Bell's Oarsman Ale clone?

One of the highlights (for me at least) at the International Beer fest this past weekend in Cleveland was the Bell's Oarsman ale: an "American Pale Wheat Ale" mashed using sour mash techniques.

Definitely sampled this one a bazillion times! It's only 4% abv but it's a damn tasty session beer with just a hint of tartness.


I was just curious to see if anyone's tried to clone it or something similar. I'm sure I can try to recreate it myself, but I'd rather check with you geniuses on here first!

also, I've never tried any sort of sour mash.

Thanks!

Sour mashes are tricky. Try to find ways to reduce the amount of oxygen exposure the mash receives. Many breweries flush with CO2 (very effective if you mash in a cooler or other airtight vessel) or you can push something up against the surface (I’ve heard of people using plastic wrap). Once conversion is complete (maybe take at a Oberon clone to get an idea on the grist, probably not much more than pale and wheat malt) cool it to ~115-120 F and add a handful of pale malt to provide the bugs. Oarsman wasn’t very tart when I had it, so 12-24 hours may be enough. Alternatively you could only sour mash part of the grist.

Keep the hops low, and ferment with a clean ale yeast.

Hope that helps, good luck.

I chatted with a Bell's rep a while back about this specific beer. They sour mash only a portion of the beer, pasteurize it, and blend to achieve consistent results.

My last sour mash produced a character I did not like. I purged the headspace of O2 using nitrogen, and still had the issue that it smelled a bit like good homemade sauerkraut (which I love as a part of my sauerkraut, but not my beer).

I have been thinking about pasturizing a gallon of traditional berliner wiesse (I have a 12 gallon batch going right now) and adding it in to 4 gallons of the appropriate beer to see what I get out of it.

Joshua

jfkriege - I have used your proposed technique to good results many times. It's a great way to measure the sourness level. For this particular beer (oarsman), I think a 1 gallon sour to 4 gallons normal is a bit overkill. It wouldn't be bad at all, it would (IMO) be noticeably more sour than oarsman, however. My thought would be closer to 1/2 gallon to 4.5 gallon would be closer.