First Sour Beer

I'm going to brew my first sour beer this weekend, and I was hoping to run my recipe by some more knowledgeable sour beer brewers. I'm planning to sour my beer using acidulated malt, similar to the way Ithaca Beer Company talked about on their interview with the Brewing Network back in August.

4 gallons

4 lbs Maris Otter
1.75 lbs Wheat
1.25 lbs Flaked Maize
1 lbs Acidulated Malt

Estimated OG of 1.057

I have some old hops that have been sitting in my freezer for a few years, I was thinking about using those, but I'm not sure how much. From browsing around here it looks like I want to keep the IBUs very low.

I was going to mash high, around 160, so there will be quite a few unfermentables, and use S-04 in the primary. I was thinking about using unmalted wheat so I would have lower diastatic power and a higher OG but it looks like the only types of unmalted wheat my lhbs carries are torrified and flaked. I think either of those combined with the flaked corn would be a mashing disaster, even with lots of rice hulls, so I'll probably go with malted wheat.

After primary I'm planning to rack onto 8 lbs of mixed berries and a Brett starter (haven't decided which strain yet).

I'm basically making this because my wife doesn't like beer but she really liked Lindeman's Framboise, so I thought I'd go for something somewhat similar. I've heard that they pasteurize and back sweeten their beer but I don't really want to do that.

So how does my recipe look? Any suggestions on which Brett Strain would go well with this?

If you want it to be sour you'll probably need to use more than 1 lb of acid malt. IIRC they talk about 20% acid malt for Brute, you're only at 12.5%. I’ve used 1 lb in 5 gallon batches before and only gotten minimal sourness. If you want the beer for someone that likes Lindemans you might want to just leave out the Brett since it will work to reduce sweetness and add some funky flavors (that I love) but that aren't prominent in Lindeman's fruit Lambics.

Hope that helps, good luck brewing.

Thanks for the help.
So if I cut the Brett, I'll probably increase the Maris Otter and the acidulated, cut the corn completely, and reduce the Mash temp to maybe 154.

I've never tried anything with Brett. Maybe I'll make 5 gallons instead of 4, separate a gallon and add the Brett to that to try it out.