Back in September, I brewed my first sour beer, that is a beer with an intentional bacterial infection. That beer was a Flanders Red style beer, and after just a couple months of aging, it smelled amazing. I’ve still yet to pull a sample out, but I’m pretty excited.
I told myself initially that I just had to wait until New Year’s to keg it, then it became the end of January. Now, here it is, nearly April, and it’s still in the primary fermenter. Interestingly, in just the past month or two, it’s taken a significant turn visually. Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River has said that you shouldn’t look at a sour beer while it’s fermenting, but isn’t that curiosity part of what brought homebrewers to the hobby in the first place?
At any rate, the photo’s not awesome because there’s a lot of condensation on the inside of the carboy, but that white discoloration isn’t yeast krausen, that’s pellicle of some sort.
I’ve now told myself that as soon as the Old Ale keg is empty, I can keg this. We might yet see summer before it’s kegged. I’ll post an update about the tasting of this batch whenever that happens.
Maine Brews 