some early ideas on sour, input wanted

[Kharnynb]

So, starting to think about dipping my toe into sour brewing, mostly just to experiment, nothing to extensive yet.

thinking of doing a very simple 1 fermenter system, modifying a basic water canister to work as a fermenter:

just will add an airlock to the top.

Is it at all possible to just grab your own wild yeast, drop it in and forget about it for 9-12 months in a relatively warm place?

the initial investment will be rather minimal, so sort of thinking to just go ahead, but wondering if anyone tried at all.

can you add fruit to the primary at all? the opening is big enough, but just wondering if there is a reason other than that to remove it from the primary.

 

[Dcpcooks]

Possible but not probable. It would be a long shot to capture the right microbes without some culturing of the sources. Your better off doing a little more research on what you want to end up with and getting some healthy cultures from a lab. It's not hard to make a sour. You should start with a grain bill of Pilsner and wheat ferment it with a sacc yeast then pitch some Lacto or Brett or dregs from a sour you like.

 

[Kharnynb]

I'm really just in the research stages. mostly i'm wondering if it would be possible to do it in just one small plastic vessel and even if it might be possible to add fruit to a primary.

another idea would be to make a beer as normal, then use the container as a secondary for a sour beer.

 

[Aristotelian]

Why not at least get a glass jug of some kind? You are talking about a very long fermentation. I would not assume that plastic made to store water would be safe for storing alcohol.

 

[burninator]

Where you looking at getting your wild yeast? My suggestion would be to pitch a sacc strain together with some dregs from a sour you like. Given a low to moderate gravity and a highly fermentable wort, you might turn around such a beer in a couple to a few months.

I make some sours in plastic vessels, but I prefer Better Bottles for their low oxygen permeability.

Fruit is fine in primary, but remember that the longer you leave it, the less flavor and aroma you should expect from the fruit.

 

[Sailingeric]

I did my first sour using WLP 672, lactose Brevis. I put it in my wort until I got the tart/ sour I wanted and then boiled the wort and added hops and then fermented with wlp565 saison yeast. It came out yummy!

 

[brewmax25]

I would absolutely get a 1 gallon glass jug. The plastic will let too much oxygen in and could bring out strong vinegar aromas and flavors (acetobacter). While aceto is favorable in some sour styles- a plastic jug will let too much develop and at an uncontrollable and unpredictable rate.

Short ferments in plastic is ok- like your primary- but anything prolonged is not advisable.

I get glass jugs by buying apple juice or cider in glass or jugs or you can always get some wine in a glass jug and get real rowdy! At least this way you can buy a 1 gallon glass jug with something in it!

 

[Kharnynb]

going for glass (about 3 gallons for my batches, 1 gallon is bit smallish for such long projects) is currently not possible, i'd have to order from the net, and i'm just not that confident that an international packet would go through unharmed....

Also was thinking to bottle straight from the spigot, with a bit of food-grade hose, so i don't have to buy a second autosiphon.

 

[m00ps]

You normally bottle with a wand attached to the autosiphon?

I just have ~1inch of tubing connecting the bucket spigot to the bottle wand and it makes for a 1 handed bottling process

 

[Kharnynb]

my fermenters don't have spigots, so there's no option to do that at this moment.

the new one will, as it is a smaller one i convert myself(as pic in first post)

 

[BenCL]

Get a glass container.

Save up.

Saving for a glass fermentation container should hopefully take a lot less time than the fermentation of a good sour.

And learn to wait for what you want along the way. Its important with sours

 

[Kharnynb]

getting a big glass fermenter all the way to where i live is a bit of pain in the ass, everything a bit more complex in homebrewing has to be shipped from central europe, and glass tends to break....

 

[m00ps]

meh, you dont exactly need glass for a sour, its just the best option. Ive made some ones I've really enjoyed in buckets. Just try to open it up as little as possible

 

[Kharnynb]

Is it possible to make a base beer without bugs, then split it in several secondaries after a week or so, adding fruit or other sugars for the bugs?

 

[m00ps]

Is it possible to make a base beer without bugs, then split it in several secondaries after a week or so, adding fruit or other sugars for the bugs?

Certainly. I've only done a 50/50 split a few times. But I've seen tons of people doing multiple 1gal experiments from the same base beer.

 

[bobo31]

I harvested yeast from a wild persimmon, brewed a 6 gallon batch of English ale and once fermentation was done I racked a gallon in to a smaller fermenter added the wild yeast and a few ounces of maple sugar to up the ABV a little. Then bottled the remaining 5 gallons. I have had the one gallon fermenter going for about 3 months now. I saved a few bottles from the original ale to compare the results.