Brewing Activities (2021)

If by "hit with 15 PSI" you man filled the headspace with 15 PSI, then disconnected the gas, don't be surprised if they are soon measuring "0" PSI. Most of the gas is going to be absorbed into the beer, leaving not enough headspace pressure to maintain the keg seal, assuming the seal was depending on the pressure to hold.

 

Hmm. You had mentioned your Oud Bruin didn't seem "acetic" enough for you. When you say acetic and acidity (above quote), do you mean lactic acid sourness or do you actually mean acetic acid sourness (i.e. vinegar). The latter isn't likely to happen very efficiently without acetobacter, which wouldn't be in the ECY Flanders blend.

As an aside, I know one commercial brewer who's killing it with his sours. When he wants an acetic acid component, he's blending vinegar into the beer. He does use a lot of bugs and a lot of aging, but he says he gets the best control of acetic acid content by blending vinegar, and judging by his beers, I believe him.

 

That makes sense… I did upgrade my kegs recently aka new lids/seals and posts, and they seem to be very snug but this will be a nice ‘test’ for when I’m back into the new year. I will let you know!

 

See I think what I was after is lactic acid sourness. Just a hint of the vinegar. Next time I will add some lactic producing bugs. I want to do this in a 5 gallon barrel I have but I want to also run a batch of barleywine through it first. Thanks for the clarification, I’m still learning on the sour brews

 

If you used the ECY02 blend, you already have the lactic acid producing bugs (Lacto and Pedio). Since you want vinegar also, what's missing is Acetobacter. Lactobacillus can make a little bit of acetic acid, but usually below taste threshold.

 

So I should’ve let it age longer before kegging and cold conditioning to get more souring? Since it’s carbonated already and has been in the fridge for a few weeks, is it too late to let it warm up and try to sour more?

 

1. Yep.
2. It's worth a try.

 

If this is a style of beer you enjoy I'd recommend picking up a copy of Michael Tonsmeire's book American Sour Beer.

 

@Jasonja1474 lactic acid from Lactobicillus will be inhibited by IBUs. The higher the IBUs the less lactic acid production. Pedio takes a few months to kick in and do its thing. The Brettanomyces in that yeast blend will produce some acetic acid. Acetic acid is dependent on oxygen ingress as acetobacter transforms alcohol into acetic acid in the presence of oxygen. No oxygen, no acetic acid (vinegar). Putting the beer into a keg within the first few weeks has removed all oxygen thus haulting acetic acid production, and getting it cold has haulted the Pedioccoccus from creating lactic acid.

If I were in your shoes I would remove the keg from the kegerator and leave it warm for 6 months, but do not let in oxygen. The Pedio will kick off when temperatures warm up in the Spring (or you could bring the keg into the house). After a few months the beer might thicken and get goopy when you pour some from the keg to taste it. If so, leave it warm, leave it alone, come back in 6 weeks and check again.

 

Brewing a pretty simple Kolsch today.
100% Barke Pils
Magnum and Hallertau Mittelfrueh to about 30 ibus
ECY21

 

Bottling an imperial stout and brewing another iteration of a GF Red IPA today. I've simplified the grain bill quite a bit because the last attempt was very muddy. Also increasing the sulfates to keep the crystal malts in check.

4L Rice
Crystal Rice
Red Wing Millet
Caramel Millet 120L
Turbinado

Columbus, Simcoe, Centennial

Nottingham @ 60°F

 

Let me know if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it was Mike Tonsmiere (American Sour Beer book) that shoved a widdled table leg into the top of his carboy to allow oxygen ingress in a flanders red hoping to mimic a fouder? I think the sherry/balsamic vinegar idea is pretty good, but personally if you're looking for that specific character, I'd just transfer .50-.75 gallons of Flanders into a 1 gallon carboy and let it age for a bit with brett/bacteria. All of the extra headspace should allow for acetic acid production. Then you can blend a small amount into the finished beer.

 

Brewing up a CDC LiePA . 2 row , C10, cascade, centennial, Nottingham.

 

While I agree with your thoughts on this, I would still be hesitant to go this route. Having experienced wild beers I let the airlock dry on go past acetic acid to ethylacetate (acetone, nail polish remover), and dumping full carboys, I would caution with attempting to get acetic acid production. On a large scale with mass amounts of beer to blend from, acetic acid production, and sherry oxidation notes, can be safer to achieve. In a homebrewery, on single, maybe double batch, blending options you have to be very careful to not kill an entire batch. As homebrewers, we have the freedom to blend in vinegar and sherry to achieve the same flavors without using the same techniques as traditional brewers. (Before someone argues that if we don't do it the same way as the big boys that we are cheating, our carboys with wooden chair legs shoved in them are not Fouders or barrels, we are mimicking on a small scale to achieve the same flavors regardless)

 

Request beer, mission accomplished ipa.
Marris
l20
Belgian biscuit malt
Cascade, chinook then citra
Notty