Friday, February 26, 2010

Pedio Infection (or) K.Y.-iezenbock

So I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures of a weird infection that 2 cases of wheat bock got.







I have pretty much narrowed the infection down to Pediococcus because after 3 months in the bottle it has contributed a significant lactic sourness and some Diacetyl.

The infection is some what understandable since the wheat bock was brewed during a time when I was brewing nothing but sours. What is so confusing is the purity of the infection. Assuming it is an infection from some sort of transfer line, than this beer should also have a heavy brett presence ( lacto too if it weren't such a pussy bacteria) but it doesn't.

The other interesting aspect of this infection is the "ropiness" or at least this is what I think is going on. The wheat bock finished around 1.012 ( wayyy too low which is why it was bottle conditioned to age in the first place) but tastes like it has a FG of around 1.050! It's reminiscent of carbonated maple syrup.

I have never had "ropiness" or had an intentionally sour beer get "sick" before so I'm pretty fascinated about this, it is also my understanding that when beers get "sick" it is usually not until after the bulk of souring is done, immediately after bottling seems fast.

So what to do?
Malt and bitterness wise this could make at the very best an interesting sour beer. My concerns are:

1. how long does the "ropiness" last

2. how much diacetyl will it produce ( it's no where near objectional at this point)

3. How to add brett to about 45 bottles to metabolize the diacetyl should it get out of control








No comments:

Post a Comment