Wild Pale Ale

That is a pellicle of some sorts. Honestly, leaving the fermenter open for 3-4 weeks and then all that headspace in the carboy, you are well on your way to oxidized hop raspberry malt vinegar. Way too much O2 contact. The shallow and wide open ferment is pre-pitching yeast to get the wild flora and avoid O2 post fermentation.

 

In a couple weeks that may just be vinegar with it being that old with that much O2 exposure.

 

If you like what it tastes like now, you should probably bottle ASAP and skip the dryhops.

 

Depending on the current FG I would be scared to bottle in case they become bottle bombs.

 

It could indeed. 1020 is pretty high too, so you might be better off just waiting a bit. Unless you can keg it up.

 

I don't see how you will not have an oxidation problem. However, once a pellicle forms, it insulates the beer from air which is a desirable attribute. With an grav of 1.020 I would let it sit for a while, it's possible the wild stuff will lower the gravity and not out of the question it will improve the taste.

From my limited experience, you also have the risk of interrupting the pellicle when you take gravity samples or start to rack. When my racking cane touched the surface the pellicle started to break up and retreated to the sides, basically disappearing. It was like Moses parting the waters with his staff. The breweries who age wild brews in wine barrels will draw their samples from the bottom of the barrel (through a nail hole) to leave the pellicle intact.

I do recommend treating it like it will be successful and a keg would be far safer than bottles. If no keg, do you have access to swing top bottles? Also, recommend you keep at least one gallon separate and let it age 6+ months (with an airlock). Not much to lose and you never know what will develop.

 

Rack it off to a small carboy and forget about it for a year.

 

I would have to disagree that the pellicle will "insulate the beer from air". Russian River has pellicles on their sours but they all taste like vinegar, bad. A pellicle atop a small surface area can help keep oxidizing effects to a minimum, but he has way too much air in there and way too big a surface area. Vibration can break up a pellicle as well, meaning if he walks past it a lot it could break up on its own.

OP, go get 1 gallon jugs and rack the beer into those and cap with airlocks, or get a 3 gallon carboy and fill it up if you have enough.

 

Im all for experimentation but it seems a waste to put an ipa on fruit, hops arent cheap and youre basically masking their flavor with the raspberries...

 

I am really surprised that it is only at 1.020 after fermenting for a month? It sounds like you pitched "regular" yeast and then almost certainly picked up wild yeast and other bugs during the 3-4 weeks the lid was off. The bugs might take the gravity lower, but it seems like the yeast is done.

What yeast did you originally pitch? What was the actual recipe you brewed? When did you add the raspberries? Were they fresh or frozen?

You might consider bottling now but keep the bottles in a covered container and once they are carbed, get them into the fridge to slow every thing down. If you do this, be careful opening the bottles.

 

Are you saying you get vinegar from all russian river sours?

 

Ouch . . . you're being pretty tough on Vinnie. I'm an east coast'er, so never had a RR sour . . . but I see some mighty high ratings for their brews.

For the OP: Here's a decent primer on aging sours.

 

Yes, yes I do. Quite a bit. My understanding from others who have been into sours longer than I have is that it didn't used to be that way. They used to be Lactic with a touch of Acetic. Everyone loved them, they were the standard, then it started getting more and more Acetic over time as they grew. Now the expectation in American Sours is a higher level of Acetic acid. If I drink a 3F, Boon, Teliquin, Cantillon, etc., from Belgium (or Spontaneous Cheer from Lost Abbey) I get deep Lactic, hints of Acetic (they specifically blend to keep it low), and then I drink any of the RR sours and its like funky, fruity vinegar to me. Maybe I am more sensitive to Acetic than others? I know I am super sensitive to sulfur compounds, more then others (can't really drink ciders). Who knows. I got the same vinegar (slightly less) on Crooked Staves' Surrette.

EDIT: I actually enjoy a good Balsamic. Just don't care for the higher levels of Acetic acid in RR beers. I broke my teeth on sours at there pub, did the whole flight of sours after hating them. Opened a whole new world for me. I'm grateful for that, and it is not easy for me to not like their sours. I just can't do that much Acetic. Not saying no one should ever drink them, they are doing wonders for craft beer, hops, and sours, just too much vinegar for my palate.

MORE EDIT: @PortLargo I in no way meant to come accross as being tough on Vinnie or RR, just that a Pellicle won't stop his beer from Acetic acid formation. Vinnie takes great care with his beers, and probably tries to avoid over exposure to O2. He invests tons of thought, energy, money, and time in his sours and they still have a high level of Acetic. The OP seems to be shooting in the dark here hoping for something great, and is set up for vinegar. Trust me, I've turned a few experiments into vinegar with less head space than that.

 

I always heard that they use Lactobacillus and Pediococcus, which produce lactic acid. I just looked at their sight and they said this is what they use in Supplication, Concecration, and Temptation. I also always considered myself fairly sensitive to acetic acid and I have never detected acetic acid in their beers, but haven't had any recently. I know some people get acetic acid and ethyl acetate when lactic acid is very strong. Maybe it is coming from the Brett and I am not as sensitive as I thought. Maybe @OldSock can comment on this.

EDIT: I know I heard at one point that Vinnie burns any barrel that is determined to have acetobacter contamination. Burning might have been an exaggeration.

 

Yeah, no brewer I know of actually pitches Acetobacter into their sour beers. Brett can create it (I had a Brett finished beer a few weeks ago, can't remember what it was, that was like going to a Balsamic tasting). It is all over the brewery by virtue of the wood, wind, nature of bacteria and such. If there is something for Acetobacter to feed on it will be there. I don't have to pitch it in my brewhouse, just leave something open to the air and it will turn to vinegar eventually. It's naturally on the fruit skins too. One of the reasons the Belgian producers prefer Foudres to wine barrels is because the wine barrels let in more O2 over time. RR only uses wine barrels. Could just be part of the nature of the beast.

 

@josmickam no fret man. There are other ways to make great sours with planning, and no need to buy Lacto or Brett. I never pay for that stuff. After the move ask questions, read Mad Fermentationist's blog @OldSock , go check out @ryane blog too.