madcowbrewing
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2012
- Messages
- 208
- Reaction score
- 42
First a little background:
I have been brewing for 13 years and started getting pretty serious about it a few years back in 2010. I have brewed almost every style over the years, but always come back to the ones I do very well. This year I have been very successful in competitions and even made my first lagers. I have made some attempts at sours in the past with some mixed results.
In 2006, I made a sour with currants. I fermented out a year then bottled. Alas, I moved to California for work and the movers would not take liquids of the sorts so I entrusted the two cases to my friend at the time so that we could enjoy when I came to visit. A not so bright friend stored them in his garage ..  a garage that topped 100 degrees in the summer and a low of 30s in the winter. They went bad, so I was told. Oh well.
In 2011 I decided I must try that Jolly Rancher Sour. I had lost a non-supportive wife and gained a super supportive fiancé who loved sours. So off we went to make it. All went smoothly, fermented the base beer for 12 months. Checked on it ..no sourness? Hmmm, what did I do wrong, oh well, lets add the 4.5 pounds of cherry jolly ranchers so we did. Another 12 months it stood, then at the end of 2013, it was time to move back to Oregon, this time I was doing the moving, all beers coming with me. So we bottled it up and , no sour???? It was definitely horse blanket, and funky. Super dry, FG 1.000 . had some wheatiness to it. I thought, let it sit a little longer. So over the last few years, it has started to sour, but not at the rate I want it to .still got 1.5 cases, waiting for the perfect pour.
In 2012, I was doing twelve new beers for my ten year brewing anniversary and the last one was a Berlinerweisse, two ways. One with cherries and the other with peaches. I had this one in my upstairs in the high desert of CA cooking it at 90 to 100 degrees and it still took 6+ weeks to develop some sourness. And once in the bottle, it was marvelous .success on a sour.
Earlier this year I started planning a beer project that will be a long process to the finish. My wife and I are trying to conceive so I thought of a commemorative beer for the birth of our child. Yes I know that sometimes people think this is corny, but my wife thinks it is cool. So since she loves a good sour, I was going to give it a shot. So in April I brewed up 10 gallons of a sour base. Good mix of pale malt, wheat, and few other adjuncts for some complexion. Came out at 1.050 and into the fermenter it went with only the dregs of 6 geese-a-laying from the bruery and Petite Desay and Bu Weisse from De Garde. Left it alone in the brewery for 6 months, it developed a nice pellicle on them, then at 6 months, I was ready to see if they were progressing. I transferred it into two 6.5 gallon carboys and topped them up with a failed to sour Berlinerweisse (still a good base beer) and tasted YES!! Sour, tasted good, score! This was in October and they are filled to the neck and have a good pellicle again, even after purging with CO2. They original plan was to make when she got pregnant. Add fruit at some point, bottle at birth, then enjoy each year up to when the kid turns 21. This has changed a bit as I knew I had to get a good base sour and would need more than 9 months.
So here comes my questions:
I was going to split these two carboys into three corny kegs and put them under the house for aging through the winter. Will this be too cold for the yeast and bacteria?
Should I add more bacteria from other dregs to increase complexity?
We have decide on 3 fruits (thus the three kegs work good). Hood River Cherries, Oregon Marion Berries, and Raspberries. The plan has changed to when she gets pregnant to inoculate the sour base with the fruit and let them sit for the 9 months. Should we change this to a lesser amount of time or is 9 months sound good?
I have been brewing for 13 years and started getting pretty serious about it a few years back in 2010. I have brewed almost every style over the years, but always come back to the ones I do very well. This year I have been very successful in competitions and even made my first lagers. I have made some attempts at sours in the past with some mixed results.
In 2006, I made a sour with currants. I fermented out a year then bottled. Alas, I moved to California for work and the movers would not take liquids of the sorts so I entrusted the two cases to my friend at the time so that we could enjoy when I came to visit. A not so bright friend stored them in his garage ..  a garage that topped 100 degrees in the summer and a low of 30s in the winter. They went bad, so I was told. Oh well.
In 2011 I decided I must try that Jolly Rancher Sour. I had lost a non-supportive wife and gained a super supportive fiancé who loved sours. So off we went to make it. All went smoothly, fermented the base beer for 12 months. Checked on it ..no sourness? Hmmm, what did I do wrong, oh well, lets add the 4.5 pounds of cherry jolly ranchers so we did. Another 12 months it stood, then at the end of 2013, it was time to move back to Oregon, this time I was doing the moving, all beers coming with me. So we bottled it up and , no sour???? It was definitely horse blanket, and funky. Super dry, FG 1.000 . had some wheatiness to it. I thought, let it sit a little longer. So over the last few years, it has started to sour, but not at the rate I want it to .still got 1.5 cases, waiting for the perfect pour.
In 2012, I was doing twelve new beers for my ten year brewing anniversary and the last one was a Berlinerweisse, two ways. One with cherries and the other with peaches. I had this one in my upstairs in the high desert of CA cooking it at 90 to 100 degrees and it still took 6+ weeks to develop some sourness. And once in the bottle, it was marvelous .success on a sour.
Earlier this year I started planning a beer project that will be a long process to the finish. My wife and I are trying to conceive so I thought of a commemorative beer for the birth of our child. Yes I know that sometimes people think this is corny, but my wife thinks it is cool. So since she loves a good sour, I was going to give it a shot. So in April I brewed up 10 gallons of a sour base. Good mix of pale malt, wheat, and few other adjuncts for some complexion. Came out at 1.050 and into the fermenter it went with only the dregs of 6 geese-a-laying from the bruery and Petite Desay and Bu Weisse from De Garde. Left it alone in the brewery for 6 months, it developed a nice pellicle on them, then at 6 months, I was ready to see if they were progressing. I transferred it into two 6.5 gallon carboys and topped them up with a failed to sour Berlinerweisse (still a good base beer) and tasted YES!! Sour, tasted good, score! This was in October and they are filled to the neck and have a good pellicle again, even after purging with CO2. They original plan was to make when she got pregnant. Add fruit at some point, bottle at birth, then enjoy each year up to when the kid turns 21. This has changed a bit as I knew I had to get a good base sour and would need more than 9 months.
So here comes my questions:
I was going to split these two carboys into three corny kegs and put them under the house for aging through the winter. Will this be too cold for the yeast and bacteria?
Should I add more bacteria from other dregs to increase complexity?
We have decide on 3 fruits (thus the three kegs work good). Hood River Cherries, Oregon Marion Berries, and Raspberries. The plan has changed to when she gets pregnant to inoculate the sour base with the fruit and let them sit for the 9 months. Should we change this to a lesser amount of time or is 9 months sound good?
