Figured I would share my first attempt at a sour beer. The Jan/Feb 2014 issue of BYO had an article about Beer-Wine Hybrid beers. This included Russian River Brewing Co. Temptation since it is aged in Chardonnay Barrels. Temptation also has brett and souring bacteria added to it. I brewed this beer in December 2013 and Bottled it in September 2014 and it has turned out to be a pretty good beer. Unfortunately, I live in Texas so I do not have access to Russian River beers to do a side by side comparison. Anyway, here is what I did so someone can see the complete process from brewing to bottling.
December 17, 2013
I brewed the Extract version as I wanted to make sure I was hitting the correct numbers.
Recipe:
From Jan/Feb 2014 BYO
OG=1.062 FG=1.012(Going into Barrel)
IBU=28 SRM=4 ABV=6.8%
6.6 lbs. Light Liquid Malt Extract
1.75 lbs. Light Dried Malt Extract
0.25 oz. Lactic Acid
6.0 AAU Warrior Hops (90 Minutes)
1.8 AAU Styrian Golding Hops (30 Minutes)
1.4 AAU Styrian Golding Hops (0 Minutes)
1 Smack Pack Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Abbey Ale) No Starter
Started with 5 gallons of water and added extract and lactic acid. Boiled for 90 minutes and added hops at appropriate times. Cooled wort to 68 degrees and added to fermenter and topped off to get 5 gallons. I fermented the beer in my beer closet since it was winter time and let the temperature free rise. Fermentation ended in the upper 70's.
OG 1.063
On December 20th, fermentation had slowed and I racked it to secondary which was a 5 gallon glass carboy. Gravity reading at racking was 1.016. Also added to the secondary 1.5 oz. of Medium American Oak Cubes and 1 vial of WLP650 (Brettanomyces bruxellensis).
A small thin pellicle formed but nothing spectacular. Let it sit in the beer closet checking only to make sure the airlock did not dry out.
March 19, 2014 - Took Gravity reading and it was at 1.009
March 29, 2014 - Added Wyeast 5733 (Pediococcus) and WLP 677 (Lactobacillus). At this point the recipe called for topping off the carboy with a neutral beer or Chardonnay wine to reduce headspace for aging. I choose to use Chardonnay wine. I used Naked Snoqualmie Chardonnay since it does not have added sulfites and I liked the taste. Also it is unoaked and did not want to add anymore oak flavor. It took 4 bottles or 3 Liters of wine to fill the carboy to the top off the neck. I then moved the carboy to a chest freezer I use as a beer cellar and keep the temperature at 65 degrees.
Basically, left it alone and made sure the airlock did not dry out. Used vodka in the airlock to make sure it would not dry out. Took a sample in May and had good flavor.
The recipe calls for aging the beer for 6 to 9 months after adding the souring bacteria. I never wanted it to be too sour and at around 6 months it tasted fine to me so I bottled the beer.
September 24, 2014 - Bottled beer. I wanted to carbonate to 3 volumes. From doing online searches, I found to assume the beer to have 0.4 volumes of CO2 with such a long time sitting. I then used the formula 4 grams of cane sugar per liter of beer to get 1 volume of CO2. I needed 2.6 volumes and had 20.8 Liters of beer so I used 7.6 oz of cane sugar. I also used a little over 2 grams of EC-1118 Champagne Yeast rehydrated at bottling.
OG 1.063
FG 1.009 (before adding wine)
I calculated that with the added wine my final ABV was around 8%
I bottled 29 Bombers and 2 7oz Ponies for a final volume of about 5.25 gallons.
Things I learned and would possibly do different next time. A 5 gallon carboy is really closer to 5.5 gallons to fill up to the neck. I did not anticipate having to use so much wine to top off the carboy after adding the bacteria. Next time I would probably brew 5.5 or 6 gallons knowing that I will be losing some as I rack. I don't think this affected the final taste but was not expecting. I used glass carboy and I think this reduces the sour and brett character. I also live in Texas and do not have a basement. My beer "cellar" is a chest freezer in the garage I have hooked up to a temperature controller. I had the temperature set to 65 but it would cool down to 58 sometimes during the on cycle. Not sure if this affected the brett or bacteria.
My goal was to do something simple so I would not have to stress about it and still get good results. I think I accomplished this.
I'm not a brett/sour connoisseur but I definitely get sourness on the tip of my tongue and get the brett coating on the back of my tongue. The oak flavor is just right and for me, I think the oak flavor masks the sourness some.
The beer is very drinkable and so far everyone that has tried it has liked it. As I get more feedback, I'll post what people have to say about the sourness and brett character.
December 17, 2013
I brewed the Extract version as I wanted to make sure I was hitting the correct numbers.
Recipe:
From Jan/Feb 2014 BYO
OG=1.062 FG=1.012(Going into Barrel)
IBU=28 SRM=4 ABV=6.8%
6.6 lbs. Light Liquid Malt Extract
1.75 lbs. Light Dried Malt Extract
0.25 oz. Lactic Acid
6.0 AAU Warrior Hops (90 Minutes)
1.8 AAU Styrian Golding Hops (30 Minutes)
1.4 AAU Styrian Golding Hops (0 Minutes)
1 Smack Pack Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Abbey Ale) No Starter
Started with 5 gallons of water and added extract and lactic acid. Boiled for 90 minutes and added hops at appropriate times. