First sour suggestions

I am looking for some ideas on where to go next. I have done a few 100% Brett beers and also used Brett in secondary on my saison. I was planning to brew a Tart of Darkness clone in the next couple weeks but looking for some ideas for my first real sour after that (by "real" I just mean not a clone I am familiar with). I would like to do a pale beer and something that takes 6 months to a year ideally. My goal is to brew a new sour every couple of months to begin aging so that in 6-12 months from now I will have a series of sours that I can have in my drinking rotation.

I appreciate any input....I am not too lazy to search, it is just that I am pretty new to sours both drinking and brewing but I have definitely caught the bug and a little overwhelmed where to start. Ultimately I know it is more variable than "clean" beers and just looking for some good styles to get started with.

Thanks!

If you are going to brew a lot of sours, do a lambic. Having multiple batches on hand gives you the freedom to blend and fine-tune your vintages to get a great beer. Just be prepared to wait at least two years. In fact, if you only have a year's worth of patience, sour beers probably aren't for you.

I don't mind waiting two years, I just know that I will want to be able to drink a couple along the way (especially when first getting started) so it would be good to have the first one or two I make to begin drinking around the year mark as others are aging longer, etc. I was considering a lambic at some point but I need to get one of my oak barrels as close to neutral as possible before throwing in something that long.

I just brewed my first sour, and plan on keeping it up, also. What appeals to me about the whole thing is a bit of the unknown. Since we like most things sour, I plan on just creating a beer that sounds nice and thinking what sour characteristics would do/ go well with it. I like to say, Sometimes you gotta start driving before you decide where you're going.
For my current batch, I pitched crooked stave and jolly p dregs along with 3711 in primary. My plan is 3 months total plus a month in the bottle. It definitely has some character just 2 weeks in.

Sorry if that wasn't the most specific advice
Have fun!

If you want something simple, do a pale 70/30 or so pilsner/wheat wort, pitch a lambic blend from one of the yeast supplies, add dregs from sour beers you enjoy, and give it time.

Very cool, both approaches sound good. I am definitely getting the sense to just create a recipe like I would for a clean beer, keep the hops very low and just go for it. I always have plenty of beers going that I can blend something in if needed or to just add more complexity. Is 6-7% a good alcohol range to shoot for?

5-6% is better, bacteria aren't always alcohol tolerant. Plus you need to plan on FGs in the .999-1.005 range. If you create a recipe based on a standard 1.010 finish, you'll end up higher in abv then planned.

You can do a Berliner or gose first, so you can be drinking something before the rest are ready. I've had some beers ready to drink in under a year, really depends on what you want out of it. You can also use one of the Wyeast PC quick sour blends out right now.

Another option is jolly pumpkin dregs, they move very fast. Might not be super complex when young but you can have drinkable beer possibly under a year

joshrosborne said:

If you want something simple, do a pale 70/30 or so pilsner/wheat wort, pitch a lambic blend from one of the yeast supplies, add dregs from sour beers you enjoy, and give it time.

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Pardon my butting in, but I'm just curious what style this is considered? I'm thinking of doing something exactly like this. I have seen similar grain bills, but don't know what style this best fits. Is it just called a Sour?

jetskeez said:

Pardon my butting in, but I'm just curious what style this is considered? I'm thinking of doing something exactly like this. I have seen similar grain bills, but don't know what style this best fits. Is it just called a Sour?

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Not exactly a lambic since I don't use a turbid mash or flaked wheat or the perfect grain bill, but it's probably closest to that, style-wise. I just call it a pale sour.

Sounds good enough to me! Thanks.