1 Year Old Sour - A little Thin?

Hey All,

Original post and recipe below this post... Today it is pretty sour and tart and wild (in a good way) -- But it tastes a little thin. Like its watered down. Will this change when carbonated? Is there a way to "thicken it up" a bit?

Thanks!

J


MASH THE FOLLOWING AT 155F for 90min
1.75# Munich
1.75# Vienna
8oz Aromatic
6oz Caramunich
4oz Special B

BRING TO BOIL AND ADD
2# Wheat DME
1# Light DME
1oz Fuggles (15IBU)

COOL TO 68F AND ADD
Wyeast Rosealare Blend into a 6.5 Gallon Bucket with an airlock

FERMENT IN BUCKET
3-4 weeks

RACK TO 5GAL BETTER BOTTLE
With little head-space and an airlock

FORGET ABOUT IT
In the basement in the mid to high 60's for a year

ADD 1oz OAK CHIPS
To the better bottle for 1 more month

BOTTLE
With a little extra yeast

STATS

Predicted SG: 1.049
Predicted FG: 1.002
Predicted ABV: 6.1%
SRM: 13

I'm not really sure how low sours usually finish, but anything at 1.002 is going to be really thin.

Carbonation will help, but many folks blend to combat this.

The more carbonation the more preceive mouth feel. Thats why this style is highly carbonated. Should be fine.

Thanks guys. I had a feeling carbbing would help.

jalgayer said:

Hey All,

Original post and recipe below this post... Today it is pretty sour and tart and wild (in a good way) -- But it tastes a little thin. Like its watered down. Will this change when carbonated? Is there a way to "thicken it up" a bit?

Thanks!

J


MASH THE FOLLOWING AT 155F for 90min
1.75# Munich
1.75# Vienna
8oz Aromatic
6oz Caramunich
4oz Special B

BRING TO BOIL AND ADD
2# Wheat DME
1# Light DME
1oz Fuggles (15IBU)

COOL TO 68F AND ADD
Wyeast Rosealare Blend into a 6.5 Gallon Bucket with an airlock

FERMENT IN BUCKET
3-4 weeks

RACK TO 5GAL BETTER BOTTLE
With little head-space and an airlock

FORGET ABOUT IT
In the basement in the mid to high 60's for a year

ADD 1oz OAK CHIPS
To the better bottle for 1 more month

BOTTLE
With a little extra yeast

STATS

Predicted SG: 1.049
Predicted FG: 1.002
Predicted ABV: 6.1%
SRM: 13

Click to expand...

Maybe i am wrong here, But aren't sours suppose to be "dry" and aren't most beers that are very "dry" also usually lacking in body or thin?

Carbing will help a lot.

Vance71975 said:

Maybe i am wrong here, But aren't sours suppose to be "dry" and aren't most beers that are very "dry" also usually lacking in body or thin?

Click to expand...

Not necessarily, on either count.

dwarven_stout said:

Carbing will help a lot.



Not necessarily, on either count.

Click to expand...

Well that one i wasn't sure on, but i do know every sour i have had seemed thin, say with every beer that said "dry" in the name or description, so i just figure it was suppose to be like that.

i'd go low imo. i see this as sort of a bell curve... dry beers are helped by carbing, but too much makes them "seem" drier...

The more carbonation the more preceive mouth feel. Thats why this style is highly carbonated. Should be fine.

Click to expand...

No.

The OP hasn't explained what style he's shooting for, but the BJCP guidelines suggest that sours* should have low to - at most - medium carbonation. Some of the sours are even acceptable served still.

I'd guess from your recipe that you're shooting for a Flanders Red? If so, the guidelines call for medium body, but an FG of 1.002 is acceptable. I would aim for medium carbonation to boost the body a bit, myself, but I definitely wouldn't turn this into a belgian by over-carbing.

You can also take tasq's suggestion and blend this with another beer to try to boost the body. Since you're already in the range of final gravities suggested by the guidelines, you might consider adding just a touch of unsoured beer? If you add just a little, you could bump your FG up to 1.007 without losing too much of the sour flavor.

*Berliner Weisse is an exception but, from the recipe the OP gives, I don't think this is a Berliner Weisse.

pericles said:

No.

The OP hasn't explained what style he's shooting for, but the BJCP guidelines suggest that sours* should have low to - at most - medium carbonation. Some of the sours are even acceptable served still.

Click to expand...

Gueuze and fruit lambics are also (very) highly carbonated. That's 3 of 6 BJCP sour styles, and if you ever try to enter a still lambic, you'll learn very quickly that judges don't read that part of the style guidelines.

Gueuze and fruit lambics are also (very) highly carbonated.

Click to expand...

<smacks self in face> That's true - I forgot about both of them!

Nevertheless, the OP includes a recipe for a single beer, so he's not brewing a gueuze, and his recipe doesn't include fruit, so it's not a fruit lambic. I continue to think he's aiming for a Flanders Red but, regardless, high carbonation will not be to style.

J,

Are you trying to compete or comply to BJCP? If you are, you should follow pericles advice. I would be careful blending this beer with a more full-bodied (higher gravity) beer if you plan on bottling. The brett. could create bottle bombs over the course of your bottle aging.

If you are not concerned about "style," I would increase the carbonation level. I've found that I prefer all of my sours at a pretty high pressure. I don't measure my pressure other than what PSI I serve at (18 PSI). I've found that my beers that TG at 1.002 or so have a better mouth feel at that high of PSI.

pericles said:

<smacks self in face> That's true - I forgot about both of them!

Nevertheless, the OP includes a recipe for a single beer, so he's not brewing a gueuze, and his recipe doesn't include fruit, so it's not a fruit lambic. I continue to think he's aiming for a Flanders Red but, regardless, high carbonation will not be to style.

Click to expand...

True, assuming that he's going for a "style". I guess I mostly just wanted to zing you on the bjcp comment.

All

Thanks for the replies. It is a Flanders Red that I am shooting for but I am not super concerned with the BJCP as its unlikely I will enter it.

I like the idea of carbing to the higher end of the style since its easy to aggressively pour if I want a little carb taken out.

Its really quite sour now with essentially no background sweetnees, but I just added some lactose sugar two weeks ago and it really helped to balance it. Still just as sour but with a slightly sweet background and a much better mouth feel (less thin) than before.

I will probably let it sit for another few months then bottle at the 15-18 month mark. Very tasty. Its really neat to see how it progresses. There was really nothing in the way of sourness at the 5-6-7 month mark. A little at the 8-9-10 mark, and now at the 11-12 month mark its just blossomed wonderfully.

J