MoreBeer Sour Belgian Blond

[k-os]

I'm curious if anyone has brewed this kit or maybe has some suggestions for me.
Kit Link

I originally brewed this extract kit on 1/13/19 and pitched Wyeast 1056 in primary. After 13 days (on 1/26/19) I racked to a glass carboy with 1lb of raisens and pitched Wyeast 5526 Brett Lambicus. Both fermentations have been at 68F. I don't have my gravity numbers on hand, but I can get those posted later.

My question is, to get this soured I'd like to pitch some type of bacteria. My initial thought was to use some Goodbelly Mango and rack it onto some fruit puree (maybe raspberry or apricot). Does anyone see any issues with this plan? The main concern I had was that it could get too sour if I leave it to age in the glass with the Goodbelly and fruit. I'm not worries about this too much for myself, but I know some people I'd like to share this with don't like beers that are extremely sour.

Here's what it looked like shortly after racking onto the raisins. Currently it looks pretty similar, no pellicle has formed.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Did you use 1oz of hops?

Probably only bacteria from dregs will be able to make it sour in a reasonable amount of time.
I'm unaware of any commercial bacteria cultures that can tolerate that level of hops. GoodBelly definitely won't do anything.

You can add more fruit, which contains acid and can lend a certain level of tartness, or use the batch for blending with an unhopped beer that's actually sour. .. Or just enjoy it for what it is.

 

[k-os]

Did you use 1oz of hops?

Probably only bacteria from dregs will be able to make it sour in a reasonable amount of time.
I'm unaware of any commercial bacteria cultures that can tolerate that level of hops. GoodBelly definitely won't do anything.

You can add more fruit, which contains acid and can lend a certain level of tartness, or use the batch for blending with an unhopped beer that's actually sour. .. Or just enjoy it for what it is.

The recipe called for 1oz of Hallertauer at 30 minutes for an estimate IBU of 8. Picture of the recipe attached to this post. I'm not overly concerned with souring quickly. It's hard for me to find bottles that have pitchable dregs. I have one bottle of a sour that may have pitchable dregs in it. I've contacted the brewery about it. If that bottle is not an option I'm thinking maybe I'll go with Roeselare and wait it out.

 

[RPh_Guy]

The recipe called for 1oz of Hallertauer at 30 minutes

I was confirming you followed the recipe.

Hops inhibit souring (various compounds are bacteriostatic), and 1oz is definitely more than I would use because I want mine to sour in less than a year.
It's not the IBU that matters so much as the quantity.

I assume the folks at MoreBeer added dregs to make it sour. That's the standard traditional method for making sour beer. Commercial bacteria are less hop-tolerant than the bacteria living inside bottles of sours with significant hop rates, because they've grown accustomed to it.

You might be able to get it sour with Roeselare, but expect it to take at least 18 months and probably require step feeding.

Does that make sense?

 

[k-os]

I was confirming you followed the recipe.

Hops inhibit souring (various compounds are bacteriostatic), and 1oz is definitely more than I would use because I want mine to sour in less than a year.
It's not the IBU that matters so much as the quantity.

I assume the folks at MoreBeer added dregs to make it sour. That's the standard traditional method for making sour beer. Commercial bacteria are less hop-tolerant than the bacteria living inside bottles of sours with significant hop rates, because they've grown accustomed to it.

You might be able to get it sour with Roeselare, but expect it to take at least 18 months and probably require step feeding.

Does that make sense?

Yeah that matches up with everything I've read and heard on the many Sour Hour podcasts I've listened too. I think for this batch I'll just stick with racking onto some fruit and leave it at that.

 

[brownni5]

They advertise it as a sour and give you the option of yeasts/blends that don't contain lactic acid bacteria? Frustrating.

I agree with the above - you want it sour? Find some dregs or another source of hop-tolerant bacteria, not L. plantarum. Shop around - Milk The Funk Facebook group might be able to get you closer to dregs.

Fruit and B. lambicus? Does sound tasty...

 

[bigdawg86]

I wonder how this would turn out doing it as a kettle sour?

 

[RPh_Guy]

I wonder how this would turn out doing it as a kettle sour?

I'm sure it would be fine but kettle sours don't really compare to mixed fermentations with Brett. This is especially true for Belgians since pre-souring mutes yeast expression so you lose a lot of flavor.

 

[redllama]

If you want sour I would look at adding pedio as it should be a bit more hop tolerant. Adding dregs from unpasteurized commercial sours as you go will help as well

 

[k-os]

I went to my LHBS to get some apricot puree but he didn't have any. Said it would be 1-2 weeks before he would be able to get it in with an order. He did have peach puree. Does anyone have experience using raisins in the secondary? The beer has been sitting on the raisins for just over a month and it could potentially be up to another 2 weeks waiting on the apricot puree. Will I have any issues with it sitting on the raisins so long? If so I'll just go ahead and get the peach puree and rack onto that. From what I've read I may need 2 cans of the peach to get a decent flavor from it, and I think my LHBS only had 1 can, so I would end up having to wait anyways.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Will I have any issues with it sitting on the raisins so long?

Nope, it's all good.

 

[k-os]

Transferred the beer onto 2 cans of Vintner's Harvest Apricot Puree, 6lb 2oz, this past Friday. Took a hydrometer sample to check SG, pH, and taste. SG was at 1.010 and pH at 4.26 (wasn't expecting to see anything odd here). Initial taste is a slight cherry taste. No refermentation activity yet.