Mixed-Fermentation Sour Beer Really Easy Fruit Sour

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Gnomebrewer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
Messages
2,824
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Location
Hobart
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
US05
Yeast Starter
Nope
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
Lacto plantarum - lallemand sour pitch.
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.045
Final Gravity
1.012
Boiling Time (Minutes)
10
IBU
0
Color
Depends on the fruit
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
5 days @ room temperature
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
2 weeks @ room temperature
Tasting Notes
Sour, but not puckering. Really allows the fruit to shine. Light cracker like malt. Kind of like a dry, tart cider in it's balance. Very drinkable.
This has become a staple beer at my house. It's loved by non-beer drinkers, lager drinkers and craft beer drinkers. Kegs go faster than anything else I make. This is really simple, using the co-pitching method (sacch and lacto go into the ferment at the same time) which is easier than kettle souring. It gives a bit more complexity from the lacto and always seems to end up at about the right acidity level. The OG and mash temp give the right body and sweetness to work with the acidity, and allow the flavours from the fruit to shine through. There are some really good threads about co-pitching simple sours including https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/fast-souring-modern-methods.670176/
Importantly, don't be worried about contaminating equipment. It WON'T happen. L. plantarum is so hop intolerant that it won't infect your other hopped beers.

INGREDIENTS:
2/3 Pilsner malt. 1/3 Wheat malt. Aim for an OG around 1.045.
No hops.

PROCESS:
Mash at 155F for an hour.
Collect wort and boil for 10 minutes.
Chill to pitching temps and pitch a packet of US05 per 5gal and 1g of Lallemand/Wildbrew Sour Pitch (Lactobacillus plantarum). That's half of what the instructions say to use for Sour Pitch, but is more than enough. I suspect pitching half a gram per 5 gal would get the job done.
Ferment at around 66 to 70F until primary is nearly finished then rack onto fruit. Try to rack just BEFORE reaching FG so the yeast are still active to scrub oxygen picked up during transfer. It normally takes about 4 to 5 days to this point.
Rack onto fruit (explained below) and leave for a further 2 weeks. Try to minimise oxygen/splashing during transfer as it seems to reduce the fresh fruit flavour.

FRUITING:
I mostly use packaged frozen fruits which work really well. There's no need to pasteurise or sanitise. Fruit should go into a grain bag (or paint strainer bag) into the secondary fermenter, then rack beer on top.
Raspberries: Use about 1.5 to 2lbs in 5 gal. Tip them straight into the grain bag.
Mango: Mush up thawed, chopped frozen mango. I bash it with my grain paddle. Use about 3lbs in 5gal.
Blueberries: As per mango.
Passionfruit pulp: Use about 3lbs per 5gal. Tip it straight into the grain bag. Others have reported good results with passionfruit puree.
These are the only fruits I've tried so far, and all have been great. Raspberries have definitely been the favourite.
There's lots of other good fruiting info on the Milk the Funk Wiki http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Soured_Fruit_Beer
but I find I use a lot less that what is suggested in this beer.
Cheers and enjoy!
 
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Sounds like a good recipe. I thought I'd usually seen suggestions of 1 lb fruit per gallon. How "fruity" does this come out?
 
Because the beer is quite light bodied and not strongly flavoured, fruit flavours easily come through. It's not 'in your face' fruit, but highly evident. Raspberries are easily the most prominent, even at a lower fruiting rate, followed by passionfruit. Be careful with passionfruit though - it can throw sulfur, which I had in my most recent batch.
 
This looks great! Thanks for sharing! I read that thread you linked and was (and kinda still am on the fence) about which of the modern methods to use. I won't turn this into a debate about that,
But wanted to know have you experimented with adding fruit to primary?
I read another thread about that here in HBT and honestly had never thought of it. Seems interesting.. .
 
This looks great! Thanks for sharing! I read that thread you linked and was (and kinda still am on the fence) about which of the modern methods to use. I won't turn this into a debate about that,
But wanted to know have you experimented with adding fruit to primary?
I read another thread about that here in HBT and honestly had never thought of it. Seems interesting.. .

Thankyou! I really do enjoy these beers. I haven't added fruit to primary - normally I brew 10 or 15 gallons of the base sour beer then split it onto different fruits (or package without fruit).
 
Thanks so much! I’m starting this tomorrow, I like this co-pitch method the more I read. I’m a Lallemand Sour Pitch newb; what can I do with the 9g of the 10g package that I don’t pitch? Seems so sad to throw it out... can I keep it in the fridge in a sanitized container? Vacuum seal?

I’m doing about 1-1.25lb/gal of frozen peaches. I figure I need this or even more with the soft flavor profile of peach.

