napx
Member
Hey all. I've been experimenting with kettle souring because I love sour beers but can't (yet) justify a second set of equipment. However, I've yet to knock even the simplest sour (a berliner) out of the park. The first batch ended up the victim of a stuck fermentation. It's rare that I dump a batch, but I dumped that one. Sadness.
This time around I smartened up and made a proper starter with a kolsch yeast, as I figured it was more likely to survive the harsher pH. The pH coming out of 24 hours of 95-100F souring with goodbelly shots was 3.4. The kolsch yeast went in, and started fermenting like a champ. I left for a prolonged work trip. Came back, prepared to bottle, and it looks like fermentation has completed (super low FG at 1.002) but my pH is 4.0. Needless to say, it doesn't taste very sour.
So 2 questions:
(1) is there any way to save this batch? And by save, I mean, ratchet up the sour (lactic acid? no?). Honestly it's drinkable, just not at all what I was looking for, and
(2) what did I do wrong so I can avoid it next time? Any thoughts? Is a kolsch yeast not the right fit? Did I let it sit in the fermenter too long? Was my temp profile off (70F)? I'm thinking it may have been the temp, but I've heard of others having no problem fermenting at that temperature. Maybe I misread.
Thanks in advance for any tips!
This time around I smartened up and made a proper starter with a kolsch yeast, as I figured it was more likely to survive the harsher pH. The pH coming out of 24 hours of 95-100F souring with goodbelly shots was 3.4. The kolsch yeast went in, and started fermenting like a champ. I left for a prolonged work trip. Came back, prepared to bottle, and it looks like fermentation has completed (super low FG at 1.002) but my pH is 4.0. Needless to say, it doesn't taste very sour.
So 2 questions:
(1) is there any way to save this batch? And by save, I mean, ratchet up the sour (lactic acid? no?). Honestly it's drinkable, just not at all what I was looking for, and
(2) what did I do wrong so I can avoid it next time? Any thoughts? Is a kolsch yeast not the right fit? Did I let it sit in the fermenter too long? Was my temp profile off (70F)? I'm thinking it may have been the temp, but I've heard of others having no problem fermenting at that temperature. Maybe I misread.
Thanks in advance for any tips!