Derek Dellinger's Goatpants

[burninator]

I've stretched out this process slightly longer than I originally meant to, but it can only help the development of the funky character I'm hoping will eventually come through. My entire garage smells like the most pungent, tart grapefruits, even this morning. The combination of sour with the juicy, fruity, citric aroma of the hops made me want to drink straight from the bottling bucket. I refrained, for the most part.

Now, a couple of pics of the pellicle. You can see the hop bag peaking through in the first pic.





I hate this part, but until we have more space, I'm stuck with bottles. Besides that, with sours, I imagine I'll always bottle. Got just fewer than 50 bottles out of this batch.



In a few weeks, I'm sure, I'll go ahead and start a new batch of this recipe. The next one will get fruit. Peaches or raspberries, I think, would work really well with this. It'll also give me a chance to play around with the dry hops. Cascade is my go-to, and I think it would work well with this recipe.

I wonder, now, if this sour culture would work in a more traditional farmhouse or belgian saison recipe. Something like a rye saison or a Tank 7 clone comes to mind. I could leave it in primary until late winter and then store the bottles until next summer.

 

[burninator]

Taking some bottles of this to a friend of mine this weekend, almost 4 weeks after bottling. I haven't tried it since the initial partial bottle, after a week of conditioning, which was really just a test of whether it was carbing up well, which it was.

We're going to brew up an imperial saison (think 9%-10%). I want to push this culture and see what it will do, given 6 or 7 months to work.

 

[burninator]

Just an update, until I get around to brewing this again (and I definitely will):

The beer is still amazingly sour. Like, I've never had anything like it, and I've had some really good, sour commercial sours. It's completely out of balance, but I didn't brew this for balance, and it works, somehow.

A couple of weeks ago, I brewed the beer mentioned above. Pushed OG up over 1.07, and if this attenuates like I expect (given the high amount of sugar in the wort), it'll be a strong, sour beer next spring.

I plan to brew this beer again sometime this fall, with modifications:

- I really like the grain bill, but I'm starting to play around with oats, and I'll incorporate some, possibly in place of the rye.

- I'll add some hops late in the boil. As time goes on, my sour culture is getting more aggressive, I believe, and a small shot of hops should slow down the bacteria to give the yeast a fighting chance.

- I need to replenish the sacc in my sour culture. The latest batch got off to a really slow start, fermented calmly, and petered out quickly. Next brew will get a co-pitch of Dupont yeast.

- There will be at least a portion aged on fruit. Not sure yet what fruit that will be, but it may be dictated by what's in season and my own personal feelings on the day I get ready to fruit.​

 

[m00ps]

so you got a full-on sour flavor in under 2 months? Ive been trying to dial in a good process to get a quick sour without messing around with sour worting. So far, the sour culture i made seems to be up to the challenge. Even the starter wort is moderately sour at 2 weeks
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=543576

 

[burninator]

so you got a full-on sour flavor in under 2 months? Ive been trying to dial in a good process to get a quick sour without messing around with sour worting. So far, the sour culture i made seems to be up to the challenge. Even the starter wort is moderately sour at 2 weeks
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=543576

Oh, definitely.

My sour culture consists of:

1. Belle Saison
2. Dregs from one bottle of Crooked Stave (Vielle or Surette...don't remember)
3. My house sour culture - pulled from a finished batch of sauerkraut, this culture will sour a cup of starter wort (1.020) in a week and drops crystal clear.

I mixed these strains in a gallon batch of Belgian pale ale, and pitched the slurry from that batch into my saison. After 9 weeks in primary, it was like drinking a Warhead candy. Carbonation softens the sourness a little.

I just repitched the culture this time around, since I intend to let it age in the carboy until next spring, but next time I'll replenish the sacc.

 

[burninator]

Cheers, y'all!

View attachment 1443023249867.jpg

 

[burninator]

Time to rebrew this, so I can have it ready for the summer. I'm going to make a few changes this time.

First, I'm thinking of subbing in oats for either the wheat or the rye. I'm leaning toward losing the wheat, but it's really appreciate suggestions.

Next, my saved culture is giving me a strong vinegar smell, so I might have an opportunity to do something different here. I could rebuild the culture from one of my few remaining bottles, or I could stay from scratch. I have some brett B saved, as well as two wild sour cultures I like a lot. Added to a wild strain I was given by a nearby brewery, I think I have all the pieces to make this a real farmhouse sour.

Next, I'm all out of Citra, and I don't think I'll order more before Spring. In the spirit of farmhouse brewing, I'll use what I have on hand, namely, cascade and centennial. Anybody every dry hop a saison with centennial?

Last, lately all my sours have been split half onto fruit at bottling time, and this will be no different. I know I should wait to taste the bet before deciding, but I'm pumped at the prospect of having some fresh plums available for secondary.

 

[BGBC]

Centennial or a centennial/cascade combo would be good, I think.

 

[burninator]

Centennial or a centennial/cascade combo would be good, I think.

Never used centennial for dry hops. I used 4oz Citra on the last batch. If I use centennial alone or in a combo, think it needs to be dialed back?

 

[BGBC]

Never used centennial for dry hops. I used 4oz Citra on the last batch. If I use centennial alone or in a combo, think it needs to be dialed back?

Was the Citra aroma too much?

 

[burninator]

Was the Citra aroma too much?

It was awesome.

 

[BGBC]

It was awesome.

So why back off on the Centennial?

 

[burninator]

So why back off on the Centennial?

You know...I don't want to disrupt the delicate balance of this beer.