Beer Forum

I was in Fort Collins for work recently, and had the pleasure of trying many great beers. My favorite, hands down, was the New Belgium Fall Wild Ale, which was on tap at the local butcher shop (Choice City- I highly recommend eating here if you get the chance). I understand that it is the Abbey Grand Cru soured with bugs. I would really love to brew something similar, and was hoping someone on the forum might have some tips.

Has anyone had this beer? Any thoughts on how to brew it or what bugs were used to sour it? It's pretty mild as far as sour/funky notes, but they are definitely noticeable, and I think this would probably be a great beer to put some age on.

I recently brewed a modified version of the BCS Dubbel, broke it into three 4 gallon batches, and pitched WLP 500, 530, and 540. I'd like to take one of these and pitch some bugs into a secondary to try and take a first stab at emulating the FWA. I was thinking about using one of the Brett strains, but am now thinking about the WLP 655 Belgian Sour Mix as an alternative. Any thoughts or recommendations?

Thanks for any and all input!

Speaking of wild ales (sorry to hijack), I thought I heard a while back that Lagunitas was going to release a batch of Little Sumpin' Sumpin' with Brett (ie. Little Sumpin' Wild) in the fall. Anybody hear of its release, yet?


Mylo

GrassMan wrote:I was in Fort Collins for work recently, and had the pleasure of trying many great beers. My favorite, hands down, was the New Belgium Fall Wild Ale, which was on tap at the local butcher shop (Choice City- I highly recommend eating here if you get the chance). I understand that it is the Abbey Grand Cru soured with bugs. I would really love to brew something similar, and was hoping someone on the forum might have some tips.

Has anyone had this beer? Any thoughts on how to brew it or what bugs were used to sour it? It's pretty mild as far as sour/funky notes, but they are definitely noticeable, and I think this would probably be a great beer to put some age on.

I recently brewed a modified version of the BCS Dubbel, broke it into three 4 gallon batches, and pitched WLP 500, 530, and 540. I'd like to take one of these and pitch some bugs into a secondary to try and take a first stab at emulating the FWA. I was thinking about using one of the Brett strains, but am now thinking about the WLP 655 Belgian Sour Mix as an alternative. Any thoughts or recommendations?

Thanks for any and all input!

I have had great results with using the dregs from a Jolly Pumpkin beer. No starter, simply added to the keg with the racked beer. Let it sit for a few mos at cellar temps and give it a taste. Last time I did this I used their witbier for dregs and added them to a wit I had made. 1 mos later I served it a summer party and it was indeed quite sour and tart already. Couldn't believe how quickly they worked on my beer.

Mylo wrote:Speaking of wild ales (sorry to hijack), I thought I heard a while back that Lagunitas was going to release a batch of Little Sumpin' Sumpin' with Brett (ie. Little Sumpin' Wild) in the fall. Anybody hear of its release, yet?

Mylo- I picked up Little Sumpin' Wild at Wilbur's when I was in Ft Collins a month ago, so it's definitely already out at some venues. I haven't tried it yet, but there's an interesting discussion on whether or not the early releases have any bugs in them or not:
http://beernews.org/2010/05/lagunitas-a ... this-fall/

brewinhard wrote:I have had great results with using the dregs from a Jolly Pumpkin beer. No starter, simply added to the keg with the racked beer. Let it sit for a few mos at cellar temps and give it a taste. Last time I did this I used their witbier for dregs and added them to a wit I had made. 1 mos later I served it a summer party and it was indeed quite sour and tart already. Couldn't believe how quickly they worked on my beer.

Thanks brewinhard- I might give that a try. I have Bam Biere and La Roja- do all their beers have the same bugs? I kind of got this impression from the CYBI shows as it sounded like they were relying on the same inoculated barrels and wild yeasts from the outside air they pump in to do the souring. Along those lines, I'm also tempted to use the dregs from a La Folie bottle instead, as presumably it would have a similar culture to that found in the Fall Wild Ale, although the rapid response you got from the JP dregs is encouraging. What are cellar temps for you?

Thanks!

I know my bottle of little sumpin sumpin wild had no bugs in it...wish it did though

GrassMan wrote:Thanks brewinhard- I might give that a try. I have Bam Biere and La Roja- do all their beers have the same bugs? I kind of got this impression from the CYBI shows as it sounded like they were relying on the same inoculated barrels and wild yeasts from the outside air they pump in to do the souring. Along those lines, I'm also tempted to use the dregs from a La Folie bottle instead, as presumably it would have a similar culture to that found in the Fall Wild Ale, although the rapid response you got from the JP dregs is encouraging. What are cellar temps for you?

Thanks!

The 22oz bottles of La Folie have no bugs in them, only the corked and caged bottles (if they still distribute those)

Bokonon wrote:The 22oz bottles of La Folie have no bugs in them, only the corked and caged bottles (if they still distribute those)

Bokonon- Thanks for the info- a 22 is what I've got. Do they pasteurize the 22's? When I was on the brewery tour, the tour guide said I could culture their yeast from a bottle, and I assumed that this meant the bugs would be viable as well. Seems like I might have gotten some misinformation, or maybe just heard what I wanted to hear. I'm guessing they kill or remove the yeast for shipping/shelf stability?

GrassMan wrote:

Mylo wrote:Speaking of wild ales (sorry to hijack), I thought I heard a while back that Lagunitas was going to release a batch of Little Sumpin' Sumpin' with Brett (ie. Little Sumpin' Wild) in the fall. Anybody hear of its release, yet?

Mylo- I picked up Little Sumpin' Wild at Wilbur's when I was in Ft Collins a month ago, so it's definitely already out at some venues. I haven't tried it yet, but there's an interesting discussion on whether or not the early releases have any bugs in them or not:
http://beernews.org/2010/05/lagunitas-a ... this-fall/

The local beer bar had some on tap recently and I thought it had a very mild "wildness" to it; not entirely sure it was a brett wildness though.