My first sour!

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1971hemicuda

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So...brewed up a brown ale...tasted Really well after 2 weeks but I noticed a little fruit character to it. Which got me thinking...

Let's make a sour!

Picked up WLP653 Brettanomyces lambicu, tossed in some oak chips I had soaking in bourbon for a twist, and about a month later tossed in a lbs of fresh cherries!

Am I on the right path? Not that I can turn back now hahah

So I put an air lock on it to let it eat through some of the cherries and about 2 weeks passed I switched to a solid bung. But, this morning it popped that bung right out! Should I stick with an airlock?

Also, how long should I age this? It's starting to smell sour...but I'm sure it can get better!
 
Leave an airlock on it, and put it in the corner for at least 6 months.
 
With just brett you're not going to get a beer that's truly sour. You can make a very respectable wild ale with just brett, but if you want it to be sour you'll orbably want some pedio in there too. (Lacto can work in theory but in reality the homebrewing strains don't stand up well to alcohol or hops. Pedio is much hardier)
 
Pediococcus is one of the two main bacteria that make lactic acid that creates the sourness. The other is lactobacillus, but as I said above, I have not had good a experience with commercial lacto strains, and many people on various forums have echoed my experience.

Plain pedio seems to only be available from wyeast (5733), but white labs and wyeast both have sour beer blends that include pedio. Look at 670 and 655 from whitelabs or 3763 and 3278 from wyeast if you're interested in one of those.
 
you could dump a Roselare or Lambic blend in there. I did this(primary yeast though) and it soured nicely in 6 months. My brown that I added it to after a primary yeast fermentation is slow to sour(been 7 months). The smell/aroma is amazing, just not really tart yet.
 
Well, then I think i'm going to just sit on it. I wont start F'ing with it now. Just stick it in the corner for another 4 months and see how it turns out! Since it is my first one, i'll just judge it from here and modify how I want. But, I can tell you that the smell off the top of the carboy is great! ....seriously, why does it have to take so long to finish one of these???
 
The sac used up most of the sugars. After the sac was finished, there was not much left for the Brett. It is not going to reproduce much (low O2, and a lot of alcohol). So low yeast count, very little sugar to feed on; it's going to take a long time. I have a couple of Bretts (as a secondary yeast) at 8 months with nice pellicles on them. I'm waiting for the pellicle to drop before I bottle.
 
second what's been said; brett isn't going to "sour" a beer... it will add funk, etc., depending on the strain/recipe...
 
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