Soured dead space wort beer thing

[jtkratzer]

Brewed an attempt at Bell's Two Hearted Ale last night with the following grain bill:

18 lbs 2-Row
4 lbs Vienna
2 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb Caramel 20
1 lb Carapils

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/bells-two-hearted-ale-clone-close-they-come-91488/


Got late and I was lazy and tired last night, so I cleaned up at least to contain everything, but left the mash tun after pulling out grain to make bread.

This morning, I went out to clean up and the rest of the grain in the MLT smelled what I would say is sour. Got about a gallon of "wort" out of the grain and under the false bottom and decided to try a small batch of whatever this turns out to be.

So, with that gallon of wort, I added a 1/4 tsp of coriander, 1/4 oz of Perle 7.8% at 60 min, 1/4 oz of Saaz 3.2% at 30 min, and 1/4 oz of Hellertau 3.8% at 5 minutes. No idea how old these hops are. I'm going to top it off to about to ferment in a 1/2 gallon jug and a large wine bottle and hopefully get 6 - 8 beers out of it. I'm going to use a Safbrew WB-06 that has an expiration date of 5/2012 on it.

No idea how this is going to turn out with (probably) older hops and yeast and some unrepeatable process to get the gravity of about a 1.050 on that gallon of sparge water from the dead space...

Whatever...it's only a gallon and this is part of the fun.

 

[ahurd110]

Sounds kinda like a kentucky common if Im not mistaken. Basically you have a sour-mashed session ale. Could be tasty. Or it may taste like barf, but like you said thats the fun of it! Keep us updated.

 

[ahurd110]

Double post.

 

[Revvy]

...Kentucky Common

Except not all Kentucky Commons were soured according to a lot of research, by some of us trying to resurrect that style. Only one entry in one edition of the Handy Book of Brewing and Malting Trades mentions that the common was sour, while other editions of the same book don't mention it. Many of us believe that some kentucky commons may have been soured because of less than stellar brewing standard, but not the kentucky common wasn't an intentionally soured beer style.

It actually sounds like how some recipes for Guinness stout call for pulling some wort out and letting it sour then adding that to the wort either in the boil or in primary.

 

[jtkratzer]

I don't think I could repeat the process, but if it's decent, I may experiment and try to find a process rather than working with 12-16 hour old "leftovers."

I'm hoping to get a 6 pack out of it and let it sit in the bottles for a while and see what happens.

 

[jtkratzer]

There was krausen, churning, and airlock bubbling last night and it's rolling along. I guess the aged dry yeast was just fine.

 

[jtkratzer]

Not sure if that's hop material or what (hops were bagged in a paint strainer during the boil), but here it is so far:

Looking like it's on the side of barf rather than amazing. Looks can be deceiving.

 

[ahurd110]

Except not all Kentucky Commons were soured according to a lot of research, by some of us trying to resurrect that style. Only one entry in one edition of the Handy Book of Brewing and Malting Trades mentions that the common was sour, while other editions of the same book don't mention it. Many of us believe that some kentucky commons may have been soured because of less than stellar brewing standard, but not the kentucky common wasn't an intentionally soured beer style.

It actually sounds like how some recipes for Guinness stout call for pulling some wort out and letting it sour then adding that to the wort either in the boil or in primary.

Very interesting, I stand corrected. Thanks for the info.

 

[jtkratzer]

Looks done, but definitely needs time to clear up.

 

[jtkratzer]

Stuck this in a dark closet and kind of forgot about it through the busiest time of the year at work...bottling this today and we'll see what happens. I'm thinking 3/4 oz of priming sugar should do the trick. Typically an ounce per gallon and this is less than a gallon and I'd like it to be plenty bubbly.

 

[jtkratzer]

Bottled a six pack today and it has a very nice color. Sour flavor of the leftovers from bottling wasn't overwhelming, but noticeable. The taste was sort of a reminder of how the wort smelled after souring. I have high hopes for this little project. Although not entirely repeatable based on my technique, it has increased my desire to try brewing a sour. I'll probably try souring the mash rather than adding Brett as part of the fermentation. I have no desire to have extra equipment at this point to essentially quarantine the bugged gear. Pellicles look cool, but that's a lot of waiting and extra gear.

 

[jtkratzer]

Cracked the first one of these open and it's quite good. Could be more sour. I'm going to try souring a mash preboil and see what happens. Overall good experience on this experiment. Color is good and the wife likes it, too.