Does this sour recipe look right?

[LemonJelly]

Got this out of the American Sour Beers book. Trying to put this into beersmith has been a little confusing for me using the percentages... Does this look right? The estimated alcohol seems a little low but I didn't want to alter the recipe much more than what was in the book.



Style: Straight (Unblended) Lambic
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 5.70 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.20 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 4.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 17.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.2 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 77.8 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 14.6 %
6.2 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.8 %
6.2 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 4 3.8 %
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 17.3 IBUs


Mash Schedule: My Mash?
Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs 4.5 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash Step Add 14.85 qt of water at 164.3 F 154.0 F 60 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 3.72gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:

 

[beergolf]

I can't seem to find the recipe you are refering to in the book.

A couple of things though. Percentages are easy. if it tells you that you need X% of an ingredient, the Beersmith will give you the quantity.

The ABV could be slightly different because of the efficiency you have dialed in in Beersmith. You have 72% listed and the recipe could be written for a different % , like 75%.

Overall I would not worry about it too much. Sour recipes do not really mattter that much, the bugs do the work. The only other thing that I would look at is the IBU's. They may be a touch high. Lacto does not do well in a hoppy environment.

 

[burninator]

What yeast blend are you planning on using for this? At 17 ibu, you may end up with only a touch of sourness, which could be nice, if you're going for kind of a belgian pale.

 

[armedcor]

Don't forget your sour blend could ferment it down to 1.00 or lower increasing the gravity.

 

[LemonJelly]

This recipe is based on the "Wine Barrel Sour Single" on page 324. The recipes calls for 24IBUs of Fuggle at 60min. I thought that sounded a bit much. I tried adding the ingredients one at a time without adjusting the weight and went straight to the percentage adjuster. I'm not sure if I need to adjust something else? It doesn't seem to be scaling properly for me. Also the yeast I will be using is ECY20 BugCounty.

 

[beergolf]

See next to the beer name where it says "type". change that from extract to all grain.

Also change the style and try again. Beersmith is assuming that you are using extract not all grain. 4 lbs of grain will not get you anywhere near where you need to be.

 

[LemonJelly]

See next to the beer name where it says "type". change that from extract to all grain.

Also change the style and try again. Beersmith is assuming that you are using extract not all grain. 4 lbs of grain will not get you anywhere near where you need to be.

did that and got about the same results.

 

[DurtyChemist]

If the percentages are the same it should come out just fine. The only difference would be lautering efficiency and brew house efficiency.

I would look into the acid malt and see if you need/want it. It may have been added to lower the pH of the water and it may negatively impact your water.