I tasted my sour brown ale for the first time today since moving it to secondary before the week before Thanksgiving. I has only been three months since brewing, and probably about two months since moving to secondary, but something seems very wrong about it: it really tastes almost like water. There is no beery taste at all. There is no sour at all. No Brett notes at all. No taste of alcohol I perceive the body as if it were water, which isn't too surprising for a bug beer. The only thing I detect at all that tells me it's not just colored water is a remnant of pale chocolate malt. It was moderate og, 1.046, with a gravity of 1.008 going into secondary 48% Pils 23% white wheat malt 12% oat flakes 2% golden naked oats 9% Briess extra special 5% pale chocolate 7 IBUS of Hersbrucker at 60 min. US05 and Roseleare pitched in primary. It didn't taste like anything after primary, so it seems like there has been no change since then. What do you think is going on/not going on?
Roseleare is always slow as hell (for me at least). It's only been ~ 2 months so don't expect any sour or funkiness yet. If you don't have much change 6 months from now throw in some sugar, fruit, or dme to give the bugs something to chew on.
The primary temp was 68. It was moved to a cellar, so it might be a little cold, maybe 60 degrees. Where do I want it? Even if the bugs have not expressed themselves yet due to time or temps, I'm really surprised at the lack of beer flavor.
I think there's your issue. 60 has pretty much slowed down or ceased some of the production of the bugs. Much too cool for lacto to really work it's magic.. Not sure with brett, and pedio, but assume warmer is better. I'd get it to atleast 70 if you could, IMO. Lack of beer flavor could be because there's little to no alcohol, no real stand out malt flavor, despite the slightly complex grain bill, and the lack of hops. You had US05 ferment out, which is a clean, no frills strain, so.. I'd wait it out, allow some esters and whatnot to express.
I'll ramp the temps today. I accept that it's too soon and the temps have been too low for buggy magic, and obviously I never expected to taste hops at this low level (which was meant to encourage lacto), but am surprised by the lack of malt and alcohol character. Hopefully there is enough residual dextrins in there for someone to do something interesting. If not, I can always feed it some extract or fruit. Edit: I have never been clear on whether there is pedio in the Rosealeare blend. Are you sure? When I typed out the word "blend" I accidentally typed "bland," which appropriately describes the state of this homebrew.
Roeselare works good all by itself. It has two types of sacc, lacto, pedio and two types of brett. S05 works fast. It likely out competed everything in the Roeselare blend. Next time try only Roeselare. Supplement with dregs if extra funk is desired. Lacto eats simple sugars and those are gone already. You can feed it more sugar, but get the beer at least into the mid 70s to wake up the lacto. Consider steeping some Carared and boiling it down with some simple sugar. Carared is very malty and aromatic, but not dark, so your beer would stay brown.
This^ It needs a lot of time. I just finished bottling up a oud bruin on Saturday after 15 months in secondary. I moved it to secondary at 3 months and pitched some bottle dregs. At six months in secondary it was just starting to sour (ever so slightly) and I pitched additional dregs. Left it alone until this past weekend and the beer is moderaterly sour and funky. Raising the temp, in conjunction with added bottle dregs, will definitely help it sour faster.
Another option for next time is this blend. It was available July-Sept 2014. Maybe this year too? Wyeast 3209-PC Oud Bruin Blend™ Beer Styles: Flemish Brown Ale, American Sour Ale, Saison, Fruit beers, Foreign Stout. Profile: Because the people don’t want something new … they want something Oud. And Bruin. This new exclusive sour blend is built for dark, malt-accented sour styles – like 3763 Roselaere™ it will create sharp acidity, but unlike 3763 it will leave the malt character intact, creating a balanced and complex end product. Excellent base for blending fruit in secondary (especially cherries or raspberries) and makes for an interesting Saison. Alc. Tolerance 10% ABV Flocculation variable Attenuation 70-80% Temp. Range 80-85°F (26-29°C)
I have a similar situation going on right now... I brewed a Flanders Red back in August, and pitched Roselare blend (along with WLP002). The last sampled I pulled (over a month ago) was quite bland, despite a rather complex grain bill. I recently threw in some dregs, see what happens. My temp is similar to yours, 60-62, so maybe that's it. But it was in the upper 60's for the 1st few months. I'm not really too worried about it yet though. If its still like this in several months, then I might add some DME. Also, looking back on this one... I believe my CL:SO ratio was pretty low. This could be why I'm not getting as strong of a malt profile as I should.
I can add the dregs from my homebrewed Berliner Weiss (which was WL lacto plus New Glarus Berliner dregs) The homebrew has a decent but not exceptional twang. I can also as add some other NG dregs (I think I have a bottle or two of their Oud Bruin left). As for Brett bearing dregs, I guess this also gives me an excuse to look for some more expensive singles the next opportunity I have to make the drive to a well stocked beer store.
Dregs might help you out there.. But time and warm will do just as well. I have some sours in my laundry room, that needed more sour/funk and my heats stays on 71-72 in the winter. My laundry room when we close the door, stays MUCH warmer due to the return in the room. In the morning, I could see it being 75 or so. My beers are pretty friggin sour. My lambic is 3.4 pH, and funky is an understatement. Likewise, I just pitched a sour farmhouse. saison strains and 2 kinds of lacto. Put it in the garage and forgot.. too cold, still no sign of fermentation on it yet.
