Yesterday I bottled my first real sour bier.  In bottling the Yard City Sour red, I chose to blend it with some Mix-a-Lot and a teensy bit o' B5.  Yard City Sour is 2.5 year old sour red produced using Wyeast Lambic Blend with a terminal gravity of 1.006.  Mix-a-lot is a hodge podge blend and feeder that did well at 1.005.  B5 is the  the club Strong Dark Belgian, that is the "Big Beautiful Belgian for the Bourbon Barrel" with a gravity of 1.013.  They were blended as follows for just under 5 gallons total:

1%   B5: for it's woody character & some tannins and the tiny bit of residual sugar.

              It's a 9% abv bier.

8-10%   Mix-a-lot: for complexity to the blend, differing sourness than YCS, & body.

The rest:  Yard City Sour, 'bout 6.7% abv

Bottled with Red Star Champagne and sucrose to about 2.7-2.8 volumes.

I used a 6 gallon carboy in blending.  (I really had to think this out!)  First added B5 and yeast and sugar to carboy.  Racked Mix-a-Lot portion onto that with CO2, and then the YCS with CO2.  Racked the mixture to the bottling bucket.  It looked like it was well mixed.  I hope the blend does well.  I'm thinking it could take several months for the different beers involved to mingle.  Plus, the tiny bit of residual sugar in B5 that will be continue to be fermented will add to it's progression in character over the years.

Or: 'Cuvee de Crapp'

At the beginning of March I starting working on a project that was a long time coming. A 'grande cuvee' of a bunch of wild beer that was apparently going nowhere, at least as far as the flavor profile was concerned. Oh, it had gone somewhere. It had all reached terminal gravity and then some, but there was no real sourness in any of them. Some mild tartness in some, but not the sour character that I wanted. The aromas were there though. With the Brettanomyces Lambicus 'pie cherry-like' aroma dominating. (Mmm, yummy!) Since I have made these beers, I've learned more about how to make them produce an appropriate sourness. The Yard City Sour that I made in July is already well into tart and heading into sourness. Bon Voyage!

> Cast of Characters <

1. 1007 German Ale & Brett Lambicus (or 'Brett Lamb' as he was known on the '69 Stealers.) May '06 - 4 gallons
2. B. Anomalus & Pediococcus Apr '07 - 5 gallons
3. 1007 German Ale & Pediococcus Apr '07 - 4 gallons
4. 3726 Farmhouse, B. Clausenii, & L. Delbruekii '06 - 3 quarts (Most desirable of all.)
5. 'B5' Belgian Quad from the barrel '07/'08 - 1.5 gallons

So, about 15 gallons of wierdbier that wasn't too interesting on it's own. Blend it up, and... Viola! Still not that good. I sat on it a couple of days, carbonating some with the carbonator cap. Multiple tastings, hemming, hawing... Then, I finally decided to keep three gallons to 'fix' and dump the rest. Yippee! Dump!! After having some of this beer all over the house for a good while, it was liberating to downsize a couple o' carboys. Between all the gravities involved, there was still ample terminal for the bugs to eat. That's why I toyed with the idea of bottling some up unprimed. But, I didn't. At least it got done.

The 'fixer'? It was 3 gallons of the afore mentioned mess, about 1/2 gallon of a 3278 Lambic Mix starter (with lotsa starchy wheat), and a 1.5 gallon feeder of DME and maltodextrin to equal about a 1.040 starter. My guess is that this will turn tart, but not sour and be somewhat complex. I may bequeath it to Brad.... when he grows up.

This is what's happening in my kitchen window right now. At the encouragement 0f Brad (!?), extra 1.067 'red' wort was placed in a bowl overnight on the sill to allow the wild locale to take hold. It took a day and a half before I saw little bubbles start to come up. I 'racked' (read 'dumped') the wort into a 1 liter swingtop. I could hardley believe it when a nice 1/2" of head developed on top. At first it was tighter. This is what it looks like now. Our terrior includes lots of flowers and one apple tree not 12 feet from the window. It smells fantastic! (And of course it could and might taste awful.) But, the aroma is ripe with some sort of tart fruity note, floral notes, and some sort of woody stink that I get in other 'real' wild ferments.