Heated fermentation

[walcotteric]

I have a recipe for a sour that I want to brew, but it says it needs to ferment for 5 days at over 100 degrees, before letting it cool to room temperature. I have a heating element in my fermentation chamber (chest freezer w/temp control) but I'm worried about trying to keep it that hot.

Anyone tried this, or something like it? How do you keep your beer that warm?

 

[mirthfuldragon]

If you do some reading on "kettle sour", you will find a lot of options. Depending on the strain of lactobacillus used, it may work just as well at lower temperatures. I do not have any direct experience, so I will leave that to others to speak to.

One thing from my understanding is that time and acidification are related, so you may want to plan to check the pH regularly so that you don't over-shoot how acidic/sour you want it.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Assuming you're doing a kettle sour, right?

The way I handle kettle sours is to move the kettle to the stove, wrap the top and the sides of the kettle with tinfoil, and stick a thermometer into the wort through the top of the kettle. I monitor the temp and using the stove, will gently heat it up if the temp drops too low.

I only use Omega Lacto and 75-95*F works just fine for that and sours to 3.3 in about 36 hours.