Hello all, just have a quick question about my experimental sour dubbel. I brewed an standard dubbel extract kit and after two weeks I transferred to the secondary. I then decided to pitch a pack of wyeast roeselare and threw in Bourbon soaked oak cubes. It’s been sitting in the secondary for 7 months now. I took a reading and it’s at 1.012, but the sourness and oak is pretty much right where I want it.
Now here’s the question, I plan on transferring to the bottling bucket around July 1, a total of 8 months in secondary, however the airloc is still bubbling. I also read, you should add extra yeast when aging after long periods. The OG was 1.072.
Should I be concerned if it’s still bubbling and if not, should I add t-58 or EC-1118 champagne yeast to the bucket? Or should I use a different yeast? I currently have both those yeasts on hand…
Hi Josh. Welcome to the forum. I’ve not much experience with bugs so I’m not sure about the roeselare. I do know that when you add stuff to secondary, especially hops or oak cubes, you will give the absorbed CO2 a place to attach and come out of solution. That could be why you’re seeing more activity. That being said, if you’re where you want to be flavorwise, you may rack off and cold crash for a month or bottle sooner to keep the bugs from funking it up more and getting more oak flavor.
I don’t think champagne yeast is necessary. You can use T58 to re-yeast at bottling time. US-05 of S-04 work good too.
With extract, an FG of 1.012 could well indicate that the bugs have digested all they can, so you’re probably safe to bottle. If you want them to carb up in a couple of weeks, you probably should add a little regular yeast, doesn’t really matter which you pick since your ABV is in the 8% range.
Sorry to highjack, but I have a question about souring a Dubbel too. I’ve never soured anything but know I like a little sour in certain beers. I thought a Dubbel would work well. I was thinking on splitting the batch into two 3 gallon carboys and souring one but not the other. I know bugs can contaminate plastics but how about glass? Will it be safe to use that 3 gallon carboy for other non-sour beers in the future? And about plastic, I know I shouldn’t use a bucket, but what about the auto siphon, tubing, rubber stopper, airlock, etc? Will all that stuff have to be segregated (or trashed) from my normal brewing gear once used with something like Brett?
