[chumley]

On November 1, I brewed 5 gallons of a 1.050 patersbier. The thought was, it would be starter wort for 10 gallons of a 1.080ish tripel.  I split the wort into two large glass carboy primary fermentors.

Due to the fact that I was watching football on a Sunday, I let the immersion chiller run for a bit too long, and the wort got chilled to 60°F.  I collected the wort anyway,2.5 gallons in each carboy, oxygenated, and pitched one yeast vial of WLP500 Monastery (aka Chimay) and WLP575 Belgian blenad (aka Westmalle + Chimay + Chouffe).

Over the next 24 hours, the wort warmed up to the basement temperature of 64°F.  No activity.  48 hours after pitching still no activity.  I then taped a fermentor heater strip to the outside of the 2 carboys. Temperature rose to 72°F.  At 72 hours, finally some life in the 575, but nothing in the 500.  Finally, after 96 hours, I saw activity in the 500.

However, the 500 has looked funky from the get go.I t held a krausen head for only a day, then it sank. It then formed a large (maybe 6 inches in diameter and 2-3 inches tall) bubble that lasted a half a day. I have never seen anything like that.

I thought they were just about Wednesday (November 11), then last night I noticed a thin white scum forming on surface.  Uh oh.  This morning it is thicker, and has a light tan color to it.



The 500 is on the left, the 575 on the right.



This is what it looks like, taking a picture through the carboy neck.

I thieved a hydrometer sample out of each, and tasted them.  The 575 gravity was 1.008, tasted excellent, spicy phenols with a little fruit.  The 500 gravity was 1.012, and tasted good.  A bit bland, earthy, a little fruit, no spicy phenols, no sourness.  However, it had a slight "sauerkraut" aroma to it, for lack of a better word.

I've decided I am not going to chance my tripel with it, and just brew a 5 gallon batch.  However, my initial intention was to blend the two starter worts back into a single keg, chill, force carb and tap it.  Looking for input on the merits of still doing this.  It seems if I keep it chilled, I could arrest any sourness from forming, and have a pretty good beer on tap.  But I am not married to the idea, and can easily just dump it.

[denny]

You could blend it with PBR....

[chumley]

I was thinking more along the lines of dry hopping with Fuggles.

[denny]

I was thinking more along the lines of dry hopping with Fuggles.

well, it couldn't make it worse....or you could just toss in some dirt!

[PrettyBeard]

I was thinking more along the lines of dry hopping with Fuggles.

well, it couldn't make it worse....or you could just toss in some dirt!

By dirt, you mean brett, right?

Isn't SOP to let it sit awhile and see how it goes?  That's what I'm doing with my Wee Heavy that developed a white film.  That tasted distinctly buttery last week.  If it isn't clearing I'll be pitching some B. Claussenii, hide it in the back of a closet for a few months and call it Auld Heavy.

[toby]

Hm...a film and buttery could easily be pedio infection.  That would need something else to clean it up and have a chance of saving it as a sour heavy.

[PrettyBeard]

Yeah I was guessing pedio.  I actually re-pitched my top crop and warmed it up a bit in the hopes of clearing the diacetyl.  However, if that doesn't go far enough I was under the impression that Brett would clean it up, albeit, over a much longer time.

[toby]

Yeah, it would take brett or fresh krauesen to clean it up.  Had you tasted it yet?

[brewinhard]

That looks like a wild yeast infection. How old was the 500 vial you pitched?

I would dump the 500 batch and just use the yeast from the 575 in your tripel.  You could always harvest some of the 575 and then whip up a starter of another 500 vial to blend together for your tripel. 

Thats a bummer.  That 500 can take a bit of time to get started esp. when the vial is a bit older (even on a stir plate, let alone just a straight pitch). 

[PrettyBeard]

Yeah, it would take brett or fresh krauesen to clean it up.  Had you tasted it yet?

Finally got around to taking another sample last night.  Buttery flavor is gone, so that's good.  Acid is faint, but sharp, almost like taking a bite out of an onion.  Maybe a combination of acid and sulphur?

Anyway I threw together a pint starter/acclimator for the Brett. and added about a cup from the fermentor.  I'll add another cup every couple days until it's about 25/75 then pitch to hopefully avoid too much alcohol shock.

My biggest question is whether I should rack out from under the pedio and off the ale yeast before I pitch the brett.  I'm guessing I don't want to leave the original yeast to autolyze for the 8-12 months I intend to forget about it.

[Hooper]

You could blend it with PBR....

Are you attempting to improve the PBR?

[brewinhard]

Hey, I actually like PBR.  At least it has some grain and hop flavors. 

[Beerwizard]

On November 1, I brewed 5 gallons of a 1.050 patersbier. The thought was, it would be starter wort for 10 gallons of a 1.080ish tripel.  I split the wort into two large glass carboy primary fermentors.

Due to the fact that I was watching football on a Sunday, I let the immersion chiller run for a bit too long, and the wort got chilled to 60°F.  I collected the wort anyway,2.5 gallons in each carboy, oxygenated, and pitched one yeast vial of WLP500 Monastery (aka Chimay) and WLP575 Belgian blenad (aka Westmalle + Chimay + Chouffe).

Over the next 24 hours, the wort warmed up to the basement temperature of 64°F.  No activity.





 48 hours after pitching still no activity.  I then taped a fermentor heater strip to the outside of th



e 2 carboys. Temperature rose to 72°F.  At 72 hours, finally some life in the 575, but nothing in the 500.  Finally, after 96 hours, I saw activity in the 500.

However, the 500 has looked funky from the get go.I t held a krausen head for only a day, then it sank. It then formed a large (maybe 6 inches in diameter and 2-3 inches tall) bubble that lasted a half a day. I have never seen anything like that.

I thought they were just about Wednesday (November 11), then last night I noticed a thin white scum forming on surface.  Uh oh.  This morning it is thicker, and has a light tan color to it.



The 500 is on the left, the 575 on the right.



This is what it looks like, taking a picture through the carboy neck.

I thieved a hydrometer sample out of each, and tasted them.  The 575 gravity was 1.008, tasted excellent, spicy phenols with a little fruit.  The 500 gravity was 1.012, and tasted good.  A bit bland, earthy, a little fruit, no spicy phenols, no sourness.  However, it had a slight "sauerkraut" aroma to it, for lack of a better word.

I've decided I am not going to chance my tripel with it, and just brew a 5 gallon batch.  However, my initial intention was to blend the two starter worts back into a single keg, chill, force carb and tap it.  Looking for input on the merits of still doing this.  It seems if I keep it chilled, I could arrest any sourness from forming, and have a pretty good beer on tap.  But I am not married to the idea, and can easily just dump it.



I have a friend that worked as a master brewer for Bud. He told me sanitize, sanitize , and when you think you have sanitized enough sanitize again!