Beer Forum

So,

I pitched an activated pack of Wyeast Roselaire blend into a beer 2 and a
half weeks ago.... and I'm not seeing any activity/pellicle formation. The
beer started at 1.060 and "finished" at 1.030 (I used a high mash temp, and
a lower attenuating English yeast for the primary fermentation). The beer
is sitting at around 68 F right now. Am I just not being patient enough?
I'm concerned, because I made a rookie mistake when I pitched the yeast.
The beer was at 50 F, and the smack pack was at 72 F, so I'm wondering if I
just shocked the yeast/bacteria into silence, and they won't do anything.

Anyone else have experience with this funky blend?

What temp is the beer sitting at now?

It's at 68 F.

Its fine, the pellicle can take months to develop and sometimes doesn't really develop much at all. 68 is plenty warm, if you can have it sit a little bit cooler that would be better. In my experience it takes a minimum of six months for noticeable flavor changes and really takes about 1-2 years before the beer is where you want it. How full is your carboy? You control the level of acetic character by the amount of oxygen exposure. You dont' want to make 5 gallons of vinegar.

Cool. Yeah, I'd heard thy about O2 exposure. The carboy is very full. AndI purged it with CO2 before transferring. I'll see if I can find a cooler spot for it. Thanks for the feedback.

Pellicles typically form in response to the amount of oxygen available in the headspace. If you purged the carboy and filled it fairly close to the top you may never see or have a pellicle. This does not mean that your blend is not busy working. I have had some sours never get pellicles and they have been plenty sour enough.

As BrewerJ said, you will need to give this blend at least 1 year before tasting it. then you can make a decision as to letting it go longer, packaging it, or using it as a beer to blend with. The WY Roselare blend is pretty tame compared to other wild yeast and bacteria out there so be sure to give it some time to develop. Meanwhile, brew another batch of sour to keep the pipeline going.
If after 9-12 mos you taste the beer and are not happy with the sourness or complexity of the sourness/funk, then you could always pitch the dregs of some commercially available sour beers (Jolly Pumpkin, Russian River, Drie Fontienin, Cantillon, etc) that will help to speed up this process while providing more depth to the beer. Good luck, and be patient.

Cool stuff. I plan on having a dedicated sour tap at home. I kegged my first sour a couple of weeks ago, and am going to buy more 5 gallon carboys to eventually have a good rotation going. Besides pitching sour beer dregs, does anyone have recommendations of their favorite Brett/lacto/Pedio cultures (esp from Wyeast, which is easiest for me to get)?

I prefer wyeast berliner blend over the white labs and also like roselare quite a bit for flanders. Commercial dregs work well also and as brewinghard mentioned are usually more aggressive.