Sour beers

[mje1980]

Ok, I'm sort of similar. Hard to be patient though . I just pitched roselare, it went nuts the first few days.

 

[jefin]

Yeah same here Mje

Can't wait to get into mine either but i think patience will pay off, I did the same pitched the roselare and she went nut's.

Looking forward to comparing notes in 14 months time!! (It's not that long!)

Cheers Jefin

 

[barls]

go cubes or dominos if your going to use oak mate better flavours.

 

[Danwood]

Staves are available for too, if you look around. Got mine from Homemakeit, American or French available....not affiliated.

Got 2x 7in. staves (not really a full stave, but you get the idea), Shiraz soaked, in a brew atm.

 

[hwall95]

Has anyone tried the Wyeast 3209PC - Oud Bruin? Was thinking about do a dark sour ale/saison and then if it turns out nice, maybe ranking a heavy stout onto the yeast cake

 

[mje1980]

go cubes or dominos if your going to use oak mate better flavours.

Got some dominoes soaking in rum now. It's just over 12 months old so I'll add the oak in a week or two into one half and I'll add some cherries to the other half and aim to check gravities for bottling around March.

 

[Jaded and Bitter]

So I bottled my Flanders Red a couple of days ago. 9 months old, although it got a couple of months following primary with the heat belt to encourage Lacto and Pedio.

It had developed a pellicle last few months and accompanying funk although the FG of 998 hadnt changed from a few months ago, figured there wasnt much more fermenting it could do. Very nice straight from the fermenter.

I put 5l on 800g of pie cherries and bottled the rest in champers bottles with 16g/l sugar priming and some new yeast.

I deliberately didnt give the bugs a great deal of food this brew as it was my first and played it safe, still has a nice tartness and accompanying funkified flavours though.

Gonna do same recipe again but target more sourness. Very happy with the results even considering the time taken.

 

[mje1980]

Nice work mate. I still haven't taken a reading of mine yet. Almost 14 months so I'll bring them down. After having a sneak peek taste of my cherry Berliner I think half of my Flanders will get cherries. Probably the non oaked half.


I thought Flanders are we're just carbed at normal ale levels, not super high carbed ?

 

[Danwood]

Wow, that's a lot of priming sugar, J and B !

I realise they're champagne, but them's some strong bottles ! How many volumes will that end up at ?

I'm just sampling my RIS actually. Oaked first, and I've just removed the cherries after their long soak (it's been around 2months).

I have some Boon Kriek yeast recultured in the fridge to throw at a 5L demi-john of it soon.

 

[Jaded and Bitter]

Cheers, yep looking forward to cracking the first bottle :icon_drool2:

Theres a few reasons why I used so much priming sugar.
I typically like slightly higher carbonation anyway, and after such a long time it likely lost much of the dissolved CO2 from the ferment and with a FG of 998 can take/needs it.

If there were more food left for the bugs to chew on in the bottle I would have used less (higher FG).

Also it tasted like it would be good sparkling

Theres enough priming sugar for about 6 volumes CO2 for a typical beer, which will probably end up around 4.5-5 in this one.

 

[mje1980]

Ah yeah good point about dissolved c02. I prime my saisons with I think 8g per litre in champagne. I like them dry and fizzy too .

 

[hoppinmad]

I'm planning on doing a kriek lambic soon and am considering using the new Wyeast 3203-PC De Bom blend. Apparently it allows you to make an "Authentic sour ale in a fraction of the time". This is the description given by Wyeast:

Beer Styles: Lambic, Geuze, Flanders Red Ale, American Sour Ale

Profile: Wyeasts QC Manager and Worlds Tallest Microbiologist Greg Doss developed De Bom to create authentic Old- and New-World sour ale profiles but in a fraction of the time required by previous, less manly cultures. For best results, we recommend the following: no O2/aeration at beginning of fermentation; periodic dosing with O2 during fermentation to stimulate ethyl acetate production; frequent sampling to monitor development and complexity. Under optimum conditions, beers can be ready for consumption in 1-2 months.

Alc. Tolerance 10% ABV

Flocculation variable

Attenuation 75-85%
Temp. Range 80-85°F (26-29°C)

I like it really sour so would probably use the sour wort technique for 3 days prior to the boil then pitch the wyeast blend. Has anyone used the De Bom blend? What are your thoughts?

