Sour help

Sour beers are becoming one of my favorite beers, the first one I tried was the Jolly Pumpkin la Roja and the love started. Recently my wife surprised me with a Petrus and I loved it even more. I'm looking to brew something like it with a strong sour flavor. I'm thinking of starting with a blonde, which will probably be this http://www.midwestsupplies.com/blonde-ale-all-grain-kit.html. I'm intimidated by this because the more I read, the more I'm lost. I have read that some brewers don't boil the wort, some do, some add hops, some don't. So, the question is, what do I need to change to make this kit into a sour? I'm just lost, it may be a stupid question, as I'm so new to this but I would rather ask it than ruin a batch of beer.

That's a witbier. It is NOT a sour beer.

Sour beers are made with bacteria, usually lactobacillus. The witbier is a belgian wheat beer and will not include bacteria.

Petrus Oud Bruin is truly a sour beer. So is the JP. If you want sour, you might try a different kit. If you want suggestions, just ask.

Suggestions please.

I've never done a kit, but I do know I love a flanders red. The best one I've had was from Russian River (Santa Rosa CA) called Consecration.

There is a kit you can get from Morebeer for this beer. Check the following thread and the links to Morebeer here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/consecration-kit-morebeer-332929/#post4150162

Be aware that with most sours (lambics, Flanders Red, oud Bruin) you are looking at a year or more fermentation time, the exception being Berliner Weisse. There is a la Roja clone kit available from Austin, but the yeast listed won't make it sour. For that you will need a blend, like this one from Wyeast or this one from White Labs.

Thanks for the suggestions, I will give it a read. I know the kit alone will not give me a sour, so I was going to change to Brettanomyces Lambicus Activator 5526 instead of the kits yeast, but because I'm new to sours i don't know if just this change in yeast will give me what I'm looking for. I also don't know if I would pitch the yeast that it comes with after the lambicus or if it will do what I need. Sorry if I just sound like I'm completely lost.

JoeLindley said:

Be aware that with most sours (lambics, Flanders Red, oud Bruin) you are looking at a year or more fermentation time, the exception being Berliner Weisse. There is a la Roja clone kit available from Austin, but the yeast listed won't make it sour. For that you will need a blend, like this one from Wyeast or this one from White Labs.

Click to expand...

Yes Im willing to give the time, Just want to make the time worth it and not have it be a wast.

I just started brewing last year and after a couple regular brews got interested in making my own sours too. I would recommend spending some time trying different commercial sours and lambics and reading up on how they're made. They are rather complicated and take time to make, that's why we pay $15 a bottle for them! There are a lot of great threads here to read through while you're learning.
Lambics do take a lot of patience and study to do and there's a big difference in styles from sours to Bretts, but I have a one gallon kriek, out of a 5 gallon batch of lambic I did three months ago, that I'm already In love with! And I just bottled my first Berliner Weisse today. It's just a month old but has potential. In all I have 11 gallons of lambic in different stages right now and I know some of them won't be ready for a long time, but it's a learning experience.
I got some great tips from reading through the threads on HBT.

Bluesfastduce said:

Thanks for the suggestions, I will give it a read. I know the kit alone will not give me a sour, so I was going to change to Brettanomyces Lambicus Activator 5526 instead of the kits yeast, but because I'm new to sours i don't know if just this change in yeast will give me what I'm looking for. I also don't know if I would pitch the yeast that it comes with after the lambicus or if it will do what I need. Sorry if I just sound like I'm completely lost.

Click to expand...

Brett alone won't really give you a sour beer, it might be slightly tart but it'll be more funky than sour. You need some bacteria in there like lactobacillus/pediococcus, maybe check out the Roeselare blend. It has regular yeast (saccharomyces), some brett strains, and a mix of various bugs.

Sometimes good beers happen by accident, but mostly they come from preparation and good practice. Do some studying and plan it out before you spend a lot of time and money and end up with something undrinkable.

Sours are pretty easy. However, you do need patience. Just use good sanitation procedures and make sure the airlock stays full.

Keep OG less than 1.055, and IBUs below 10 and you should not have any problem. Above these numbers, you can have problems.

There is no reason for a complex grain bill. Lambics have no speciality malts, Flanders (like Le Roja) have some Special B. The bugs do all the work. This is way to simplistic, but is a good place to start for your first beer.

Extracts make decent Sours.

Either get a specific Lambic/Sour blend of yeast, or brew as normal, and toss the dregs from several commercial beers in (or both). Leave a year and taste.