Easy Way to Make Sour Beers (1 gal wort + dregs) - Page 3

womencantsail · 02-25-2011, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Almighty

My method did not use 2nd runnings. That was an idea by another poster. What I do is that I take wort from the boil. For some of my beers that I want lacto to be a big contributor then I take the wort out earlier in the boil so that I have very low IBUs (so its like a no boil Berliner). But to be honest most of my beers have just been from an extra gallon of wort that is boiled and cooled with the enitre batch. I make a 6 gal batch and 5 go to my carboy and 1 goes to my experimental gallon with dregs.
So the O.G. of my beers are either close to my preboil gravity or are the same as the rest of the batch.
I assume that the other poster will boil his second runnings down until he reaches the desired gravity.

Ah, I guess I misread that particular post as yours, then. Thanks for clarifying.

breez7 · 02-27-2011, 08:06 PM

I also just got into brewing 6 gal batches so that I had an extra gallon to play with. I can get 1 gal bottles at the LHBS for $4 so by the end of the summer my library will prob look like some sort of meth lab.

Almighty · 03-28-2011, 03:36 PM

Update on new dregs
Just tried Mikkeller "It's Alright" dregs in a Scottish 60. A pellicle formed in a day and it is bubbling up nicely. I will probably keep this bulk aged for only a few months since it has already been fermented down pretty low with a sacc strain and then bottle.
http://jeffreycrane.blogspot.com/2011/03/dreg-series-mikkeller-its-alright.html

**jtakacs** · 03-28-2011, 03:55 PM

i'm not convinced that all lacto is killed off by high BUs... i brewed an imperial belgian wit (30+ BU) that i did a partial sour mash on to breed lacto and the sour was immediately apparent and then went away after a month in the bottle. it is now back even stronger in a "give me more" thirst quenching way.

i wouldn't call it a sour beer per se, but there is a definite lactic quality to it that makes a high gravity beer feel refreshing...

keep the updates coming - i've got several sours in the pipeline and just picked up a 5 gal. barrel last night which will become a sour barrel (after i brew a stout to "clean out" the wine character)

Almighty · 03-28-2011, 05:53 PM

There are quite a few different strains of lactic acid bacteria and some are not bothered by hops. It is just more of a precaution if you are trying to sour with lacto. You just don't know what strain you may be getting.

It is definitely fun to start that pipeline of beer. It makes the waiting process so much easier.

Please post if you have any bottle dregs that you have been successful with.

**jtakacs** · 03-28-2011, 06:30 PM

i have a plambic fermenting with RRB supplication dregs right now - haven't tasted it in the last month, but it was like a cherry sweet tart (also very thin tasting which was weird as it hadn't attenuated past 65% yet). i stepped it up from a bottle dreg into a a nice sized starter. that just got a heavy dose of brett-c last week.

there's also my "house yeast" which i'm a little concerned (and excited) about - the starter seemed "off" in aroma (high acetic acid) but when it took hold of the brew, it all went away (weird) - smells great, haven't tasted that one yet and that is mostly sacc strains, but does have JP bam biere and damnation dregs in it along with a heavy dose of brett-c and several sacc strains including pacman and a belgian wit yeast. i'm guessing it has a high dose of pedio considering i've done several lacto cultures and haven't gotten the acetic character. this one will sit for a long while.

tomorrow i'm doing a sour stout - we'll see how it goes, i'll be pitching US-05 and dropping in a WL lacto culture 3/4 of the way through primary. no brett or pedio in this one as i want to see what a store-bought sour culture does in lieu of a sour mash.

it'll then go on in a 5 gallon wine barrel for a week or two. i'm not trying to rush a sour, but i figure i can get a good seemingly well aged and attenuated sour in about two months that should improve in the bottle.

Almighty · 08-29-2011, 04:10 PM

I have an update on a few more dregs I have used.

Dupont Foret - in a 4% Saison with 20% flaked maize - I didn't have the best success with this yeast. The Saison flavors are there but just very weak. I think I should have built up a bigger starter. I will try this again next year but I will use the dregs from a 750 of the original Dupont Saison
http://jeffreycrane.blogspot.com/2011/06/dreg-series-dupont-foret-saison.html

The Bruery Saison de Lente - into a Basic Saison grain bill at 1.060 with 5% acid malt. No starter on this one. And still had activity in 24 hours. Have not tasted this one yet.
http://jeffreycrane.blogspot.com/2011/07/dreg-series-lente-saison-de-bruery.html

Fantome Speciale De Noel Saison - an overly complex dark Saison grain bill. No activity in 2 days so added dregs from Fantôme La Dalmatienne. Then had activity in 12 hours. Tasted recently and has a sharp acetic acid bite which might be from the lag period. Another reason to do starters in the bottles when using dregs. But I have had beers that will mellow with age so we will wait on this one.
http://jeffreycrane.blogspot.com/2011/08/dreg-series-fantome-speciale-de-noel.html

nofootbreak · 09-01-2011, 08:18 PM

I brewed a baltic porter that stopped at 1.022. I syphoned off a gallon and put it in a jug and pitched RR consecration dregs and didnt see any activity in two weeks. Pitched some jolly pumpkin la roja dregs in saturday night and theres a pellicle as of a few days ago. I just figured since the porter stopped higher than I would have liked, I would experiment with a gallon of it. Dont plan on tasting at this point for at least a month.

MatthewHall · 09-18-2011, 07:43 PM

I finally got around to brewing a batch up, and inspired by you I skimmed a gallon off the top to experiment with. Using vinnie's Belgian Golden strong recipe, this was my first partial mash (1.060). I aded a very small amount of my starter WLP570, along with RR Supplication and Two Brothers Askew dregs. Lots of fermentation and krausen (probably from the sacc). Smells fruity. Looks like there is still a thin layer krausen. It's only been a week, so we'll see what happens. I can't wait to brew again to get another gallon going!

Almighty · 09-19-2011, 09:36 PM

Two Brothers Askew? Do you know what's in it?

Good luck and be patient when tasting. I recommend trying a 4 oz sample in your hydrometer every 3 months. And if you want to add anything (fruit, sugar, wort ...) that is the time to do it, plus that will help remove the Oxygen after the tasting.