Only a "little sour" Sour Beers

[kingmatt]

Adding fruit to beer really isn’t hard you just need a lot to get the flavor. Wait until very close to the end of fermentation or until it’s over and use no less than 1 pound per gallon if your want real fruit flavor. I just dump frozen fruit right in and it works like a charm. I’ve also bought purées online that are super easy to use but frozen is slightly cheaper and you just run to the grocery store.

I agree. I've had good luck with these Goya fruit purees and they are very cheap, compared to the canned puree from my LHBS:

I just used some passion fruit in my latest Catharina Sour and it turned out fantastic.

 

[Monmouth00]

Adding fruit to beer really isn’t hard you just need a lot to get the flavor. Wait until very close to the end of fermentation or until it’s over and use no less than 1 pound per gallon if your want real fruit flavor. I just dump frozen fruit right in and it works like a charm. I’ve also bought purées online that are super easy to use but frozen is slightly cheaper and you just run to the grocery store.

I'm using the vintner's harvest blood orange puree. It's a 49oz can, which will go into about 5.5 gallons of beer. It may not be quite enough, but from what I've read, too much fruit can really dry out the beer. I definitely don't want to end up with something sour and too dry, so I'm limiting the amount of fruit. My guess is I'd have to use your suggestion of 1 Lb. or more per G to get the taste, and make it more forward than the sour profile.

Also hoping the 49oz. gives it just a tint of color. I'm imagining a pinkish, tart beer. We'll see soon, as I'm pitching the Blood Orange tonight.

 

[Beenym88]

The beer takes on color really easily it’s all a matter of taste and some trial and error the purées are going to give flavor easier since it’s crushed. For my gose beers I use whole fruit and go for a touch of flavor for my smoothie sours i actually blend up roughly ten pounds of frozen fruit and go nuts with it.

 

[Snuffy]

You have to have an adequate volume of water to get the desired amount of ibus into solution, if you want it really hoppy. It certainly is possible to get it really hoppy this way, I once overhopped a beer this way by accident. A quarter of the total final beer volume should be enough to dissolve all the ibus you need. Just keep everything else out of it, except for water and hops.

Are you upping the quantity of hops beyond what the recipe called for if it were brewed normally? I usually use kits, so I am only attempting to incorporate the amount of hops provided in the original recipe. Bittering hops I usually make tea with. Late addition hops I dry hop. I've mixed that up a bit and tried to recreate the original boil schedule when creating the tea - and you can tell there's hops involved, just nothing like what you would expect with the original ale. I think the sour masks the hop bitterness up to a point as well.

 

[Monmouth00]

I pitched the blood orange puree last night.

It's my first time using it, and it did not look like I expected.

It looked like pale orange juice. I thought it was supposed to have a more ruby-red appearance.

My can as a bit dented - you think I got an old batch?

 

[Beenym88]

I think it’s totally fine you just don’t know what to expect the first time ordering something.

 

[Monmouth00]

I think it’s totally fine you just don’t know what to expect the first time ordering something.

Thanks.

But I was kinda hoping it would give some color to the beer. I was imagining a reddish-clear sour with a crisp white head.

Oh well. Maybe if I do another one I'll go with raspberries.

 

[Monmouth00]

Hello Everyone,
I haven't forgotten to update you - I'm sorry.
I wanted to give the fruit some time to infuse, and also had to finish the previous keg before this fermenter could be cold crashed.
The Blood Orange Gose with Philly Sour and US-05 is going into the keg tonight, and I'll force-carb over the next few days at 30 psi. Should be ready for a taste on Sunday night.
I'll report back soon!

 

[Monmouth00]

So, I tapped the keg of the Blood Orange Gose last night!
I did a quick force carb under 30 psi for about 24 hours, so it was a little flat, but I got some head and a few bubbles. Enough to see what will be when it finishes under the 10psi serving pressure over the next few days.
So, it’s beer, and it’s a little sour. Not overwhelming sour, thankfully. The hint of saltiness and a bit of bite from the coriander mixes well with the tart sourness and light sweetness from the blood orange. I think it’s pretty well balanced. It’s a bit higher ABV than the style at about 5.8%, but I always tend to aim for a higher AVB on everything. I think it’s a pretty good example of a Gose.

But here’s the thing - I don’t really like sour beers! I didn’t really think this one through before I bought ingredients. Now I’ve got 5 gallons of beer that’s ok, but far from my favorite. I’m going to have to find some friends who like sours to pawn it off on, one growler at a time.

Anyone local in NJ who likes sours and wants to give it a shot?

 

[JohnSmith]

Hey there, thought I'd add onto this. Late addition I know, but it might clear some things up with regards to Philly Sour. I just produced my first sour, I was aiming to hit close to Colonial Brewing's South West Sour. I think I got pretty damn close. I'll share my grain bill and mash steps from Beersmith below and then explain what I did to sour, my goal, is to do a kettle sour eventually, but this one was nice and quick for a first time sour.

Grain bill - 23L batch:

Ignore the Lactobacillus, thats in there for when kettle souring.

Mash Steps:

I know this may be a high temp to mash at, I didn't want much more than 3.5-4% alc, I was looking for something sessionable. Change as you like.

Ferment:

I added 1 packet of Philly Sour, this was borderline the right amount according to the packet when it comes to grams per volume. As it turns out, it worked really well. I left this sit for 3 days to let Philly work it's sour magic. I then pitched 1 packet of US-05 and left it until 10 days.

Kegged it up, left for 1 week and tested it. After 1 week in the keg, gassed up and cooled to very cold, I loved it, decent sourness, I didn't test the PH so I don't know, but I will get a PH meter and test when I stop being lazy, I still have 10L left.

It's now been 2 months since I made this batch and I just gassed some up this week, I think it has actually mellowed a bit sourness wise. Still, I think it kicks ass.

Temp wise, I fermented this during winter in Perth Western Australia, so my room temp was around 18-20deg Celsius majority of the time, a bit warmer at night if I lit the fire.

Hope someone finds this useful.

Cheers