Dan
 
I just leave my open packet in the fridge in a zip-loc bag. A sanitised container or vac seal would also work. Good luck with the peaces - I've tried fresh and canned, and only ever managed to get very subtle flavour out of them. My last attempt was 1lb/gal of fresh (frozen first) chopped peaches and plums (it's on tap now). It wasn't great fruit though - a bit bland and lacking sweetness. I haven't tried frozen peaches.
 
Thanks for the reply. Seems many folks add apricots with peaches to help the peach flavor come through. But yes, seems there’s a chance that the peach will be subtle at best. I may split the batch and do peach with one part and galaxy hop tea with the other.

Dan
 
Apricots should work more easily than peaches (from what I've read), if you like them (I don't). If you do try it, let me know if it helps push the peach flavour - I'd really love to get a good peach sour.
 
Sounds interesting! I've been wanting to try to recreate a fruit beer. What kind of style would you put this under if you had to? Trying to dial everything in on BeerSmith.
 
I've been wanting to try to recreate a fruit beer. What kind of style would you put this under if you had to?
29A - Fruit Beer :)
Or 28C American Wild Ale/Wild Specialty Beer if you want to follow the BJCP instructions .
 
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Yep, that’s about the water profile guidance I used from a couple of sources including RPh_Guy, so I only used calcium chloride.

Just moved mine to secondary over peaches and it already tastes fantastic! OG was 1.044 now at 1.007 after 5 days. I didn’t take a Ph reading, but perhaps I should have. Hoping that once the peaches are done being fermented, the FG ends up a pinch higher? It currently is perfectly drinkable, but needs some personality as it is a blank slate. Hopefully the peaches come through or add some complexity.

Can’t believe how easy this was and I’m very excited to see the final result! Thanks to those that have helped guide on this method!

Dan
 
Any suggestion for target carbonation level with this method for bottle conditioning? I’m thinking that since this method results in a fairly tart flavor profile, that a carbonation level closer to 2.0 vols vs near 3.0 vols may help keep the perceived sourness levels in check? I’ve had some sours from my local sour brewery that drank like they were upwards of 3.5 - 4.0 vols but i might aim for something much lower.

FYI, I am bottling.

Dan
 
It's a bit of personal preference. I like most beers at the lower end of normal - about 2.0 to 2.2 - this one included. If I'm serving it for a crowd, I bump it up to about 2.5 (kegged).
 
An update on my attempt at this; I carbonated mine to about 2.2 vols which is perfect for this tart beer, IMO. The beer is the perfect level of sour, and though it’s simple because the peach only barely comes through, it tastes nearly as good as a base wild ale from a commercial sour brewery. I’ve impressed quite a few people, who though aren’t familiar with brewing, assume that sours are very complex and finicky to brew. I’ll keep this method and it’s simplicity a secret ;).

I’m already collecting ingredients for my next one which will use whole cherries and a small amount of light toasted oak spiral to give this thing some more personality. Can’t wait!

6B57A0F8-D67B-4A8A-851B-6E432CBB8F94.jpeg
 
Noob question....how much water goes into the mash and does this need to be sparged? I think I have got the amount of grain based on a rough formula for 5 gallon batches
 
Firstly, welcome to HBT!
The amount of mash water and whether or not to sparge depends on your system - it's not really a function of the recipe. In my case, I use about 5Kg (11lbs) of grain for a 5 gal batch, about 2.5 gallons of mash water, and 4 gallons of sparge water. You should base the grain needed and mash water on your system though, not mine. You should note as well, if you haven't used wheat before, that it is stickier (making sparging more difficult) and often lower efficiency than barley malt. It needs to be crushed finer - I use a corn mill to grind wheat malt almost to a flour. Add rice-hulls if you need to to prevent stuck sparges (not necessary if you BIAB).
 
Thanks for the welcome and the extra info!
I am just experimenting with stove top brewing in 5 litre/1 gallon batches so kit is pretty basic.
 
2nd batch using this recipe as a baseline. I upped the grains and ended at 1.055 OG for 5 gallons. After 5 days it’s down to about 1.015 and taste is lightly tart so far and really good. Racked to secondary on to 3 lb of whole dark sweet cherries with about 1/4oz of light toasted oak spiral. I’ll leave it here for about 2 weeks, and I put the oak spiral on a string in case I want to pull it at some point. Looking for the oak complexity, but don’t want an obvious oak flavor. Attempting to copy a local sour, Upland Cherry which is aged in oak barrels.

This beer does not photograph well, but it looks a lot less like tomato juice in person. It has the crimson, almost purple color of the cherries and looks great! Can’t wait for this one...
6FF9488F-34D3-4963-8A03-2CFB8DEF80AC.jpeg
 
Been wanting to try to brew a sour and this seems like a good easier way to get started.

