Can I salvage old beer by making a sour?

[ThreeDogsNE]

I have a few Cornies that I brewed over a year ago. With moving, new job, etc, they never got served. They are a Bavarian wheat and an alt-bier. Can I salvage these with a pitch of Bret? Or should I just write them off? Has anyone out there tried this?

 

[ghohn]

I just 'revisited' a 4.5% wheat beer that was in my crawl space for over a year. Much is made of this 'drink wheats fresh' thing but it was just as good as I remember it at one month.


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[giraffe]

The alt beer should be fine. And probably the wheat too. Imported examples we get, are probably that old by the time you drink them, its not ideal, but hey.

Sure you add a sour mix to a beer that wasnt intended or made to be a sour beer, and invest another year in the batch, and get something meh, and unreproducable,.. I wouldnt bother.

 

[FatsSchindee]

Check out the latest Basic Brewing Radio podcast... He interviews a guy who adds different Brett (and Lacto) strains to beers that he had already bottled, but ended up too sweet. Sounds like he got good results. I'm thinking of doing the same thing with a Barleywine I made over a year ago... I was hoping some age would help it improve, but it is still sweeter than I'd like, so I'm thinking Brett could eat up some of those residual sugars and add some complexity to an only "okay" beer. For me, the loss would be acceptable risk...


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