HELP!! Sour Beer Recipe Wanted

[Jeff Olson]

I am looking for a clean base beer to use in making fruity sour beers, I picked 5 lbs of sour pie cherries yesterday from our tree's and more will coming tomorrow as well as apricots later this year. I am interested in a lighter beer that really bring out the fruit, but not sweet.
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

Are you going to be doing a mixed fermentation or is this a kettle sour? There are plenty of recipes posted in the 'Recipes' forum on here and themadfermentationist.com has quite a database as well.

By 'lighter' are you referring to color? Mixed fermentation sour beers finish dry (close to 1.000) and rarely sweet because the Brett and microbes eat the large majority of the sugars available. Hope this helps. Cheers!

 

[Jeff Olson]

Lighter color and lower gravity, mixed fermentation and likely a longer traditional fermentation. Maybe I should use a berlinerviese (spelling?) as the base.

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

I would do a simple Saison grain bill. ~ 85% 2-row 12% Flaked wheat 3% Acidulated malt, scaled to whatever ABV you're after.

I should have asked, is this all grain or extract? Either one can be done successfully. What yeast do you plan on using? Depending on the yeast, plan on this being a waiting game. 12+ months in most cases.

Sour cherries are hard to come by in my area so I've never used them. A lot of recipes on here call for them to be used in darker beers (sour stouts, flanders, etc) but I'm sure they could find their way into a paler sour.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Lighter color and lower gravity, mixed fermentation and likely a longer traditional fermentation. Maybe I should use a berlinerviese (spelling?) as the base.

It's hard to go wrong with 70% 2-row and 30% white wheat malt. Target 1.040 to 1.050 s.g.

FYI extended fermentation should be reserved for beers with Brettanomyces (Brett). If you're adding wild microbes via unpasteurized fruit, I would suggest also pitching a Brett culture.

See here for modern souring techniques, suggested water profile, etc:
https://***************.com/wiki/Sour_beer

3% Acidulated malt

Ideally, acidulated malt should always be tailored to the specific water profile to target a specific mash pH, and not used as a straight percentage in a recipe.

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

Ideally, acidulated malt should always be tailored to the specific water profile to target a specific mash pH, and not used as a straight percentage in a recipe.

Thanks for catching that! I have just started working on my water game and didn't think to omit that from my recipe. I have my grain and water additions for my Flanders ready to go and I was pretty surprised when Brunwater said I dont need any acidulated. I'm hoping h2o is what will finally take my beers to the next level. Cheers!

 

[Jeff Olson]

I would do a simple Saison grain bill. ~ 85% 2-row 12% Flaked wheat 3% Acidulated malt, scaled to whatever ABV you're after.

I should have asked, is this all grain or extract? Either one can be done successfully. What yeast do you plan on using? Depending on the yeast, plan on this being a waiting game. 12+ months in most cases.

Sour cherries are hard to come by in my area so I've never used them. A lot of recipes on here call for them to be used in darker beers (sour stouts, flanders, etc) but I'm sure they could find their way into a paler sour.

I am using all grain, I have a saison recipe that might be a place to start, I might want to back it down a little though, it has a starting gravity of around 1.060 and finishes at 1.001-1.003 usually

 

[Jeff Olson]

It's hard to go wrong with 70% 2-row and 30% white wheat malt. Target 1.040 to 1.050 s.g.

FYI extended fermentation should be reserved for beers with Brettanomyces (Brett). If you're adding wild microbes via unpasteurized fruit, I would suggest also pitching a Brett culture.

See here for modern souring techniques, suggested water profile, etc:
https://***************.com/wiki/Sour_beer

Ideally, acidulated malt should always be tailored to the specific water profile to target a specific mash pH, and not used as a straight percentage in a recipe.

I am planning on using brett. I have done some kit sours before, but some of those don't give you a breakdown of the grainbill. I did a Consecration clone a 5 years ago, aged it for a little longer then the recipe called for, it came out great. Just looking for something lighter, if its not ready until next summer, thats ok.

 

[Jeff Olson]

I am using all grain, I have a saison recipe that might be a place to start, I might want to back it down a little though, it has a starting gravity of around 1.060 and finishes at 1.001-1.003 usually

Just thinking about the saison grain bill and what yeast to use. I have been using belgian saison wlp565, is there maybe a better yeast, I know this one seams to be fairly clean, wonder how it might respond to the acidulated malt if I use any.