I put the recipe into "Brewer's Friend" and it looked good thru adding the US-05. At that point, it showed an OG = 1.055, FG = 1.009 and ABV of 5.44%. If I add the Sourpitch, the FG changes to 1.029 and drops the ABV to 2.79. Why would that happen?

EDIT: After closing the recipe and reopening, it appears to have corrected. The FG and ABV basically remain the same as with no Sourpitch.
 
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Been wanting to try to brew a sour and this seems like a good easier way to get started.

I put the recipe into "Brewer's Friend" and it looked good thru adding the US-05. At that point, it showed an OG = 1.055, FG = 1.009 and ABV of 5.44%. If I add the Sourpitch, the FG changes to 1.029 and drops the ABV to 2.79. Why would that happen?
Sounds like they calculated the average attenuation from each microbe. That's inappropriate in literally every case, so I'm not sure why they would do that.
 
hey, thanks for the super simple recipe to gets started on souring! I'm still trying to wrap my head around water profiles and learning how to use the various water spreadsheets that are out there. I have to buy my water because our well water is loaded with iron so we have a softener. Are you able to provide some safe water addition quantities I could use when making this assuming distilled water and a very similar grain bill to what you posted?
 
2/3 of a gram of Calcium chloride per gallon of water.
Optional - table salt (I use 4g for a 5 gallon batch).

2.5g Lactic Acid (88%) in the mash (for a 5 gallon batch)
Another 2.5g Lactic Acid (88%) in the boil
 
2/3 of a gram of Calcium chloride per gallon of water.
Optional - table salt (I use 4g for a 5 gallon batch).

2.5g Lactic Acid (88%) in the mash (for a 5 gallon batch)
Another 2.5g Lactic Acid (88%) in the boil

Thanks! I feel like I need a graduate course to understand some of these water spreadsheets...i circle back to them for a few hours every month, get super frustrated, give up and use store bought spring water, use as-is and hope for the best...rinse/lather/repeat
 
2/3 of a gram of Calcium chloride per gallon of water.
Optional - table salt (I use 4g for a 5 gallon batch).

2.5g Lactic Acid (88%) in the mash (for a 5 gallon batch)
Another 2.5g Lactic Acid (88%) in the boil
Sorry for another question, but for the lactic acid, is that the correct unit of measurement you provided for that, grams or should that be something like 2.5mL?
 
INGREDIENTS:
2/3 Pilsner malt. 1/3 Wheat malt. Aim for an OG around 1.045.
No hops.


Looking at several sour beer recipes, I see people using several different types of wheat malt. I see a lot of white wheat. Anyone use red wheat? Any opinions on that?

Also, someone remind me what amount of rice hulls to keep me from spending the whole day tending my spare.

Thanks,
 
I only ever use normal red wheat malt - it's all I can get. I doubt there'd be much difference between them.

I don't need rice hulls at that ratio (RIMS). It's depends on your system and crush though. If you're worried, a couple of cups of rice hulls in a 5 gallon batch should be enough.
 
I’ve read the wiki about use of fruit. I’d like to put a little lime flavor in with some raspberry. The wiki says something like “zest can be used in addition” but it doesn’t say if or how actual pulp or fruit should be added in reference to citrus. (I’m new to fruit additions) can someone offer advice. Thanks
 
I haven't tried it, but I read somewhere that kaffir lime leaves work really well for lime flavour. If I was going to try lime fruit, I'd try something like the juice and zest of 10 limes in primary for a 5 gallon batch.
 
Chill to pitching temps and pitch a packet of US05 per 5gal and 1g of Lallemand/Wildbrew Sour Pitch (Lactobacillus plantarum). That's half of what the instructions say to use for Sour Pitch, but is more than enough. I suspect pitching half a gram per 5 gal would get the job done.


Probably going to ask this question in one of the other sub-forums also, but I thought I would ask here since some of you might tell be how you did it. What scale are you using to measure a single gram accurately? My scale has grams as the smallest increment and I'm not sure how accurate it is for measuring a single gram.
 
Just brewed a version of this on my Clawhammer System

Dingeman's Belgian Pilsner
Rahr White Wheat
Flaked Oats
Lactose

OG 1.070

Cant wait to infuse with some blueberries!

What's your thoughts to just adding the fruit to the primary instead of racking to a secondary? Seems like an unnecessary step.
 
What's your thoughts to just adding the fruit to the primary instead of racking to a secondary? Seems like an unnecessary step.

👍
I only rack to secondary because I split a big batch into two or three smaller batches over different fruits.
 
👍
I only rack to secondary because I split a big batch into two or three smaller batches over different fruits.
That is always what I do, once fermentation is done add fruit. Once fruit is done cold crash to get everything to drop to the bottom and then transfer to keg. I do not remember the last time that i transferred for secondary! Even when I do 10 gallon batches, it goes right into 2 fermentors.
 
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