(almost)SMaSH Sour Saison

Stovetop all grain method

I wanted to make a low alcohol, high flavor beer that was simple and I wanted to have some sour flavors contributed by Jolly Pumpkin. I wanted to make kind of a simple Fantome like beer.

I took a 22 ounce bottle of Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaz and drank most of it. Put the dregs (about 2 inches) into a sanitized growler that I had flamed the opening. Add weak wort (1/2 oz light DME in 1/2 cup water, boiled for 10 minutes or so and cooled). Shook the hell out of it and left it alone for 48 hours - shaking it up every time I passed by it. At 48 hours there was very little activity. Added 1 cup of water/1 oz DME boiled and cooled. Waited another 48 hours. Now there was a foamy layer. Added another 1 oz/1 cup and waited another 48 hours - brew day!!

10 lb belgian pilsner malt
1/2 lb belgian biscuit malt
2 oz torrified wheat
2 oz Saaz (LHBS out of Styrian Goldings)

11 quarts water 160 deg initially dropped to 150 - kept at 150 for 1 hour. Batch sparge 170 deg for 10 minutes.

Boil volume 5 gallons. Boil for 1 hour. 1 oz Saaz at 60 minutes, 1/2 oz Saaz at 30 minutes, 1/2 oz Saaz and whirlfloc at 15 minutes. Cool to 80 deg and add water to make 5 gallons. OG (temp corrected) 1.048. Target was 1.058 so about 60% efficiency. OK for stove-top method. And I wanted a low alcohol beer anyway.

Pitched smack pack of Wyeast Saison 3724 - I read so many horrible things about this yeast - gets stuck at 1.025, takes forever, got to ferment at 90 deg, etc, etc. I was really nervous. I also pitched my JP culture at the same time.

Within 6 hours the fermentation lock was going like a rocket. For 48 hours it really rocked and rolled. At 48 hours it died. Completely. I took a SG and it's 1.010. Ambient temp is around 72. Not bad. Kruesen still sitting on top. Very cloudy still. It tastes really good! The sour (funk) is more noticeable in the aroma than the taste but I know that can take some time. I'll wait a week to see what happens. I'll either rack or bottle at that point. I'm very pleased. 2nd stove top all grain beer. First homebrew sour beer ever.

Sounds really tasty. I just did a sour with JP dregs last weekend as well (although I added some T-58 as well since I was too lazy to step the dregs up). Be very careful about bottling a sour beer before it has time to ferment out completely, it doesn't take much extra attenuation to start breaking bottles.

Oldsock said:

Be very careful about bottling a sour beer before it has time to ferment out completely, it doesn't take much extra attenuation to start breaking bottles.

Click to expand...

I wondered about that. Do you follow the SG like with non-soured beers? By the way, I swirled the fermenting bucket to restart the fermentation. It's now bubbling at once every 2 or three seconds.

Yes, you should wait until the gravity stops dropping. However, the srop can be very slow, so I look for at least a month with no drop. It is rare i bottle before 9 months (other than Berliner Weisse which I mash really low).

Swirling the fermenter probably is just knocking CO2 out of solution.

SG tonight is 1.006! Very tasty, distinctly JP sour flavor profile. Clearly taste the biscuit too. Ambient temp 70 Deg F. Nice thing about being a N00bie brewer - just do it and don't worry about what is "supposed" to happen. We'll see if it stabilizes. Hey oldsock - may send you a sample for critique once bottled. Tastes mighty fine for an unfinished sour beer to me at this point!

Always happy to accept free sour beers, now I really hope it turns out well for you.

Racked to secondary. Starting to clear. Tastes very good at this point. Good sour JP-like flavor. I wonder if I could have skipped the saison yeast altogether?

Bottled too soon . S.G. had dropped to 1.005 and was stable but I didn't follow oldsock's advice and bottled. Went out of town for 10 days. When I came back I opened one and had a gusher. Opened a second and the same. So I put them all in the refrigerator. Once chilled, no more gushers! Great 3 inch creamy head, brown/redddish colored slightly hazy beer. Delicious flavor - still almost completely JP sour flavored beer. Overpowers the saison flavors but it's delicious. Except for the gusher thing this beer is exactly what I was looking for.

Opened one of the few of these that is left. Has matured nicely. Crisp sour flavor. Very refreshing.

A little over 7 months since brewing. Kept in the refrigerator since the gushers. I have 5 X 22 oz bottles left. Popped one open tonight and this is a very very nice beer. Beautiful reddish color. The saison/malt flavors are reasserting themselves against the JP sour flavors. I think this is delicious and will definitely brew this type of beer again. But with a little more patience next time.