My next sour beer...

[Rob2010SS]

I've been thinking about my next sour beer that I'd like to make. While my cranberry sour is coming along great and the sample I pulled last night tasted delicious, I'm looking to do another one that is a bit more...complex. I do not want to wait a year for it so I'm looking to do another quick sour but I wanted to do something more along the lines of a barrel aged flanders red or oud bruin.

Here's the recipe that I put together last night after about 3 Southern Tier Pumkings . Take a look and tell me what you think. A few things that I want out of this one...
1. More complex flavor
2. Wine barrel aging flavor
3. Fairly quick turnaround time (for a sour)

Here are the things that are up in the air on this one for me...
1. I'm going to use Bootleg Biology's Sour Weapon L to kettle sour it. I have 3.3-3.5 pH on there but I may change it to go to 3.1-3.3.
2. Somewhere in my readings last night I thought I'd copy someone and do a 90 minute boil but not sure if that's necessary?
3. Would plums be good on their own or should I add a second fruit for more complexity?
4. I picked US-05 as the Sacc. Yeast to use but I got to thinking, perhaps there is a better one out there to contribute to the overall character of the beer?

Sorry for the long winded post, but I appreciate the feedback.
Thanks.

**Pic 1** Whole recipe

**Pic 2** Notes of recipe that got cut off on the first one.

 

[radwizard]

It could be really cool to use your Funk #3 on this as a 100% brett. I know your planning a IPA with it, but still a thought. You could also over build the starter for your IPA and co-pitch some #3 along with the Sac Yeast you choose. I think Brett would be nice in here, but you would have to give it more time.

A Belgian Yeast looks like it would fit well in this.

Some ideas anyway...

 

[Rob2010SS]

It could be really cool to use your Funk #3 on this as a 100% brett. I know your planning a IPA with it, but still a thought. You could also over build the starter for your IPA and co-pitch some #3 along with the Sac Yeast you choose. I think Brett would be nice in here, but you would have to give it more time.

A Belgian Yeast looks like it would fit well in this.

Some ideas anyway...

Would you still do the plums and wine soaked oak cubes if using the brett?

Would you pitch the brett and the sacc yeast at the same time or would you pitch one, let it ride for a bit, and then pitch the other?

Or... Just using the brett in here by itself would work too, no?

 

[Beerswimmer]

I made a quick Flanders-ish beer before. I basically made a kettle soured dubbel, but used brett lambicus as the yeast. Tossed in oak sticks for a week before I kegged it. It was suuuuuper tasty, but the mouthfeel was pretty thin.

 

[radwizard]

Yeah, I'd still use the Plums and Oak.
In this, I would pitch the Sac and Brett together. (Full Sac Pitch, and a smaller amount of Brett.)
You can absolutely pitch 100% Brett. You just need to make the choice that you won't be doing that Brett IPA....
Another thing you need to consider is time. Your looking at a minimum of 3 months with the Sac + Brett option.

Another Thought....
I like to use Imperial Yeast "Citrus" in Kettle Sours that I have kept clean. The White Labs version is 644, I think. It has a Bretty "funk" to it. People were using it for a long time thinking it was Brett. The Imperial Yeast has a nice sized pitch in it, and can be directly pitched.
It does well in high acidity as well. With this option, you can keep it clean, and still get some interesting funk.... Everything would be the same procedure as your Cranberry one.

Anyways, more ideas....

 

[Rob2010SS]

Yeah, I'd still use the Plums and Oak.
In this, I would pitch the Sac and Brett together. (Full Sac Pitch, and a smaller amount of Brett.)
You can absolutely pitch 100% Brett. You just need to make the choice that you won't be doing that Brett IPA....
Another thing you need to consider is time. Your looking at a minimum of 3 months with the Sac + Brett option.

Another Thought....
I like to use Imperial Yeast "Citrus" in Kettle Sours that I have kept clean. The White Labs version is 644, I think. It has a Bretty "funk" to it. People were using it for a long time thinking it was Brett. The Imperial Yeast has a nice sized pitch in it, and can be directly pitched.
It does well in high acidity as well. With this option, you can keep it clean, and still get some interesting funk.... Everything would be the same procedure as your Cranberry one.

Anyways, more ideas....

Or..... If I did a starter and made enough, I could get 2 full pitches out of it and be able to do both this and the brett IPA, correct? My only question then is how to store the second half of the starter until I'm ready for it? Just keep it in a growler or something in the fridge until I'm ready? Then pull it out on brew day and pitch the whole thing?

 

[radwizard]

Yeah, you can do that and build it up. I haven't every built one up that much before, so I couldn't tell you you much about the process. I store my Brett in my basement at around 60f, and feed it starter wort periodically.

If you end up co pitching some of that Brett with Sac, you won't need so much Brett. That is what I would do if I didn't have a bunch of brett laying around.

The easiest thing would be to build up your starter for the IPA a little bit. Do that beer, hold a little of the Brett off to the side, and put a little wort on it. After it ferments out, you can add some more wort. You can use a beer bottle or growler to grow it up in. You can keep growing it up, or Just co-pitch it with the sac when ever your ready to do the beer.

After its all said and done, try and have some left over and keep it going. Brett is easy to save, but slow to grow.

 

[sborz22]

Just finished my sour brew today
Grain bill was simple: 10 lbs base and 2 lbs wheat flakes
Kettle soured with L.Plantarum to drop my ph to about 3.2
No hop boil for 45 min. Pitched Wyeast German ale yeast with a 2 liter starter to compensate for the low PH. I'm leaving it in the primary for a week then I am splitting into 5 1 gallon batches where each will get different 1 lb fruit additions for the secondary.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Very nice. Let us know how it turns out

 

[sborz22]

Very nice. Let us know how it turns out

Update: I decided to go with 2 lbs of raspberries instead of the cherries. Just put them into the beer today and a krausen has already formed!

The sample I took a few days ago was very tart and I cannot wait to try the finished product!

 

[Rob2010SS]

Looks delicious. Wonder if that's as much color as it will take on or if it will get darker yet

 

[sborz22]

Looks delicious. Wonder if that's as much color as it will take on or if it will get darker yet

Yeah, I was wondering that and also I was wondering how well it will clear up. I know the yeast I used are low flocculant yeast so hopefully when I cool this bad boy down it clears up a bit.