Its that time of year when beer comes out of the barrels and new beer goes back in. The 23yr Pappy Barrel has a Biere de Garde(ish). Ish meaning we used a grain bill and Sac strain that closely resembled that style. It was moved into the barrel and WL Trios was pitched. This barrel also has a tasty host(s) that has been living there for the past 7 years. Its time to put new beer back into the barrel.[font="'comic sans ms', cursive;"] I'm looking for ideas for the next style. [/font]It will most likely be Pils based. Should it be a mixed fermentation like we have been doing or should we put raw wort into the barrel and introduce new microorganisms?
The other barrel is a Solera which is a Flanders Red. This will be the third pull from the barrel. We take 20g out and put that amount plus some evaporation loss of raw wort back into it. The organisms we introduced into the barrel 3 yrs ago do their magic for a year then the process starts all over again. I highly recommend those that want to get into barrel aging to do a Solera. The first fill is a lot of wort but after that its easy to replace. I'm planning on getting a second Solera barrel going in the spring. Not that the current Solera batches needs blending but it would be fun to start blending.
There are stainless screws in the heads of each barrel below the pellicle to grab samples. These two beers will be a joy to sip on for the following year or two. To be honest with you guys Sour beers is what keeps me motivated to brew beer. I became bored with brewing years ago and went through many funks. Now its the funk in beer that gets me excited. Its a continuous study and experimentation which is what is so appealing. That and hops. Glorious hops!
Other Sour beers I'm playing with are....
Berliner Weisse
Experimental American Sour using free wort some of us got from our local pub "The Almighty Freestate". Lacto Brevis, Sac, and Brett B
Oud Bruin using the PC WY strain. Maybe fruit, maybe not
The planned 100% Brett IpA group brew. What? Mixing Glorious Hops and Brett. Together? Awesome!
Anyways sorry for the wind, I get excited this time of year. Its what keeps me brewing!
Edited by BlKtRe, 28 October 2014 - 07:17 AM.