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smellysell · 03-21-2009, 05:13 PM

I tried my first sour mash last night. It has been sitting at ~110 for ~14 hours with no sign of infection. Should I let it sit longer or just boil it, start the clean yeast, and order some bugs?

boxcar · 03-21-2009, 05:31 PM

try and bump the heat up to about 125-130 and throw in a handful of grain

smellysell · 03-23-2009, 03:25 PM

I ended up just boiling the wort and starting a ferment with "clean" yeast. Gonna add Wyeast 3758 with some fruit (not sure what yet) to secondary until it's done. Then will add an ounce of oak chips for a couple weeks. What do you guys think?

Sixbillionethans · 03-23-2009, 04:26 PM

I've included sour mashes in 2 of my beers: a Saison and a Wit. On both, I was looking for tartness, not an all out sour character.

My technique is to take some of the runnings, cool them to ~90F, toss a handful of crushed grain in, and let it sit for a few days. Then strain out the grain and boil the liquid for 15 minutes. In both cases, the end product smelled godawful, and the taste was incredibly sour but in a sort of clean, mostly unoffensive way. I think you need to approach 5-10% of your total wort being soured for it to have a noticeable effect.

smellysell · 03-23-2009, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sixbillionethans

I've included sour mashes in 2 of my beers: a Saison and a Wit. On both, I was looking for tartness, not an all out sour character.

My technique is to take some of the runnings, cool them to ~90F, toss a handful of crushed grain in, and let it sit for a few days. Then strain out the grain and boil the liquid for 15 minutes. In both cases, the end product smelled godawful, and the taste was incredibly sour but in a sort of clean, mostly unoffensive way. I think you need to approach 5-10% of your total wort being soured for it to have a noticeable effect.

Sounds like maybe I just didn't give it enough time then. I only waited ~16 hours. Guess I'll just have to wait the many months for the Wyeast to sour it up now.

Mr. Nice Guy · 03-23-2009, 06:11 PM

I bet it will come out great. I am making a sour raspberry beer and it wasn't sour at all for the first day, but the next, ohhh, sour! I was using a sourdough starter so that is a little off the wall but all it is is wheat, wild yeast and lactobacillus so it worked well. I also wraped my wort in a sleeping bag and set it on a heater vent, that helps too.

**claphamsa** · 03-31-2009, 03:37 PM

I left my Berliner wisser for 48 hours (germ delivery failed) and man,.... it stunk!

smellysell · 04-02-2009, 02:51 PM

I've had this in secondary with the blueberries, oak, and bugs for a couple weeks now. Will the blueberries eventually sink or will the pelicle just form under/on top of them?