Kettle Sour Question

[sborz22]

So I am about to brew my first sour beer by kettle souring with L. Plantarum.

I know it is basic knowledge that you need separate fermenters, tubing and other hard to clean pieces to avoid souring future non-sour beers.

My question is, why would I need new equipment after kettle souring being that the bugs are killed off during the boil.

I can't find any info on this so any answers would help a ton!

Cheers,

 

[Nemanach]

If you’re souring in your kettle you don’t need seperate equipment assuming none of your cold side equipment touches the lacto infected wort. If you were souring in your fermenter the you would want a second set.

 

[cactusgarrett]

What Nemanach said. I'll add the qualifier that anything on the cold side that's plastic should be kept separate, as it's susceptible to scratching and harboring the bugs. Steel or glass fermenters, for example, don't have to be separate. Also for example, you could use a keg as clean & sour, but you have to change out the o-rings and plastic parts to go clean, otherwise the bugs will carry over.

 

[TAK]

One of the benefits of kettle souring is that it’s quite possible to do so in a way that you don’t need separate equipment. If the live lacto culture only touches equipment that gets boiled, then it’s fair to assume the lacto doesn’t survive downstream to the cold-side equipment.

I will say that the stainless/glass being okay to share with bugs and clean beer is a matter of your own risk tolerance. Glass won’t scratch, true. Stainless is less susceptible, but can scratch. Kegs, though, even if unscratched, do have nooks and crannies. Scratches, nooks, and crannies aside, bacteria (and Brett) can form biofilms that are difficult to remove. So, even on pristine glass, there is a possibility of cross contamination. Is it likely?, maybe not. That’s where it comes down to your personal risk tolerance. Myself, I only share equipment that I can heat to sterilize.

 

[ancientmariner52]

I haven't done a sour yet, but this is how I intend to proceed.

I plant to run the wort into my kettle and take it to 160-170°F for fifteen minutes or so, to make sure I only have the bugs I want. Then I'll pump it through my chiller to an old bucket fermenter I don't use anymore. Add the bugs and let'er sour. Then back to the kettle for a normal boil.

My thinking is that I don't want to leave an increasing acidic wort in my kettle for several days. I'm not worried about the kettle itself, but I've got a boil coil, and a copper drain manifold in there, and I'm just not comfortable with them sitting in an acid bath. Dissimilar metals and all, ya know.

Anybody see a problem with this? Only one old bucket contaminated, and I'll use it only for sours from now on.