Sour mash

Will doing a sour mash take away from your og? I just did a sour mash on a 5gallon batch and my og was low. I've made this recipe a couple times so I have an idea where I should be.

If it pushed the pH too low it could effect conversion. Not sure how it would impact extraction.

I've been wondering about this. Theoretically it would affect your OG because the bacteria you are growing are gonna eat something as they grow/multiply right? I have no idea how much they will eat, and if you are supposed to just throw a little extra grain in there to account for it.

I also have no idea if your results would be repeatable as each time you do a sour mash you might get slightly different strains of bugs that have different metabolisms.

mikeoholic said:

Will doing a sour mash take away from your og? I just did a sour mash on a 5gallon batch and my og was low. I've made this recipe a couple times so I have an idea where I should be.

Click to expand...

Absolutely. The bacteria consumes sugars. I usually boost my grain bill when doing a sour mash to account for it.

Makes sense to me. Thanks all. I had a feeling that was the case.

cluckk said:

If it pushed the pH too low it could effect conversion. Not sure how it would impact extraction.

Click to expand...

-THIS.

What was your mash ph?

-I would attribute the reduced OG primarily to reduced conversion due to the low PH (and enzymatic activity) and not to bacteria eating up all the sugars.

If the PH is on the low side, I'd DEFINITELY test my mash for conversion ala the iodine test as it might take considerably longer to convert.


Adam

If you are doing a sour mash for flavor instead of to adjust mash pH, you might try what I do. When I want that flavor, I do a mini-mash of about 2 quarts to 1 gallon that I mash, inoculate with raw grain and then let sour for 48 to 72 hours held around 90-110 deg F depending on how sour I want it. I then pour this into the kettle in the last fifteen minutes of the boil to kill the bugs. Funny thing it is usually so delicious that I have to take a couple sips before pouring it in. I know. I'm on the odd side on that part.

cluckk said:

If you are doing a sour mash for flavor instead of to adjust mash pH, you might try what I do. When I want that flavor, I do a mini-mash of about 2 quarts to 1 gallon that I mash, inoculate with raw grain and then let sour for 48 to 72 hours held around 90-110 deg F depending on how sour I want it. I then pour this into the kettle in the last fifteen minutes of the boil to kill the bugs. Funny thing it is usually so delicious that I have to take a couple sips before pouring it in. I know. I'm on the odd side on that part.

Click to expand...

I've heard of this method too and wanted to try it. But wasnt sure id get enough tart out of it. And for the record I don't think the sipping of sour wort is odd, its delicious!!!

When my daughter smelled it she was appalled. When she saw me sip it she almost threw up.

cluckk said:

When my daughter smelled it she was appalled. When she saw me sip it she almost threw up.

Click to expand...

The last sour mash I did, I opened the fermentation chamber I was holding the high temperature at and was hit by a wave of it. So, so awful. Luckily the glass of it I'm drinking right now doesn't smell like that.

joshrosborne said:

The last sour mash I did, I opened the fermentation chamber I was holding the high temperature at and was hit by a wave of it. So, so awful. Luckily the glass of it I'm drinking right now doesn't smell like that.

Click to expand...

I've found keeping a sheet of plastic wrap in contact with the wort keeps the bad smells down to a light creamed corn smell.

I had to keep sticking my finger in the mash to make sure it was sour. Pretty tasty stuff. I'm sure the ph was really low so I probably wasn't as efficient in my mash but that's ok. Just end wanted something really sour. My saison should still end up around 5-5.8%. I did let it mash for about 2 hours at 149. I do the plastic wrap over the top too and that makes a big difference on the smell.

You can cheat to the sour side with a little acidulated malt too. I did that with my last batch

Hm, a little confused here - I thought with a sour mash you completed the mash, cooled to 110ish, and inoculated with your grains. How could this affect extraction... when extraction is already done?

Kerin said:

Hm, a little confused here - I thought with a sour mash you completed the mash, cooled to 110ish, and inoculated with your grains. How could this affect extraction... when extraction is already done?

Click to expand...

I actually held at 110 then mashed in at 149. Wanted to keep the lacto alive on the grains. Then kill them

Kerin, if you mash and then sour you don't actually have a sour mash--you have soured wort. In a sour mash you sour the mash at a lower temperature to lower pH and then raise to your mash temperature. This acidifies your mash so that you lower into the proper pH range when it otherwise would be too high. When you add lactic acid to a mash to lower pH you are doing the same thing, but a bit more controlled.

Well that didn't work out. Really cloudy and gross. Going to try any of the other techniques in this thread. Thanks for all the feedback.

Yes, the OG will be affected, as your lacto starts consuming the sugars in your mash. I found an article somewhere online about using a 1# of unmilled grain per 5 gallon batch to sour, however, I did not truly sour mash, but instead mashed and lautered as normal , then collected my wort in the brew kettle. Used an immersion chiller to drop the wort temp between 100-110, and added a muslin bag full of unmilled grain. I purged the headspace with co2, covered with plastic wrap and let it ride for three days. Two was probably enough as my ph didn't change much between day two and three.

But, I noticed as the sour mash went on, my gravity creeped a little lower and lower. Not much. Maybe 5%? Perhaps 10%. I don't know, the whole thing was quite the experiment. Turned into a partigyle where I made a sour mash wheat wine fermented on tart cherries, and a super low gravity Berliner weiße that I later inoculated with another sour beer. They were both awesome.