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dantheman13 · 11-11-2011, 06:05 AM

Subscribed! I want to start brewing sours with dregs soon. I will be back to reread informations!

nppeders · 11-17-2011, 08:23 PM

I think I'm gonna head to my LHBS and buy a bunch of these gallon jugs and start doing this! I love this idea!

Almighty · 11-18-2011, 02:45 PM

Mr.Dank - I'm surprised you haven't tried this before.

I no longer make 5 gal batches, everything I make now is 6-7 gal. It really doesn't take anymore time. And for beers of normal gravity, all the grain will still fit in my 5 gal igloo mash tun (I found 15 lbs is about the limit).

Well, the next step in this thread is to start trading some of these beers. That way all of us can use the dregs from the swapped bottles to get access to yeast and bugs we can't get where we live.

Let me know if anyone is interested.

dougdecinces · 11-18-2011, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nppeders

I think I'm gonna head to my LHBS and buy a bunch of these gallon jugs and start doing this! I love this idea!

If I may make a humble recommendation, go to your closest upscale grocery store and get a gallon of apple juice in a glass bottle instead. Since it's still technically, barely, vaguely fall there should be some in stock. My LHBS sells jugs for $5 plus tax and I can get a gallon of apple juice for $7.00. For me it's a no-brainer. You can either spend the next several weeks drinking lots of apple juice, make apple jelly, or a big, honking batch of hard cider (or all three).

nppeders · 11-18-2011, 04:31 PM

I'm going to midwest brew supply right now as it's barely 1 mile from my office! I have 10 gallons of Blonde ale at home and I think 2 gallons are gonna get funktified!

My blonde was fermented in Primary half on Belgian Ardenes, and the other have on American Ale. I'll put 1 gallon of each into a gallon jug and then I need to decide on which dregs to put on them. I have some Le Prof flemish ale in my cellar, I also have some Jolly Pumpkin. Now that I think about it I have a couple Telegraph beers in my cellar that I've been itching to drink. Any thoughts? Suggestions?

Waylit · 11-18-2011, 04:51 PM

Cool thread. I've been brewing small batch sours for a couple years now. I normally brew a light base beer with Pilsner and wheat malts and aim for an OG of 1.060 . The 5 gallon batch is fermented for 2-3 days with my favorite belgian yeast 3724. After 48 hours the gravity is around 1.035 (the beer is about half way done fermenting) At this point I transfer the beer to four 1 gallon jugs and pitch dregs.

I do the initial fermentation with 3724 for two reasons. The mixture of brett and pedio with a belgian base is the perfect combination for my taste buds. I've tried making sours with a neutral yeast like 1056 and to me they come across one dimensional.

The second reason is that your beer will be done faster. Most of my sours finish around 1.005. So that's only a drop of 30 gravity points, which depending on the dregs can happen within a month. Not that you shouldn't let the beer condition longer, but a pre-fermentation can cut your time in half, and make for an awesome wild brew. -Cheers

Almighty · 11-18-2011, 04:57 PM

Yup, that is my recommendation also. I thought I wrote that somewhere. I get a gallon of cider for $5.50 or organic cider for $6.50 at Henry's, Whole Foods or Boney's (Not sure how widespread those stores are)

If you are going to buy several at a time you should take the opportunity to do a yeast comparison. Hopefully you already have the yeast on hand.

I've tried a few so far with mixed results:
- Chimay yeast - pretty tasty and unique fruit flavors
- English yeast - WLP005 - made a very rough cider, not a lot of apple flavor but tastes pretty close to commercial hard ciders in England
- Scottish yeast - WLP028 - similar to the English yeast but I should have fermented cooler.
- California Common yeast - my favorite cider, preserved a lot of apple flavor and had a nice crisp after taste
- Saison Cider - Wyest 3711 - a bit strange, not sure how well the flavors mix. Might be better with he Dupont strain.

Bikes, Beer, and Adventures: Beer Recipes

And I realized I never posted about the Scottish or Saison ciders. Probably because I wasn't too excited about them.

I would really like to try a lager yeast and Brett only next.

Almighty · 11-18-2011, 06:42 PM

Good point Waylit about the Belgian yeast strain. This has been noticed by several homebrewers and pro-brewers. Here is a thread at BBB about it:
The Burgundian Babble Belt -- Pushing the Homebrew Envelope

Waylit,
Since you have been doing this a while. Do you mind sharing info about a few of your favorite beers you've made? (wort description, dreg type, additions)

Waylit · 11-18-2011, 10:36 PM

Other then the usual suspects like RR and JP, I'v had success with dregs from other wild ales. The beers listed below have all made interesting sour beers. I didn't have much luck with Goose Island - Lolita or Lost Abbey - Red Poppy.

Allagash - coolship Red
Weyerbacher - Riserva
The Bruery - Sour in the Rye
Captain Lawrence - Rosso E Marrone
Avery - Immitis

I made one of my favorite wild ales without dregs. It was made by fermenting a beer half way with 3724 then transferring 1 gallon onto 2 lbs of freshly picked raspberries from a local farm. It fermented super dry from the wild yeast, and had a beautiful yet funky sourness. Just a lovely wild framboise. Using farm fresh fruit instead of dregs can work very well.

HokieBrewer · 11-19-2011, 05:13 PM

That last idea is very cool.