Boil sparge run first

[selivem]

Hello, I just bottled my first sour batch. I did a 40% sour mash. It went through different weird smells and after almost a week - It took so long probably because I couldn't maintain a sufficiently warm temp - I added it to my main mash - at mash-out.

After extraction, the wort in the boil kettle had a very pleasant honey-like smell especially at the beginning of the boil. After 2h boil - I needed to evaporate a lot of water - all this smell had been boiled away.

I would like to retain some of these initial flavors. Is there any argument against boiling the diluted run coming from the sparge and then add the main - more concentrated - part at 15min?

 

[knipknup]

I'm confused...

Do you want the finished product to taste like the first 15 minutes of it smelled? I don't think your plan to do this will work. Maybe add some honey malt to the mash or honey to the fermentation. I never boil the honey, so you would be fine to add to the primary or secondary without boil. However, this may not add the flavor you are looking for.

Boiling the 'last runnings' (ie low gravity part) with hops, will add the bitterness, but calculations for bittering will be different than doing a full boil. This may also not matter much, but now you know.

When you say 'took so long', are you referring to a week for fermentation? I leave all batches in the primary at least 21 days, which I do not consider long. Sour ales can typically take 6 months or longer to ferment.

It would help others to give input if you post your exact method to clear up confusion. Posting the recipe and method would really enable others to give you great input.

Sorry, I don't feel I was much help, but maybe a little.

 

[selivem]

Sorry my most was confusing. I attempted to brew a sour beer using a sour mash.

I took 40% of the grain bill. mashed it in a small pot at 158F for 40min, mash-out at 170F 10min. Then I poured the whole pot -grain and all - into a small bucket, inoculated it with a handful of the initial grain that I kept for this purpose, and let it sit in the warmest place in my home for a week at 85F. The recommended temperature for lacto is 120F. this is why it took so long for the lacto to do its thing in the bucket, I even consider myself lucky that it worked.

Then came the brew day. I mashed the rest of my grain bill (remaining 60%). The temperature steps of this main mash were 152F 40min and mashout at 170F 10min.

At this point I mixed the sour fraction with the main mash and collected the different runs. first run, then sparge run.

Once all the runs collected I ended up with 10Gal. My target being 5Gal I started a long boil during which I added the hops like usual.

As the boil started I noticed some flavors I wasn't used to with my previous boiling worts. Something that reminded me of honey. I didn't add any and wasn't planning to. But I liked the smell and thought that it may have come from the sour fraction and that it may be nice not to evaporate all of it.

Your answer helped me. First I didn't think of the hops and that a less concentrated wort would mess my IBUs. Also you seem to think that these flavors in the wort would be lost during the last 15 min of the boil.

I hope this makes more sens.

 

[Bobby_M]

I think what you're really asking is whether or not you need to boil the sour wort for the whole time or not. I don't think I would have collected 10 gallons for a 5 gallon boil first of all. You have to consider the sour wort as a portion of your whole volume to avoid that.

I'd say no, there's no reason you couldn't just add your sour wort into the boil at the last 15 minutes or so. However, any aromas you think you might be saving will likely flush out with the CO2 during primary.

 

[selivem]

Thanks, you are probably right about the flavors being scrubbed away but I'll still give it a try next time. I'll save the sour wort and add it to the last 15 minutes of the boil and see what happens.

Regarding the large volume I read that the efficiency is usually bad with sour mashes. So I tried compensate by flushing all I could from the grain and ended up with 10Gal. Next time I'll simply add more grain.