I was thinking after a month of primary I would rack onto some sour cherries and let it sit for a couple of months prior to kegging. Is that the general process that people would use? or is it okay just to age the beer in primary for the full period?

 

[mje1980]

The cherry berlinner I just made is very very Kriek like. It's way quicker than a real lambic. I think it was less than 2 months.


If you like it really sour, make a beer with it, then dump a cube on the yeast cake. The 2nd should be much more sour. I did this with the 2nd cube of berlinner and the one fermented on the cake is way more sour.

 

[hoppinmad]

Okay, will try that out. Will rack the lambic off the primary onto cherries then dump something new onto the cake. Looking forward to trying this all out. Have made quick berliners before, but they are pretty bland to me so hoping the mixture of sacc, brett and lacto combined with the cherries (..and maybe some oak) will give me something to savour a little more

 

[mje1980]

Yeah I found the bw a little bland so added the cherries. Eleventy million times better with the cherries .

I also think brett helps out bw as well for more flavour. I'm not super experienced with them though

 

[Bomber Watson]

Stupidest question on earth.

Any way we can sample some commercial varients of this kind of thing before brewing them?

Search on the shelves and website of dans for various keywords brought up zip, Did have JS four wives pilsner show up once......Pretty sure its not the style were talking about

Cheers.

 

[hoppinmad]

Yeah I found the bw a little bland so added the cherries. Eleventy million times better with the cherries .

I also think brett helps out bw as well for more flavour. I'm not super experienced with them though

I split my current batch of bw into two 10 litre batches and added 1kg of frozen strawberries to one of them. Turned out pretty tasty... just the right amount of strawberries to give it a good pink colour and strawberry flavour. Nice pink head and just the right amount of sourness to complement the fruit flavours. Will definitely be doing that one again!

 

[lukiferj]

Stupidest question on earth.

Any way we can sample some commercial varients of this kind of thing before brewing them?

Search on the shelves and website of dans for various keywords brought up zip, Did have JS four wives pilsner show up once......Pretty sure its not the style were talking about

Cheers.

Going to have to find a decent bottle shop that stocks them. Not sure that there would be many in Rocky. There are a few online bottleshops that would ship though.

 

[mje1980]

Beercartel.com.au and similar sites. They're not cheap but awesome beers. Boon kriek is my fave

 

[Bomber Watson]

Thanks.

 

[Tony]

Funny...... Havnt logged onto here in 6 months and when i do...... the sour beer thread pops up.

I still have a lambic and Flanders red fermenting..... almost up to 2 years now.

I really should bottle the red!

MIght start prepping some bottles tommorow

Cheers

 

[Danwood]

Time is relative on AHB, Tony.

 

[Jaded and Bitter]

Time is relative on AHB, Tony.

specially when sour beers are involved...

Bit of a tip regarding cherries, cut the skin before freezing so when you add them the bugs don't have to break through. Learned this from preserving olives.

Just a single straight cut will do.

Are cherries still for sale? Might freeze some more going by the odor coming out of the Cherry Flanders Red.

 

[mje1980]

I think they're mostly gone now.


I've been wondering about pitted cherries. I usually throw everything pit and all. However I've still got probably enough to cherry up a 2nd batch of berlinner weisse. First ones tasting so good I may as well get rid of the other cherries just sitting in the freezer doing nothing.

 

[mje1980]

I meant the ones on the orchards where you can go pick your own are mostly gone. Though I'm not completely sure and could be wrong. I went fruit picking 2 weeks ago and the cherries looked mostly gone.

 

[Jaded and Bitter]

Yeah, tail end of the season. The cherry trucks have disappeared, may still be refrigerated at supermarkets. I'll have a gander.

Cracked the first bottle today, carbonation is spot on.

 

[Tony]

Time is relative............ yeah true.

After almost 11 years on here it feels like yesterday I got sick of the spam on grumpies and joined AHB.

With sour beers...... I think time is endless

Question for those who have bottled a sour beer, as i need to bottle this flanders soon...... its been 2 years.

how have those who have bottled these before gone about carbonation?

 

[manticle]

I've always added a smidgeon of extra yeast - usually dry, neutral and sprinkled- to a bulk prime. Not tried without but they've carbed up ok. 12-18 months is the age of the batches I've done this with.

 

[Tony]

How much g/L did you bulk prime mate?

and how much fiz?

 

[Tony]

Im also thinking I should be planning another flanders to dump on the dregs and 2 year old french oak