Sofie dregs into a Quad?

[bjohnson29]

So I'm about to secondary a quad (4 weeks primary) and bulk age for awhile (og 1107, current gravity, 1028). The quad is currently in 2 one gallon carboys, and when transfered will also be in 2 separate carboys. Im debating about pitching Sofie dregs into one of the carboys, thoughts? If so, from one bottle or a few? Also, am I okay pitching directly or making a starter? Lastly, approximately how long should I let it condition with those dregs before bottling?

Thanks in advance.

 

[bjohnson29]

Really? No opinions? I'll be racking this weekend, so any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[poley]

I've never had Sofie, but based on the website, it says "fermented with wild yeasts", which I would take to mean brett. Do you know that they don't filter it, and/or that there's viable brett in the bottles?

Adding brett at 1.028 should provide plenty of food, so the question is more "do you want to see what their brett strains do to your quad?"

If you already have it in a 1 gallon carboy and plan on doing that, then it will probably be a fun experiment. Brett works slowly, and as such, you should probably make a starter to give it a head start (and also to make sure you're pitching viable yeast).

Brett normally takes a couple (to a few) months to get done, and especially if you're bottle-conditioning, give it plenty of time. You know, keep checking gravity samples after a couple of months to make sure it's not still going.

As a side note (*and entirely my opinion*) -- I wouldn't even bother moving it to a new, one gallon container unless there's tons of hop gunk etc. in the primary. Just add the brett and let it do it's thing. A couple months in a one gallon carboy shouldn't result in much in the way of off flavors.

 

[johnnychicago]

I just used the dregs from two Sofies and one Matilda. I built up a small starter and pitched it into a saison that was standing at 1.010. It took it down to almost 1.000 and its still working and getting nice and funky. The step-up starter wort took off like crazy too - on of the quickest bottle harvests that I've done. Based on the smell and taste, its definitely a Brett b-heavy culture. Taste a year-old bottle of Sofie or Matilda and see if you like the Brett presence. That'll give you a taste for what you're going to get. Also, with an SG that high, I would give the Brett a minimum of 6 months. A year would probably be better. Just get it off the yeast, pitch your dregs (make a starter if you like) and forget about it. Should finish it nicely.

 

[bjohnson29]

Greatly appreciate it. I think that's what I'm gonna do. Since its a big beer, I was going to bulk age it anyways so this should work out nicely.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Necro thread I know, but this year ABI have started bringing some of the Brew House beers into the UK, including Matilda and Sofie. They're dated 2017, which makes me suspect we're being fobbed off with ones that haven't sold Stateside, they claim to be "packaged in the UK" but since they're in custom 355ml bottles I assume that just means UK labels and boxes unless anyone knows different?

Do we know any more about exactly what's in the Sofie dregs?

I've asked the same question over on the Matilda dregs thread.