Sour brewing in an apartment - Page 2

WalkingStickMan · 09-30-2011, 08:56 PM

Jusy my two cents- I live in a Brooklyn apt (tiny), and just bottled a 1 year old plambic since I'll be moving. Using Al B's bugs, the beer turned out AWESOME in just that years time. I'm sure it would continue to gain complexity with further aging, however as it stands now it's very complex and tasty.

**cimirie** · 09-30-2011, 09:25 PM

I've got a quick solution to your problem.

As long as you're just looking for the lactic tang, sour a portion of your wort with cracked grain.

Make 5 gallon batch. Pull off 3/4 gallon. Ferment the rest as normal. Place 3/4 gallon in gallon jug and add a handful of cracked pale malt (or oats). Close lid, wrap with sweatshirt (or sleeping bag) and place in a very warm spot for a week (looking to keep it close to 100*F).

Strain grain and boil soured wort for 20 minutes, cool, and add back into fermentor.

I've done this quite a few times with great success. You don't need the long-term aging a traditional sour does and you risk zero equipment infection. Perfect for your apartment situation!

deputyandy · 10-01-2011, 02:13 AM

What exactly is happening to the cracked oats? I've heard of quick, no risk of infection spurs but I've never had them explained

Pivzavod · 10-01-2011, 12:35 PM

Very interesting, I would like to know more details as well.

**MalFet** · 10-01-2011, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cimirie

I've got a quick solution to your problem.

As long as you're just looking for the lactic tang, sour a portion of your wort with cracked grain.

Make 5 gallon batch. Pull off 3/4 gallon. Ferment the rest as normal. Place 3/4 gallon in gallon jug and add a handful of cracked pale malt (or oats). Close lid, wrap with sweatshirt (or sleeping bag) and place in a very warm spot for a week (looking to keep it close to 100*F).

Strain grain and boil soured wort for 20 minutes, cool, and add back into fermentor.

I've done this quite a few times with great success. You don't need the long-term aging a traditional sour does and you risk zero equipment infection. Perfect for your apartment situation!

I've had good luck with this approach too, though (like cimirie says) the character is essentially the same as the short-run sours (berliner weisse, etc.) and not for the more complex aged sours (oud bruin, etc.). Raw grain is rife with lactobacillus, and you are giving your wort a solid dose with a handful of it.

I'm not sure why you suggest there's any different risk of equipment infection, though. This is basically the same as adding a vial of WL lacto, no?

Daddymem · 10-01-2011, 01:01 PM

I do lacto sour beers pre boil to avoid contamination. They are really quick. While not as complex as said above, you end up with a really refreshing lemonish sour.

What I do is take my mash after a normal beer and cap it with 1-2 pounds of base grain (for the lacto and some additional OG), a few ounces of torrified wheat (for head proteins stripped from the first mash), and a couple gallons of heated water in a cooler 24-48 hours. Then I do a mashout. I get the gravity of my wort usually in the 1020s so I do a quick very low IBU hop calculation and boil away. I've added grains of paradise, grapefruit peels, coriander and various other things for additional flavor. I use Nottingham or S-05 usually and don't worry about temperatures too much. The only one I wouldn't do again is from an oatmeal stout...it was foul.

**cimirie** · 10-01-2011, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MalFet

I'm not sure why you suggest there's any different risk of equipment infection, though. This is basically the same as adding a vial of WL lacto, no?

Yes and no. Yes in that all you're doing is introducing lacto to a portion of wort and letting it do it's thing. No in that your lacto is confined to a disposable water/milk jug, then you're boiling it. Live lacto cultures never touch your fermentor, bottling equipment, legging equipment, beer lines, etc.

**MalFet** · 10-01-2011, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cimirie

Yes and no. Yes in that all you're doing is introducing lacto to a portion of wort and letting it do it's thing. No in that your lacto is confined to a disposable water/milk jug, then you're boiling it. Live lacto cultures never touch your fermentor, bottling equipment, legging equipment, beer lines, etc.

Ah, gotcha. I misread your first message and thought the souring came after the lacto. Interesting approach!

Almighty · 10-03-2011, 05:41 PM

You can definitely make a good sour beer in less than 2 years. I actually brew a batch of Flanders Red and Oud Bruin the same time every year. The beers have stabilized and developed good flavors in 12 months. They do develop more complexity past the year mark, but I don't think there is any advantage to bulk aging versus bottle aging at that point.

And I'm a big fan of the 1 gal batches, see this thread.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/easy-way-make-sour-beers-1-gal-wort-dregs-189748/
And I suggest buying apple cider in the 1 gal glass jugs because it is much cheaper than just buying the jug at your LHBS + you can make some hard cider easily.