So brewed an old ale that just didn't live up to my expectations. It was way too much oak, it's been force carbed and sitting in my keezer wasting space. Instead of dumping it. I am thinking about letting it warm up, degassing and pitching Brett lambicus. Hoping to get cherry notes along with leather. The beer finished at 1.014. Is this going to work considering it has been carbed?
I don't think the CO2 will affect the brett. Brett does its thing over a long period of time while it is under pressure. In my experience, oak will fade over time, so definitely don't dump it. You might consider bretting only half of the batch so you can compare later.
Brett won't reduce the oak. Time will. Your plan will produce the same beer, but drier and with notes of horse poop. Is that what you want? My advice is to blend it with other beers straight from the tap. The blends can be your homebrew or various pro brews that would benefit from adding some malty oak. Almost every off batch I've ever made tasted better with a blend in the glass.
Truly. It's not an Old Ale until it has at least a year of age on it. I brew it fairly regularly...regularly enough that I always have some 2 year old stock on hand to enjoy.
I'm gonna agree with a couple of the previous people. Give it more time. Oak flavor mellows over time, so over-oaked now could very possibly be beyond amazing in like 2-6 months. Just forget about it for a while and come back to it later this year.
While everyone else has excellent points, if I were to the route you've suggested, I'd go Brett C. It's my favorite for Brett at bottling.
Thanks everyone. I guess I was under the impression that Brett may reduce the oak. I may bottle it with my counterpressure in bottles to free up the keg
