Sour Wit w/ Lacto

Ok, seeings how I literally got no replies to my thread about blending an acid base beer into a saison, I figured I'd give something else a shot as that beer's already kegged, sans souring.

I love a good wit, ( so far the Saint Bernadus and some really fresh kegs of Ommegang wit being my favorites), but I've yet to have one that has a level of tartness that I really want. I've had the Jolly Pumpkin wit and wasn't that excited by it TBH. Seeing how most historic info tends to point to wit's having been a "sour" beer, then why not revive that aspect?

So I'm thinking this:

some sort of 5%abv,

40%Belgian Pils
20%6-Row, ( for conversion purposes mainly)
35%Flaked Wheat
5%Rolled Oats.

20 IBU's. Traditional Spicing with .75 oz ea Bitter and Sweet orange as well as .75oz Crushed Coriander.


Now here's where it gets tricky for me:

I'm thinking of mash hopping to achieve an IBU of 8-10%, taking 20% of the pre-boil wort and pitching a big starter of lacto into that after say, a ten minute boil..

Before I go any further.....

Does that much sound like I"m headed in the right direction?

The six row is pointless there is more than enough diastatic power to convert.

thanks, I'll take that into consideration.

Just don't sour half then blend after the fact thinking the lacto would be stopped. I sort of did something similar only I skipped the boil entirely on half. Then it got sick from something in the mash probably. Then I had to add Brett. You might be okay with a quick boil like you said and a lacto culture. Mine got really nasty for a good long while. I let my sour portion go with just lacto in fact. It sure is sour but more reminiscent of what JP makes with less spice.

Now that I'm on a computer and not my phone. I will be revisiting a sour wit this year now that I have a different lacto strain to try out. I say go with your plan. I might also do a sour mashed wit this year to see how that turns out for me.

The beer I mentioned above was made about this time last year. I brought it up to about 180F then ran 7 or 8 gallons into a 10gal corny. Then I added tube of white labs lacto when it hit 110F and suspended a mesh bag with coriander/orange peel for a subtle spicing. It went pretty wild as I kept it warm but stared to smell like rotten corn that someone dragged through a field of freshly spread manure. I said "have no fear that will go away". I blended the double hopped portion into the sour portion and let it finish. Then it got super viscous like a lambic will and still smelled terrible. I added a fairly agressive brett culture and bottled it about 8 months later. It is damn sour lost the horrible smell I'm looking forward to drinking it through the summer. Not the path I expected to go with the beer. I was hoping for a quicker less sour beer sans brett but what can you do. I was attempting a pseudo Lacambre method minus the ridiculous mashing techniques.

Mash, without the hops. Boil or not (I would boil). Add lacto (no yeast) and keep at about 100F for about 5 days. Taste for sourness.

Once it is as sour as you want it, boil, add hops and spices to your liking, and ferment normally.

Boiling will kill the lacto, so it will not get any sourer.

Both alcohol and hops slow (or stop) lacto, so souring before adding hops and yeast will get the beer sour quicker.