souring beer in keg

[jwatkins56550]

the only things that would keep me from doing a sour beer in a keg is that I wouldn't want a keg sitting around that long with a beer in it AND most importantly, I like to look at my sour beer from time to time to see the pelicule (sp) and overall clarity of the beer.

Very true, but I find that if I can't look it at, I forget about it much easier.

[brewinhard]

Not sure a keg would allow enough oxygen to sour a flanders red. An oud bruin perhaps given time, but a flanders red really needs that oxygen exchange to get enough acidity and just a slight hint of acetic acid (sometimes not even necessary IMO).

Philly has it right with the carboy and cap. Although it does depend what your reason is for souring the beer (ie blending, straight)

[PhillyBrewer]

Rob: I have a carboy hood on my Flanders Red, but I've been using stoppers with a airlock on my other 2 sours. How does the (sillicone?) stopper compare to the orange carboy hoods as far as oxygen permeation?

[BrewerJ]

A keg will work it takes a little bit of effort and makes sampling really easy. I have made several flanders style beers using kegs, carboys, and barrels. You can control the amount of oxygen by just breaking the seal on the keg, wait a month sample and decide if you want more oxygen to enter. It works fine but it is always nice to be able to look at the carboy and visually see all those bugs at work.

[leaky_porch]

i assume keeping the pressure relief valve open would let in too much oxygen?

[BrewerJ]

Yeah I wouldnt try that however I have never tried that method. Its fairly easy to once a month take a sample open the lid look to see if there is a pelicle and close it back up. If there isn't a pellicle its because there isn't enough oxygen for the bugs to create one.

[brewinhard]

Yeah I wouldnt try that however I have never tried that method. Its fairly easy to once a month take a sample open the lid look to see if there is a pelicle and close it back up. If there isn't a pellicle its because there isn't enough oxygen for the bugs to create one.

Pellicles do form in response to the amount of oxygen in the headspace, but I do not believe that a huge, thick pellicle has to form to still make a good sour beer.

Philly, I have used both the orange carboy hoods/airlocks, and the silicone stopper/airlock methods for secondary aging of my sour beers and both have given me good results. I really am beginning to think that it truly depends on the microflora diversity present that will make or break a sour beer (and lots of time and patience of course). I really don't find that WY or WL sour blends are really all that good, even after 18 mos time. I think they both use a very wimpy lacto which is not tolerant to any sort of IBU's whatsoever. Adding various dregs to augment these blends has given me the best results so far.