Need advice for designing a rosé sour

[TravelingLight]

I've been mulling this over ever since I had Crooked Stave's Petite Rosé sour last month.

Overall, plan is to co-pitch lacto and sacc. Previously I've done kettle sours and boiled after souring. Well, now that I have sour equipment and a sour line in the keezer (coming soon), I'm doing kettle souring and will likely just co-pitch now. I plan on likely using WY3711 for my sacc as I want this one pretty dry.

Issue 1: I've never co-pitched before. I've seen some advocate for pitching them at the same time. I've seen others pitch the lacto hot for a few days, then aerating and pitching sacc. I'm considering pitching the lacto around 90* or so, leaving it be for a few days, checking ph, then pitching sacc. Anything I am forgetting or should know before taking this route?

Issue 2: This is the part I am really wrestling with: fruiting. I'm considering raspberries. Problem is, I want subtle nuance. I've done raspberry beers before. But with those I'm usually shooting for a deep pinkish red hue and a big ass berry flavor and nose. With this beer, I just want a hint of redness (like the wine) and just a little fruit flavor. So I don't really know how to accomplish this. My usual fruit process is to use frozen fruit and rack onto it, age it until it's where I want it, crash, keg, carb. But I think if I approach this beer the same way, I'll get too much fruit.

Can anyone offer any sage wisdom? Thanks.

 

[Grod1]

fruit in primary tends to loose flavor over a few months(3-4) aswell as color( especially when exposed to sun).I would say add the berries day one.Your bugs will love them. leave it by a window if you want it to lighten up.I am a fan of co pitching i would do 3711 and lacto day 1 but there are any number of ways to get the effect you are desiring.

 

[TravelingLight]

fruit in primary tends to loose flavor over a few months(3-4) aswell as color( especially when exposed to sun).I would say add the berries day one.Your bugs will love them. leave it by a window if you want it to lighten up.I am a fan of co pitching i would do 3711 and lacto day 1 but there are any number of ways to get the effect you are desiring.

Hmmm that's a possibility. Hadn't thought of putting fruit in day one. Would it still carry some fruit flavor through to the end product you think?

 

[plazola86]

Have you thought of hibiscus for color? Flavor goes perfect with a sour beer and gives off beautiful color. Here's my sour I cant remember if this was 6 or 9 oz of hibiscus.

 

[Dcpcooks]

You can add the fruit to adjust color and flavor post primary fermentation. We made a barrel aged lambic style cherry beer last year and added 10 lbs of fresh sour cherries. We let the cherries sit for a month in a barrel and then bottled it. You may be surprised how subtle the fruit actually is. It takes a lot of fruit to really pull a strong flavor profile.

 

[TravelingLight]

Have you thought of hibiscus for color? Flavor goes perfect with a sour beer and gives off beautiful color. Here's my sour I cant remember if this was 6 or 9 oz of hibiscus.

Yeah, I've considered hibiscus. But I don't want it that red. I want more of a rosé wine color.

 

[TravelingLight]

You can add the fruit to adjust color and flavor post primary fermentation. We made a barrel aged lambic style cherry beer last year and added 10 lbs of fresh sour cherries. We let the cherries sit for a month in a barrel and then bottled it. You may be surprised how subtle the fruit actually is. It takes a lot of fruit to really pull a strong flavor profile.

Cherries is definitely a possibility. I just haven't worked with cherries before, so I don't really know what to expect, flavor wise...

 

[plazola86]

Try using 1 oz of hibiscus and if need be add more to get the color your looking for.

 

[TravelingLight]

Try using 1 oz of hibiscus and if need be add more to get the color your looking for.

That's actually a pretty damn good idea. Do you make a tea with the hibiscus?

 

[plazola86]

Just throw it in like a dry hop. Give it a day or two to pull a sample to check color.