'go To' Sour Ale

[GrahamB]

I've just put only my second ever AG brew in the cube and wanted to get a sour on tap.

I have been experimenting with PLambics from extract for a few years but would really like to have a regular dose of funk and tart that is more along the timeline of a decent ale on my tap.

Can anyone suggest an AG recipe or style which fits the bill, something I can enjoy after a couple of months conditioning?


Cheers

 

[brewtas]

Berliner Weisse is pretty much your only option in that timeframe. Even then it depends on your methods.

I've brewed a Berliner and been drinking it within a month (including bottle carbonation) using the sour wort technique. I mashed, ran it off into an esky and chucked a handful of uncrushed grain in when it was down to 40'C. I put a layer of gladwrap over the surface to keep oxygen out (to help the lacto and hinders some unwanted bacteria) and tried to keep it around the 40'C mark. Two days later I boiled for 15 min with a small amount of hops. Fermented with US-05.

You can also just pitch lacto and yeast.

But if you want brett it's going to take a bit longer.

 

[Kranky]

About the fastest I can brew a decent lambic style beer is about 6 months. If I'm in a rush for it I use plastic fermenters only, as they have more oxygen interaction with the yeast and bugs so they develop more quickly. The results can be pretty good but don't expect anything complex.

I usually use the recipe out of Brewing Classic Styles - which for my last 60l batch was about 11kg of Belgian Pilsner and 7kg of wheat, 5 ibu's. I used one of the Wyeast lambic blends.

One thing I've been trying lately is putting hops in hop bags and then into my hop rocket (used as a randal) and the results so far (with citra) are magic.

 

[GrahamB]

So maybe something with a Wyeast 5335 or 5733?
Not sure on the making the sour wort due to my in-experience

Edit for Kranky:
I dont expect a Lambic, I have 3 in differnt stages of development that I have been blending and playing around with. A nice simple sour ale in the keg would do me, something to make my toes curl that I could replentish on a regular rotation

 

[brewtas]

So maybe something with a Wyeast 5335 or 5733?
Not sure on the making the sour wort due to my in-experience

Yeah, go with 50/50 pils and wheat malt to 1.035, no more than 8 IBUs. Pitch lacto and either a clean yeast like US-05 or maybe a hefe yeast. White Labs have a Berliner blend but I haven't used it yet.

I wouldn't go for pedio without brett to clean it up though.

 

[GrahamB]

Cool I'll give that a shot and maybe bottle the first batch to see how long it actually takes to condition

 

[milestron]

Hey just on the topic of sours - how do you guys normally go bottling? I've just read Brew like a monk and it suggest that the brett would probably take the fg a few points lower over the course of the bottle conditioning (say 6 months). I'm doing a bit of research myself on sours at the moment and was just a bit worried about bottle bombs. I suppose the alternative would be to store it in a cube to condition and then after say 6 months do a final check and bottle with some fresh yeast?

I've been following this blog (the mad fermentationist) who does a lot of wacky sour beers. He suggests keeping serpate gear for sour beers to avoid infection - is this really necessary do you reckon? Seems like a bit of overkill given I'm usually pretty anal about sanitising.

 

[Goldenchild]

[quote name='milestron' date='May 24 2012, 08:00 AM'
. He suggests keeping serpate gear for sour beers to avoid infection - is this really necessary do you reckon? Seems like a bit of overkill given I'm usually pretty anal about sanitising.
[/quote]

Pretty sure some of the bugs people put in there beers can survive the sanitation process.
From what I've read it's reasonably common for most to have separate sour gear especially when it comes to plastics.
Some go as far to not even have it in the same room but IMO that's a bit over the top.

 

[GrahamB]

My PLambic's have dedicated gear and a different room, the room mainly because of the long term the beer is stored and matured for rather than risk of cross contamination.

I use glass for those beers and plastic for my everyday brewing, since I use a chesty for my temp control and theres a bit of logistics going on I would hate to use glass all the time.