chimay red with sour twist. is 4% abv too low?

[Jnco_hippie]

Our chimay looked to be infected, so we went ahead and soured it with WLP belgian sour mix.

Is low abv an issue? This batch has been an issue since we started it. First we missed our numbers, coming in at 1.045 instead of 1.058 and now we had to sour it to try to salvage it after a film formed ontop in the secondary.

Does abv matter in sour? We were planning to let it set until next may.

 

[Oldsock]

There are some great low ABV sour beers, you'll probably end up close to 5% alcohol anyway, pretty standard. Smart tossing some known microbes in there.

Good luck!

 

[spenghali]

That's some quality funk porn

 

[smokinghole]

That alcohol level is ideal if you ask me. I've been making more and more low abv sours. My most recent is hopefully going to be closer to 4.5% when its done.

 

[Jnco_hippie]

We are excited about this one. We had planned to do our first sour in the coming months, but this one made the choice for us. I dont think we could have had a better beer to have this happen to.

I cant belive we have to wait a year now to find out whether or not we got lucky.

Does a watched carboy brew any faster?...

 

[tugbucket]

I cant belive we have to wait a year now to find out whether or not we got lucky.

Does a watched carboy brew any faster?...

Lol, that's why I now have 3 glass carboys with sours running

 

[reed1911]

Does a watched carboy brew any faster?...

Only to the same extent that the pot boils faster.

 

[spenghali]

A watched pot always boils, it happens once a week at my house.

 

[Jnco_hippie]

Do i need to raise the temp on this sour batch?

We usually ferment at 70ish on all our ales. will this need higher temp?

 

[Oldsock]

Do i need to raise the temp on this sour batch?

We usually ferment at 70ish on all our ales. will this need higher temp?

Nope, if anything most commercial brewers temp control in the 60s. Although I think up into the mid/high 70s is fine (especially if you aren't in a barrel).