Brew Captain wrote:That looked so rank the other day under your stairs Mike that I had nightmares! Seriously! I don't think I am cut out for making sour beers or lambics for that matter. If I did I would just doctor up a batch with some lactic acid and skip the floating "white mold" phase!!!
Good luck!!
Cheers!
When it's done, I'm sure you'll still drink it
New Brew Club, Free Photo hosting, Yeast Library, Forum
So I had some free time this afternoon and decided it was time to take a sample from each carboy. The airlock only carboy sample was much more clear than the one with the oak dowel. After sampling both, I felt the oaked version was slightly better with more brett character but not so much horsey, I'd say more smokey if anything. It tasted more complex. There was a lot of fruit in the nose and on the palette with both. The airlock only version gravity was 1.010 and I didn't take a gravity reading for the oak dowel sample. Needless to say, I was quite surprised at how good they tasted at only 6 months! I'm seriously considering kegging the oak dowel one now and adding some oak cubes to the airlock batch and aging it for another 6 months.
STOKED!
New Brew Club, Free Photo hosting, Yeast Library, Forum
Dude, where did you score the wine thief (still haven't found mine to give you)? Did you have to poke through all that nastiness to get a sample or had it dropped on both?
This is definitely a beer that I won't say doesn't have any balls Mike!! It took balls to actually taste some of that!! I would have needed an hour long warm-up session before we quaffed some of that down!
I dunno Robert, even well into a session I'd still be out. I've tried sour beers.
I know a lot of you really appreciate them and I certainly won't tell you you shouldn't. I'm more in the camp that can appreciate what it takes to craft one of these but I still think they taste like smashed assholes.
Backyard Brewer wrote:I dunno Robert, even well into a session I'd still be out. I've tried sour beers.
I know a lot of you really appreciate them and I certainly won't tell you you shouldn't. I'm more in the camp that can appreciate what it takes to craft one of these but I still think they taste like smashed assholes.
Tis true! I've seen the faces he makes when he tastes sour beers. They're truely inspiring!!
Brew Captain wrote:Dude, where did you score the wine thief (still haven't found mine to give you)? Did you have to poke through all that nastiness to get a sample or had it dropped on both?
This is definitely a beer that I won't say doesn't have any balls Mike!! It took balls to actually taste some of that!! I would have needed an hour long warm-up session before we quaffed some of that down!
Cheers!
I used a turkey baster (it's never been used before) since I didn't want to use the one I use for beer. You would have puked if you would have seen what the dowel looked like when I pulled it out. The pellicle was sticking to it and it pretty much looked like... like... I dunno, it was white, gross looking, but smelled great! I was careful not to disturb things when I was sampling so everything looks the same again.
New Brew Club, Free Photo hosting, Yeast Library, Forum
In case anyone cares, here's a little photo update on my sour beers. It's been over a year now since I brewed them and they continue to maintain a nice thick pelicle.
Note: NOT FOR THE SQEAMISH!
Pure laziness has kept me from kegging the oak dowel one - but I think I'm ready. I plan on letting the other carboy sit for another year. I am going to keg this weekend - I really need to get around to it. It tasted great but a little light back in October so I'm looking forward to tasting it 6mo later.
Non oak dowel version:
Oak dowel version:
New Brew Club, Free Photo hosting, Yeast Library, Forum