couple days later I added some dark cherries(no pits). Where do I stand. do I need to reck of the cherries?
can it sit for a year? If the FG Drops to 1.000 can I keg it or is the yeast still working, well it be sour?
First time using bugs. If I use my glass wine thief to get samples for testing, what cleaning treatment will insure I don't contaminate other batches?

Not a big sour maker, but, I would assume that you would not want to sit on the cherries a year.

Anything plastic that touches the beer should be only used with other sour beers.

Ok, rack off the cherries.
So using a glass wine thief, if I wash it with water then soak it in star San it will be ok to use with other batches?

I am wondering, is the gravity lowering as it sours or does the yeast eat everything
and as it cleans up the bi products it sours? I'll find out as I go along...

norfire0 wrote:So using a glass wine thief,... it will be ok to use with other batches?

Yeah, glass is more easily cleaned and sanitized than plastic. I'd get some PBW for doing the actual cleaning if you are 'washing' with just a water rinse.

norfire0 wrote:I am wondering, is the gravity lowering as it sours or does the yeast eat everything

There will likely be some longer chain sugars that regular brewing yeast won't be able to consume, but wild yeast/bacteria will be able to over time. This would further lower the gravity.

norfire0 wrote:And as it cleans up the bi products it's ours?

It's already yours.

spiderwrangler wrote:

norfire0 wrote:And as it cleans up the bi products it's ours?

It's already yours.

All things considered, I wouldn't bet money on that.

norfire0 wrote:Ok, rack off the cherries.

Again, I don't know how long you can leave it on the cherries. I just think that a year might be to long. Waiting for some experts to chime in.

norfire0 wrote:So using a glass wine thief, if I wash it with water then soak it in star San it will be ok to use with other batches?

But you will have to replace any tubing you use to transfer the sour beer. Your carboy stopper and airlock would have to be set aside. And if you bottle it, your bottling bucket has to be set aside. If you keg, you'd probably want to change the O-rings before kegging something else.

If you do keg it, you'll want beer connectors with check valves to keep the bugs from migrating to the other kegs. Ask me how I know. (I made the CYBI Bam Biere. It was great, but I had two other kegs on my system and they both soured.)

Again, waiting on an expert to chime in.

Ok. Plastic will be set aside.
thanks for all the input. Any other input?