Philly Sour Recipe Review

[Mr Drinklestien]

The only sour that I really enjoy is a Flanders, the rest of the style doesn't really do anything for me due to the amount of sourness. I'm going to give a fruited sour a go tomorrow, just looking for some opinions and feedback at my recipe. I'm mashing higher temp in order to keep some residual sweetness to balance out the sourness in the end. Adding fruit at 7 days (from pitch) in order to try to keep some of that fruit taste present at the end.

- 16 Gal Batch
- OG 1.056
- FG 1.010 (not counting fruit)
- ABV 6% (not counting fruit)
- 9.4 IBU
- Efficiency 85% (yes this is correct for my system, believe it or not lol)
- 60 Min Boil
- Mash 14 Gal / Sparge 7 Gal
- Mash @ 156 - 60 Min
- Mash out @ 167 - 10 Min
- Yeast Pitch Temp 74F
- Ferm Temp 71F (21 days total -- Fruit additions added at day 7)
- Rack to 3 x 5Gal Corneys and force carb to 13psi over 8 days @ 38F

Adjuncts
- 1 Tbsp Gypsum (Mash)
- 1.6 lbs Dextrose (Flame Out)

Hops
- Magnum 0.3 Oz (16.1%AA) @ 60min -- 5.4 IBU
- Cascade 2 Oz (4.99%AA) @ 1min -- 4 IBU

Grain Bill
-Pilsner Malt 12lbs
-Vienna Malt 7 lbs
-Wheat Flaked 4.5lbs
-Wheat Torrified 4.5 lbs
-Acidulated Malt 0.6 lbs
-Rics Hulls 0.52 lbs

Yeast
- 3 packs Philly Sour

Fruit
-6 cans frozen juice concentrate (I'm in Windsor Ontario, Canada....hard to find a purree that isn't going to cost me over $120.00 for this batch... Most likely Concorde Grape or a Raspberry frozen concentrate. I found suppliers for Fruit puree state side but there isn't an option to ship to the great white north. If you have any suggestions on this please let me know!

Cheers

 

[VikeMan]

The only sour that I really enjoy is a Flanders, the rest of the style doesn't really do anything for me due to the amount of sourness.

An important characteristic of a Flanders ale is acetic acid ("vinegar"). I don't think Philly Sour yeast makes acetic acid in noticeable amounts. One way to get the acetic character (without using Acetobacter) is to add vinegar to taste at packaging. I know a local pro brewer who does exactly that.

 

[Sipina]

One way to get the acetic character (without using Acetobacter) is to add vinegar to taste at packaging. I know a local pro brewer who does exactly that.

That's interesting. I've used apple cider vinegar which has lots of acetic acid recently with two beers I made. Actually the end result was much better than I had ever expected. It really nicely balanced out in bottle conditioning - especially in my recent dark saison, really adding some of the fruit character to it.

 

[Mr Drinklestien]

Sorry for the poor intro...I'm not aiming to make a flanders, more of a fruited sour (subdued on the sour). I was just trying to explain my experience with sours (flanders being the only enjoyable to my palate to date). I'm brewing this on now as we speak, fingers crossed!

I'll post updates / pics

Cheers

 

[AlexKay]

My experience with Philly Sour is that beers don't get too sour, but that it's pretty variable and hard to control or reproduce.

Co-pitching a traditional yeast with Sourvisiae will get you to more sour beers, but again is unpredictable.

I think the most controlled way will be to do a split batch with a traditional yeast and Sourvisiae, and then blend; that's the approach I'm going to try next.

But you've already pitched Philly, so good luck! Fingers crossed for you, and let us know how it works out.

 

[Mr Drinklestien]

Will do! I like the idea in regards to blending, I'll keep that in my back pocket on future brews as well as the cider vinegar idea as mentioned by Sipina, interesting.

Cheers

 

[Mr Drinklestien]

Reporting back, it's been a minute!!! So....first two kegs I had decided to dump in some frozen drink concentrate into the carbed keg....Bad idea, It wasn't the greatest but wasn't the worse. The last keg (no additives) was sitting in my keezer (39F-41F) since kegged (7 months ago), i just tapped it and it's pretty decent. It cleaned up quite well over that time and I'm enjoying the results. Lessons learned...

I'm going to give it another go in the near future but bump up the Dextrose ro promote a bit more sour and possibly add some Special B malt into the grist. Then let her sit for at least 4 months in the cold before tapping.

Cheers