Funky beer: Transfer off trub?

716Brewer

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So I brewed a golden sour mostly following the Rare Barrel recipe on 3-16-19. I only pitched bottle dregs I had saved over the last 2 or 3 months from sours and Lambics. On 4-16-19, one month later, I pitched a pack of Funk weapon #3 from Bootleg Biology. Soon an amazing pellicle had formed and now 6 months later this beer is crystal clear with a thick pellicle on the top and average layer of trub and yeast on the bottom. everything I have done up until now has been done with the knowledge I have obtained from reading American Sour Beers by Michael Tonsmeire and Wild Brews by Jeff Sparrow as well as the Milk the Funk wiki. I have not taken any post fermentation gravity readings yet. So now I am having a hard time deciding as what to do next. I am about add tart cherry juice concentrate.

1. Do I rack off the trub before adding the concentrate? I've heard arguments for both.

2. How much concentrate should I use on 3 gallons to get a Kriek like flavor.

Please share your experience or opinions on these questions.
 
I haven't racked off the trub for my sours. I'm subscribing to the theory that the brett will eat up any autolysis side effects. The latest sour to be packaged was sitting there for 14 months and I couldn't taste anything remotely like autolysis and nobody has mentioned anything.

I've got my first sour that's probably a dumper, but I think it's oxidation that's the problem. I'll give it another few months then try again with a keg for the fermenter if it hasn't cleaned up a bit.

Haven't used concentrate, only straight fruit so far.
 
I've got my first sour that's probably a dumper, but I think it's oxidation that's the problem. I'll give it another few months then try again with a keg for the fermenter if it hasn't cleaned up a bit.
You suspect oxidation from the taste?
 
I am an anxious and impatient person so instead of waiting for more input I added 14 oz. to the fermenter with out racking. I managed to only draw out a small sample because its 3 gallons in 5 gallon fermenter and my wine thief is only 12 inches long. I was completely blown away at how well it tasted. I cannot wait to bottle this.
 
Sounds like it's ready.

You suspect oxidation from the taste?
Not sure. There's a petrochemical/tarmac aroma that's probably from the yeast. I've heard about it as a yeast aroma and people say to wait it out, but it's been sitting in an HDPE fermenter for 10 months so it's probably picked up a bunch of oxygen as well. Will try it in the new year for it's last chance.

Apart from that one, if I'm aging for more than a month I'll use a keg. When I transfer to the keg I don't do anything to minimise the trub, so there's generally a fair bit at the bottom (I also trim a bit off the dip tube for these). A couple of the kegs are multi-year projects where I package 50% each year and top it up with a fresh batch.

For sampling I just use a carbonation cap to push a few 100 mL into a PET bottle then use the freezer and bursts of CO2 to give it a basic carbonation.
 

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