Clean / Sour Split

Hi all,

I've done one sour (10 gallons of Flanders Red, only in carboy for a couple of months), and am now looking at getting another one going. (So, very much a noob in this area). With my brewing setup, I typically brew 10-11 gallons of beer based on one mash and then look at variations between the two carboys (different yeast strains or dry hop additions for example).

For my next batch, I'd like to brew up something a bit maltier/more roasted than the string of saisons, wits, and IPAs I've been making recently. The question I'm turning around in my head is whether I can brew something that fits that profile and would be equally tasty clean and sour.

A couple of (clean) brews on my bucket list include Janet's Brown and a Scottish 80/-. I don't necessarily need 10 gallons of either, and wondering how well these would translate to sour beers. I understand that hop-forward / high IBU beers may not be good candidates. So perhaps if I did the Janet's Brown, I could pull off some wort earlier in the process.

Conversely, how would a clean Oud Bruin based recipe taste?

Some rambling thoughts, but I figured I might get more mileage on this forum than any other public outlet I've got.

Cheers

I've had a soured Scottish ale that was pretty awesome, and I've had a few good sour stouts. These were all commercially soured in barrels, FWIW.

Enjoy the spirit of experimenting! So far all of my sours have been lighter krieks and Berliners but after tasting the 2013 La Folie, which is a sour brown, I'm thinking of taking some of my next honey brown or Belgian strong and souring it just to see what I get. I love this stuff!

Could you mash the whole amount then split it in two for the boil? That way you can have five low IBU and five with the normal amount of ibus?

BryanThompson said:

Could you mash the whole amount then split it in two for the boil? That way you can have five low IBU and five with the normal amount of ibus?

Click to expand...

That would be my suggestion. Another idea would be to pull a couple gallons off the mash or boil before it's hopped and let it lacto sour, then add to 3 gallons of the main brew.