ECY01 Sours

I've got about 30 gallons of homebrew that I primary fermented with this. Planning on letting them go for a 8-10 months before taking my first taste sample. Expecting to let them go for 12-14 months before packaging. My deciding factor will be the level of acetobacter.

 

I want a lot of brett development and souring so that's my main driving force and I expect that the level I want is going to take 1-2 years. But I've heard that this one can definitely produce acetobacter and, while I like it in small amounts, I'm not a huge fan personally (unless it's a flemish red!). Hence why I'm going to sample around the 8 month point and expect to package around the 12-14 month point.

 

I've had some 1 year old ECY01 sours some of my buddies have brewed (not this years ECY01 blend obviously) and they were definitely more sour than funky. The sourness was at a really good level by that time too! Most of those brews had fruit additions, so I'm sure that the acid of the fruit and the "late feeding" of the fruit to the bugs helped with that though

I'm hoping that by ECY going with 4 strains of brett in this years mix and claiming that 50% of the cells are from brett, it will produce more brett than in previous years. Another thing that is critical in brett development is abv, as it's growth is impeded by roughly 8% abv. Another thing that is critical for both the growth of brett and the souring bacteria is having a food source that will be present beyond the initial sacc. fermentation. So lots of dextrins and/or starches (turbid mash) really helps.

 

I brewed a 10 Gallons of Hefe wort today (49% Floor malted wheat, 49% Belgian Pils and 2% Melanoidin)
Five gallons got Wyeast 3068 and five gallons got ECY01.
The ECY01 will not get touched it until this time next year.

 

I see no reason to take it off the cake at this point, since you left it on the cake for six months already. If at some point you plan on fruiting it, I would rack it at that time. If not, I'd just let it ride and keg it when you feel its ready to drink.

 

Not exactly the same, but I have a blonde hit up with a vial of ECY20 that's been sitting since March. I haven't even peaked at it once yet and wasn't planning to until March 2015. Full disclosure: it my first sour beer!!

 

I tried the two batches of ECY01 I have going. Same recipe: one was brewed in April and one was brewed in May. Strangely enough, the May one is very sour and the April one barely is. They've been stored right next to each other and everything. The sour one definitely has a little bit of Acetic acid in the flavor, which doesn't make me happy. I'm going to rack onto fruit at some point in the future, but probably not until the summer.

On a related note, I also tried a sample from my Yeast Bay Melange beer I brewed in August. It's wasn't sour at all, but it smelled amazing. Super fruity and citrusy, with very little funk (just the way I like it). Hopefully it will sour up well. If so, this blend has some great promise.

 

I've only used ECY 20 bug county. Was at 3.2 ph at 3 months with minimal funk. At almost 9 months it's getting damn nice.

 

Glad you're liking where the Melange blend is going!

This is what we've found for the Melange blend that we've shared on our Facebook: If you want bracing acidity quickly, keep the IBU low (3-5 IBU), ferment at 70 F for 3 days and then bump up to 78 F. You'll get good acidity within a few weeks, though the overall profile of the beer will be a little rough around the edges more than likely. If you want to take is a little slower for an extended aging process, go ~10 IBU and ferment at 68 F for the entire time. Acidity will be produced much more slowly, but the beer will have a more rounded flavor/aroma profile.

Cheers!

 

So here is my ECY01 sour(Soleric). Please don't mind the label, I pulled more than I had de-labeled bottles for. Brewed 6 gals on 9/13/2013 and bottled 2.5 gals on 6/2/2014. Topped the fermentor off with fresh wort, hence the name, Soleric.

Super citrusy and dropped bright clear. Basically still, but that's what I was going for, like a Straight Lambic should be.
After 4 months sitting in the bottle its really starting to develop some of that Brett barnyard character. I still have a few and would love to share with some of y'all to get your feedback(and hell, harvest the dregs while your at it).

 

Hey I'd be down to be a guinea pig for this and try it out, how can I sign up?

 

Have you ever tried the same sour/wild force carbed and bottle conditioned? My local brewery put out a red wine barrel wild recently that I thought was pretty lacking in complexity on tap. The bottles I have, even fresh, blew the kegged version away. I'm guessing the few bottles I have are only gonna get better. You might just want to bite the bullet and bottle it the old fashioned way. Or do both, bottle conditioned and beer gun, and see if you can tell a difference.