I'm in the process of brewing my first sour beer and have a few questions. First, with regards to sampling the gravity, I've read that it is important to try not to disturb the pellicle, but you obviously must break it to extract the beer. Is there some method besides inserting the thief in the same location after the pellicle is broken? Also, I don't have a way to add CO2 to the headspace after taking samples. I've seen that people use seltzer water for berliner weiss, but that would disturb the pellicle so I'm confident that wouldn't be a course of action here and I should just sample infrequently. Finally, I haven't taken a gravity reading yet (since adding the yeast and dregs) and the beer is almost 4 months old. After about a month, there was a pretty active pellicle on the beer with large bubbles. Since then, the temperature in the fermenter has steadily fallen and is now below the suggested range for the roselare blend at 58 F. Would I be better off moving the carboy out of the fermenter and into the house where it will be warm enough for the yeast to activate (and disturb the pellicle) or leave it in the fermenter. Am I going to have to pitch additional yeast or will the yeast in the carboy wake back up without rousing? I have read American Sour Beers, but would like some input from people who have had experiences in similar situations. Thanks.
No need to check gravity at 4 months. Temperature is too low. Carefully move it to a warmer place or figure out how to warm it into the 70s without moving it.
I would go so far as to say that getting the fermenter warmer is more important than worrying about the pellicle at this point. That low of a temperature will really slow down things.
You'll want to leave it alone for quite a while. Different microbes will have ideal growth at different parts of the prolonged secondary fermentation. I usually check for acidity around 6 months, then for Brett phenolics closer to 12 months. Checking/sampling too early steals beer from your future self, although it does allow you to throw dregs into the carboy periodically. The low temp will slow things down a bit, but it's not as big of a concern, as Sacc will be finished with primary fermentation. Is there any place you can stash it in the 60s? You can drop the pellicle and it will re-form.
Thanks for the responses. Went ahead and moved it out of the fermenter and into the house, where I keep it in the low to mid 60s. I'll leave it there for a couple of months and probably put it back in the fermenter sometime around early summer.
I would have just left it where it was located. 58F is low for fermentation, but its not like activity was not happening. If I could keep my sours under cellar temperature I would, but I can't. I like to think of sours like you would BBQ, low and slow is best.
Yeah, I would have left it alone. There is still activity at that temp, just slower. Plus, assuming this is in your basement, it'll warm back up as Spring approaches. Also, I don't think it's that big a deal to disturb the pellicle. Sure, it's best not to, but pulling the occasional sample is not the end of the world. Just be quick and careful .
The only reason I don't recommend taking samples is that its probably going to need to sit for a while and every sample either makes you want it more or could lead to unintended contamination or cause you to worry because it taste weird at that point in its life. Don't sweat it, just sit back and let the bugs do their thing.
Can't get much more contaminated... Maybe moldy. I agree though. Leave it alone if you can. You'll smell some nasty funk, sulfer, ropey taste, all things you aren't really looking forward to, and be worried something is wrong, and then in the end, it usually comes out fine.
