Does anyone know what causes that awesome mouth watering effect in really good sours? Does it have to do with the souring agent (ex. lacto vs pedio) or does it have to do with the dryness. Or... is it something else? If its a dryness, at what FG does this start to happen. If its a pedio thing, how long does it take to develop?
Mouth Watering Sours
- Thread starter ryanhope
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Its a defense mechanism initiated by your taste sensors. Very sour or spicy foods are irritants and trigger your mouth to secrete saliva in an attempt to dilute/reduce the effect of the irritant.
The exact level of sour that triggers this response almost definitely varies widely from person to person, just as different people have different tolerances to spicy foods. So I would assume that there's no perfect strategy for achieving this effect. I'm sure that the drier the beer is, the more pronounced the effect is in general, since there's less sweetness to counter-balance the sour. But there's probably not a definite quantitative number for producing a really mouth-watering sour, since it will vary from person to person. I doubt there's a huge difference between lacto or pedio, since both produce lactic acid, but maybe there are some subtle differences in other side products they produce that may enhance the perception of sourness...don't know.
The exact level of sour that triggers this response almost definitely varies widely from person to person, just as different people have different tolerances to spicy foods. So I would assume that there's no perfect strategy for achieving this effect. I'm sure that the drier the beer is, the more pronounced the effect is in general, since there's less sweetness to counter-balance the sour. But there's probably not a definite quantitative number for producing a really mouth-watering sour, since it will vary from person to person. I doubt there's a huge difference between lacto or pedio, since both produce lactic acid, but maybe there are some subtle differences in other side products they produce that may enhance the perception of sourness...don't know.
Goose Island Juliet would be the best example of this but beers like Russian River Consecration and Cooked Stave Nightmare on Brett Grand Cru have this effect for me at least.
Pure lacto sours like Berliner Wise and Gose never trigger this for me which is why I want to believe that pedio is important but I could be wrong.
TNGabe
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Ok, I thought that was what you meant more than than the physical effect moti_mo described. Funny, I just saw a pic of the NMOBGC on another site, maybe this is a sign I should drink the one I've been holding onto, if not now, maybe for the dregs when I brew Saturday.
Pedio is generally regarded as creating a more refined acidity than lacto. I have no idea why. Is the lactic acid different, other bye products responsible, because it takes longer, etc, etc?
I know what you're talking about, though. I really enjoy a good berliner, but it doesn't trigger my Pavlovian drool respsonse the way geuze does.
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