Brewing my first sour

[adwilson90]

Hi All,

I've done four brews now which have all been pale ales. I think i've just about got to grips with that style.

Just wondering where to start which brewing a fruited sour?

My idea is to use a strain of yeast which i can bottle condition with. use low alpha acid hops. not sure about the grain bill or when to add fruit.

any tips welcome!!


cheers

AD

 

[jrgtr42]

There's a lot of varitions on sours, and how to do it. DO you have a commercial brew that you want to get close to?
|That'll help in narrowing things down.
The 'traditional' method (skipping over naturally inoculating) is to essentially brew a regular batch, then transfer to secondary, pitching a souring blend (bug blend) of yeast / bacteria, and allowing to age on that, adding fruit at some point.
The takes time and care, plus it risks exposing future brews to those bugs, which can be hard to get out of equipment, especially hoses.
So I have one that I've brewed a couple times. It's based off the Russian River's Consecration beer.
Basically, I brew a Belgian- style Strong Dark Ale, allow it to ferment in priimary with |Abbey yeast for a few weeks, then transfer to secondary, pitch the bug blend. A couple months after that, I'll add the fruit - in my case dried cherries - and let that go. Later on I'll add oak chunks to simulate barrel aging. This whole process is a year brew to bottle (could be more or less, depending on your tastes and conditions. I take a sample every month or so after 6 to see where it's at, but a year seems to be the mark for me.)
There are other methods, like kettle sour, that are much quicker, but they do give a different character to the sourness. Not better or worse, but different.

 

[adwilson90]

Thanks for the reply there's defiantly some useful stuff to take from that. I want to use fruit and the Belgian approach is a good place to start with the grains.

Is there any way of brewing a sour or at least a sour IPA in the same timeframes as a pale ale? maybe using wild yeasts that you can bottle condition with (i have seen LalBrew® CBC-1 being mentioned)

 

[k-os]

Thanks for the reply there's defiantly some useful stuff to take from that. I want to use fruit and the Belgian approach is a good place to start with the grains.

Is there any way of brewing a sour or at least a sour IPA in the same timeframes as a pale ale? maybe using wild yeasts that you can bottle condition with (i have seen LalBrew® CBC-1 being mentioned)

Check out Philly Sour yeast. It will sour and ferment out a beer. Shouldn't have an issue with hop loads in an IPA.

 

[adwilson90]

Check out Philly Sour yeast. It will sour and ferment out a beer. Shouldn't have an issue with hop loads in an IPA.

This is the one I was actually looking at using , but in the data sheet on get we brewed it states it’s not recommended for bottle conditioning . Have you used this before? Would like to know how it ended up of so

 

[k-os]

This is the one I was actually looking at using , but in the data sheet on get we brewed it states it’s not recommended for bottle conditioning . Have you used this before? Would like to know how it ended up of so

I haven't personally used Philly Sour, but yes, CBC-1 would be a good option to bottle condition.

 

[Elric]

This is the one I was actually looking at using , but in the data sheet on get we brewed it states it’s not recommended for bottle conditioning . Have you used this before? Would like to know how it ended up of so

I don't really know why they say that. I bottle conditioned mine and it carbed up fine.

 

[kartracer2]

@Elric So that beer was fermented with Philly Sour yeast and bottle conditioned with out any more yeast at bottling, is that correct? Just asking because I want to try Philly Sour and also read that you need to use CBC-1 or equiv. at bottling time to carb. Very nice looking beverage you got there!

Thanks & cheers,
Joel B.

 

[Elric]

@Elric So that beer was fermented with Philly Sour yeast and bottle conditioned with out any more yeast at bottling, is that correct? Just asking because I want to try Philly Sour and also read that you need to use CBC-1 or equiv. at bottling time to carb. Very nice looking beverage you got there!

Thanks & cheers,
Joel B.

Hi Joel. Yes, I got great carbonation just bottle priming without adding any additional yeast. Cheers!

 

[kartracer2]

@Elric Thanks for your reply.
I am planing a simple wheat beer using Philly Sour to test the waters so to speak. I just had my first sour (Exile Brewing, Beatnik Sour) and it's something I'd like to try. Not sure if it will be the same as it looks they make it differently but if it works as simple as this sounds I got nothing to lose, or very little. I have no way to check Ph or any thing like that so I guess I am still really just jumping in the pool.
Thanks again & cheers.
Joel B.
EDIT, what vol did you carb at?

 

[Elric]

@Elric Thanks for your reply.
I am planing a simple wheat beer using Philly Sour to test the waters so to speak. I just had my first sour (Exile Brewing, Beatnik Sour) and it's something I'd like to try. Not sure if it will be the same as it looks they make it differently but if it works as simple as this sounds I got nothing to lose, or very little. I have no way to check Ph or any thing like that so I guess I am still really just jumping in the pool.
Thanks again & cheers.
Joel B.
EDIT, what vol did you carb at?

I had carb tabs at the time if I recall correctly and believe I was doing 2 per 500ml bottle cause I was too lazy to cut one in half… was probably around 2.5 volumes