Overly Acetic

[u/Zanven1]

I have a couple barrel sours that have gone too acetic. The flavor is really good but not for drinking so I was thinking of helping them go the rest of the way to vinegar.

Is that a horrible idea or not?
Anyone have experience turning your beer into vinegar? Like do I just need to hit it with some O2 or give it an extra acetobacter inoculation? Equipment/process suggestions?

[u/tecknonerd]

Have you thought of brewing the same thing non sour and blending the two?

[u/Zanven1 → u/tecknonerd]

I did try some blending and the acetic character is too strong and comes through so it took like 3:1 ratio to make it ok. I don't want to make that kind of volume just to have something that's ok.

It's got some really nice flavors that would be good in a sauce or something so I don't want to dump/waste all of it. I did blend it with a little bit of a smoked beer in a sample and a little thicker and it would have been a really delicious BBQ sauce.

[u/tecknonerd → u/Zanven1]

Fair. Then yes just some o2 or a venturi with a food safe air filter attached and you'll get there. I've worked in kombucha and that's how we'd get things moving in the acetic direction quickly. You can get fully fermed in a few days either way. If you can heat product up to mid 80s do that too and it'll go real quick.

[u/Radioactive24 → u/tecknonerd]

There’s always money in the biere de coupage.  

[u/Brettanospicy → u/tecknonerd]

This is usually a bad idea - the acetobacter will overtake the blend and you'll end up with basically the same final product

[u/blankblankblank827]

If you do, keep in mind you are intentionally growing a bunch of acetobacter in your brewery. FDA would likely want to have an issue as it’s considered a food product

[u/Individual-Actuary80]

Have you tried adding BS to a sample & seeing how that tastes?

[u/Hotsider → u/Individual-Actuary80]

Why would adding bullshit to a beer be good?

[u/throwthisaway11112 → u/[deleted]]

What kind of oak? Temperature? Circumstances?