[GolfBum]

I pitched bugs on my Sour Golden Strong after the the clean yeast ate it down to 1.040 from 1.078. This was about two months ago. I haven't seen a pellicle yet and I know that sometimes it takes a while to get one and sometimes you won't. I'm not too worried about it because the beer smells sour.

My question is when pitching bugs on an already partially fermented beer do you shake up the carboy or just pitch the bugs and let them be? I didn't really shake the fermenter because I was told the bugs don't like oxygen.

[lornemagill]

it would probably be best to let it be after pitching the bacteria.  micro oxygenation can/does occur in barrels or most containers over time and can add to the character/flavor but my experience is shaking or airlocks drying out is probably not so good.  taste it and see what you think.

[tschmidlin]

I don't aerate, I just pitch the bugs.  No problems getting a pellicle, but then I almost always use the Roeselare blend.  I haven't used ECY001.

[GolfBum]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll just let it be. This is my first time using ECY001 and was curious. I'll try the roeselare blend next sour batch.

How is the roeselare blend? How sour does it get?

[tschmidlin]

I've gotten varying levels of sour out of it, it seems to depends on how much you leave it to work with.

The WL lambic blend though, that gets intensely sour.  I tried that in a split batch next to the Roeselare, it was so sour it was insane.  I ended up blending it with the Roeselare to try to cut it, and back sweetened it with a bunch of apple juice concentrate.  It was still so strong I called it "you can't handle the sour" when I poured it in the hospitality suite at the conference in SD.  It was the first keg to kick.

[kylekohlmorgen]

How is the roeselare blend? How sour does it get?

The initial pitch of this blend is pretty unremarkable.

If you continue to use the dregs, the results get MUCH better. Sourness picks up as well depth.

I like the amount of sour I get from the lambic blend, but I don't care for the flavor profile. I'd like to try it in combo with different brett strains or mixed cultures.

[tschmidlin]

How is the roeselare blend? How sour does it get?

The initial pitch of this blend is pretty unremarkable.

Wow, I totally disagree.  I only ever use a fresh pitch, and I think it is outstanding.  Maybe I need to try repitching to see what could possibly make the outstanding look unremarkable.

[reverseapachemaster]

I love the lambic blend flavor profile and sourness but I don't like it in anything beyond the pale/light/wheat wort of lambic. I used the dregs of a couple bottles of lambic made with WY Lambic Blend to sour a very dark ale. It's fairly sour but really, really funky. Far more so than the lambic itself, which I suspect is due to more flavor contributions from the specialty malts for brett to manipulate.

[kylekohlmorgen]

How is the roeselare blend? How sour does it get?

The initial pitch of this blend is pretty unremarkable.

Wow, I totally disagree.  I only ever use a fresh pitch, and I think it is outstanding.  Maybe I need to try repitching to see what could possibly make the outstanding look unremarkable.

I guess the "unremarkable" was relative. I did a side by side with a Flanders Red recipe: 5-gal with only a pitch of Roselare and 5-gal with a mixed pitch of Jolly Pumpkin, Cuvee Renee, and Upland dregs. Just proving to myself that maintaining mixed cultures from bottle dregs was worth the effort.

The next batches into these fermenters were both superior to their predecessors, and with the initial batches a year older in kegs, I had four batches to blend!

Didn't take the opportunity to use the same cakes for a third go-around - I'm still really curious on how many batches I can do before quality drops off for one reason or another.