New RR Sour: Propitation

You just gave me a great idea.

 

It can't be about price -- they're more than happy to make certain growler fills much more expensive where required (Mortification is like a $35 fill, if I recall correctly). They could easily do a growler fill of Supplication for $50 or whatever. The bacteria thing makes sense.

 

I have heard that Vinnie doesn't want to be known as the "guy who sells $60 growlers," so it may be true.

The infection theory makes sense as well, however.

 

Infection doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It's not a sterile environment, bacteria are going to get in there no matter what. I bet you get more bacteria in a growler by leaving it open for a day than you would from a sour beer fill. Do the kegs even have any live yeast/bacteria in them? My guess is they don't, really.

And, if that were a problem, a good cleaning with soap (which you should be doing anyway) will get rid of basically all the bacteria. PLUS it's a growler, you should drink it quickly, and there won't be time for bacteria to produce off-flavors unless you're leaving it so long that the beer will be terrible from oxidation anyway.

Finally, I call bullshit on it because they used to fill growlers with sours.

So no, I don't think that's the reason, I think it's because:

1) The demand would be too high and they'll sell out too fast.
2) They don't want to do $60 growler fills.

 

I believe the decision to not fill growlers with sours is most definitely a contamination issue. Soap does not get rid of brett. When it gets into wineries they basically have to throw equipment out, they can continually clean and attempt to sterilize but tanks and barrels that become infected almost always remain infected no matter what is done. Heavy doses of sulfur can control brett but not really kill it, velcorin is about the only food safe way to kill brett and other similar bacterias, but requires special equipment and operators to even use.

 

Only one of their regular sours has Brett before bottle conditioning, would the others get it if they're being kegged? My guess is no, so that's not a concern. And besides, Brett is an extremely slowly fermenting yeast, if you're getting a growler filled and storing it for a week it's going to do absolutely nothing to the beer. Also, isn't brett just floating around in the air? My guess is that there's as much wild brett in your growler from exposure to the air as there would be left from a sour fill.

So no, I still don't think contamination makes any sense.

 

Well that's just not true in the slightest.

 

...It is according to their bottle logs, I specifically checked.

 

Just because the primary yeast is not brettanomyces does not mean it isn't in their. The barrel aging which is before it goes into draft or bottle contains brett, lacto, and pedio.

From the RR site for Supp for example. "It is aged for about 12 months with sour cherries, brettanomyces, lactobacillus, and pediococcus added to each barrel."

 

Huh, I wonder why they don't note that on the bottling logs. I had assumed that they bottling logs contained all yeast/bacteria information, but I guess that was a bad assumption.

 

They use some code names for bug mixes that are easy to miss.

 

More than that, they ONLY list primary yeast strains and then the yeast strains they're adding at bottling. None of the barrel critters are listed.

 

They used to fill growlers of sours a few years ago. I remember getting a growler of Compunction for about $35 back in the day. I think they stopped more for logistical issues: some of their draft-only sour batches are quite small, and it's much easier to have a beer last for a few weeks-months when it's only being poured in 12 ounce glasses.
Also, you should never wash your growlers with soap. It's remarkably difficult to get the soap residue out of growlers, and it will ****** head formation in the beer. That's why they sell class-cleaning agents that make glasses and containers "beer clean." I usually use a 1:10 mixture of ammonia:water to sanitize my growlers. It's super easy to rinse out and doesn't leave any sort of smell or residue. You could also use something like Starsans or Iodafor.

 

Craig, Rob says hi. And hes still impressed with your drinking capabilities.

 

That's high praise from a Swedish man.

 

Will be up there next weekend....Doubt it, but I hope its still available

 

Really enjoyed this beer when I was there Saturday night.