So one of my 2012 goals was to brew a sour. I realize I won't be drinking it until 2013, but I'd like to start building a pipeline of sours. I have a few questions before heading off to the LHBS.
1) What is the preferred fermentation vessel material? Are buckets ok? Should I really be looking at carboys? I have alot of carboys already, but I use them fairly regularly in my normal ales/lagers, so I'll be purchasing new anyway.
2) Is it generally accepted/preferred to just leave in the primary for the entire fermentation? No need for racking?
3) I have not gotten into brewing sours because I am too chicken $hit to get any kind of contamination in the rest of my beer. I am also very limited on space in my house (no basement, just a crawl space). My ales sit in a little closet under my staircase. Can sours and ales ferment side by side? Am I being too paranoid? Or do they need to be separated. I can do this, it's just more of a PITA type thing for me as it will be in the crawl space. I know, good so I am not worrying about the beer. Bad because it's a pain to get to to monitor.
4) Are the ferments as vigorous as an ale? Would these need to be setup with blow off tubes? If I'm putting these in an area that's a pain to get to, checking on the water status may not happen as often as if it were in my other closet. If not as vigorous, then an airlock should be fine.
5) I understand extra set of equipment for plastic pieces. I am planning to purchase: new auto siphon and tubing, already have a second thief, separate stoppers and airlocks, depending on answer to question #1, at a minimum a new bucket for bottling (though I won't need that for a while). What else am I missing? Separate hydrometer and sampling tube?
Thanks for any help you can shed on this. Looking to brew up a Flanders red this month, and then brew a different sour each month to get a pipeline going.
1) What is the preferred fermentation vessel material? Are buckets ok? Should I really be looking at carboys? I have alot of carboys already, but I use them fairly regularly in my normal ales/lagers, so I'll be purchasing new anyway.
2) Is it generally accepted/preferred to just leave in the primary for the entire fermentation? No need for racking?
3) I have not gotten into brewing sours because I am too chicken $hit to get any kind of contamination in the rest of my beer. I am also very limited on space in my house (no basement, just a crawl space). My ales sit in a little closet under my staircase. Can sours and ales ferment side by side? Am I being too paranoid? Or do they need to be separated. I can do this, it's just more of a PITA type thing for me as it will be in the crawl space. I know, good so I am not worrying about the beer. Bad because it's a pain to get to to monitor.
4) Are the ferments as vigorous as an ale? Would these need to be setup with blow off tubes? If I'm putting these in an area that's a pain to get to, checking on the water status may not happen as often as if it were in my other closet. If not as vigorous, then an airlock should be fine.
5) I understand extra set of equipment for plastic pieces. I am planning to purchase: new auto siphon and tubing, already have a second thief, separate stoppers and airlocks, depending on answer to question #1, at a minimum a new bucket for bottling (though I won't need that for a while). What else am I missing? Separate hydrometer and sampling tube?
Thanks for any help you can shed on this. Looking to brew up a Flanders red this month, and then brew a different sour each month to get a pipeline going.