Pulling sour samples/protection from O2

Has the beer formed a pellicle (waxy, sometimes bubbly looking white cap on the surface of the beer) yet?

Edit: Actually, it's not gonna make a huge difference either way. I will say, there's a good chance that not much has happened in just three months. What bugs/bug blend did you pitch to the fermentor? Also, a quick way to judge activity is to give the beer a quick sniff to see how it's progressing. Be careful that it could have produced a small amount of CO2 and might make you see stars if you breathe in too deeply but that will be a quick indicator without having to dunk anything in the beer or "rob beer from your future self.

Cheers!

 

Patience is key! My experience with Roeselare is that you start to notice hints of funk/tartness at six months, but nine months to a year is where I preferred it. Obviously each fermentation is different, but just my two cents!

As far as transferring sours, there's nothing new to worry about except for cross contamination of your plastic equipment (Auto-siphon, wine thief, bottling equipment, etc.) What I did was when it came time to transfer my first sour, I used all the stuff I needed from my current set of equipment and labeled them with a marker as "SOUR ONLY." Then purchased new plastic stuff to use for my clean fermentations. Hope that helps!

Cheers!

 

If you open the top a lot and pull a lot of samples, you risk oxygen contact which can turn the beer acetic (vinegar off flavors.) Do you have any sort of a CO2 system that you could rig up to put a blanket of gas on top of the beer after each sample smell or taste?

 

In regards to sour only equipment would a beer that is 100% Brett using WLP644 Saccharomyces "bruxellensis" trois fall into that same category?

 

My advice is to not sample at 3 months. It isn't even close to being done. It probably has a pellicle that you will have to break just to take a sample and conclude it isn't very sour or funky right now.

 

My experience with Roselaire blend is yes it will take 9 months-1 year to be ready. Keep your airlock wet and don't worry about the pellicle breaking. My temperature range for my first batch with Roselaire went from mid 60s to mid 70s over the course of the year.

 

Does your CO2 system use Sanke or Corny disconnects? With a Sanke, you can just turn the regulator down to 3ish PSI and put the lever in the "tapped" or "dispense" position and it should trickle CO2 slowly. With Corny disconnects it's a little trickier but if the ends screw on, you can just pull off the whole plastic gas disconnect and gas will trickle out assuming your regulator is turned low as mentioned above. Haha, if you forget to turn down the regulator you'll know pretty quickly...

Haha, this seems to be more of a philosophical question these days. Although it technically is a Sacch strain, it's pellicle forming capabilities make me want to treat it as "wild" just because I'd rather a little funk in my Trois beer than a little pellicle in my English Brown Porter. That said, it should be able to be eradicated with sanitizer or a 15 second 180 degree pasteurization just like anything else, but why risk it if you're unsure?

 

It would have been fine to leave it in the low 70s. Breaking the pellicle will expose the surface to more oxygen. It's best not to disturb it, but it isn't a big problem if you did.

 

yep, I dont even touch my sours until 1yr. As a newer brewer, I did sample at like 3/6 months, and the beer still came out fine. But I suggest to you to hold off if you can. I know its hard, but trust us the beer isnt ready yet with that blend.