I am considering entering the world of sours, and attempting to brew my first one. I am interested to hear from all of you to see if I am getting in over my head or not. First off a little bit of background...
I have been brewing since February. I have made 5 batches, so far each batch has gotten better and better. Though my two most recent batches one is still bottle conditioning(Barley Wine), the other I'm transferring into the secondary this afternoon (Coffee Porter) so I am yet to see how those have turned out. I have itch to brew again soon but I only have enough bottles to bottle my up and coming Coffee Porter. I just can't get myself to buy empty bottles. Anyways I thought I might try a sour. My wife has been wanting me to brew one (despite the fact that I do not think she understands how long they take), and I've been interested in them as well. I thought I could try a sour because since it will have to age for so long it won't matter if I do not have bottles at the moment. ( I have two fermenting buckets and one carboy, so that is not an issue). I've purchased the book 'American Sour Beers' and plan to read that thoroughly, and have started reading threads here. Only other issue is all my recipes have been extract based. Is it possible to do a sour with extract? Or does it have to be all grain? I've been reading about BIAB procedures for awhile and been considering moving up to that world as a way to 'step my game up' in the world of brewing.
So what do you think? Am I getting in over my head? Or is this a reasonable next step considering my level of experience? Thoughts, suggestions, recommendations for a beginner. All is welcome.
Thanks.
I have been brewing since February. I have made 5 batches, so far each batch has gotten better and better. Though my two most recent batches one is still bottle conditioning(Barley Wine), the other I'm transferring into the secondary this afternoon (Coffee Porter) so I am yet to see how those have turned out. I have itch to brew again soon but I only have enough bottles to bottle my up and coming Coffee Porter. I just can't get myself to buy empty bottles. Anyways I thought I might try a sour. My wife has been wanting me to brew one (despite the fact that I do not think she understands how long they take), and I've been interested in them as well. I thought I could try a sour because since it will have to age for so long it won't matter if I do not have bottles at the moment. ( I have two fermenting buckets and one carboy, so that is not an issue). I've purchased the book 'American Sour Beers' and plan to read that thoroughly, and have started reading threads here. Only other issue is all my recipes have been extract based. Is it possible to do a sour with extract? Or does it have to be all grain? I've been reading about BIAB procedures for awhile and been considering moving up to that world as a way to 'step my game up' in the world of brewing.
So what do you think? Am I getting in over my head? Or is this a reasonable next step considering my level of experience? Thoughts, suggestions, recommendations for a beginner. All is welcome.
Thanks.