Sour Mash Temp Control

[celticcolorado]

I am interested in doing a sour mash, but having some challenges in figuring out how to control the mash temp. I understand that for best results you need to hold the temp around 120 for a few days.

Has anyone had any luck with this? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[BenjaminBier]

plastic bucket for a mash tun + wife's heating pad on high set underneath it = 120F

 

[skeezerpleezer]

plastic bucket for a mash tun + wife's heating pad on high set underneath it = 120F

+1 on the heating pad. I use a 3g stainless pot, cover the mash with saran wrap and push the air bubbles out, put the lid on, and wrap with a sleeping bag. The heating pad turns off on its own, so I had to turn it back on every 3 hours to keep the mash at 113 or so. 40 hours later I had a nice tart, non vomit smelling mash (more like sour cream). Made a very nice, pretty sour "fake" Berliner with it.

 

[BenjaminBier]

+1 on the heating pad. I use a 3g stainless pot, cover the mash with saran wrap and push the air bubbles out, put the lid on, and wrap with a sleeping bag. The heating pad turns off on its own, so I had to turn it back on every 3 hours to keep the mash at 113 or so. 40 hours later I had a nice tart, non vomit smelling mash (more like sour cream). Made a very nice, pretty sour "fake" Berliner with it.

Yep! It's kind of amazing just how good it smells when you consider what's going on in there. It smells 'bright' if that is a smell. I just draped a bath towel over mind for insulation and that worked fine. My heating pad was a generic pharmacy-brand square with low-med-hi settings.

 

[skeezerpleezer]

From what I have read, the key to have a good, non-pukey sour mash, is to keep the temp 100-120 and oxygen out.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I sour wort (rather than the whole mash) and sour half a gallon for as long as I want to sour the beer. I pour it in a half gallon growler and keep it warm in a water bath. Then I add the wort to the boil.

If you wanted to sour the whole batch the easiest route is going to be either a heating pad or a water bath and an aquarium heater.

 

[celticcolorado]

Thanks for all of the input. I am really excited to try this.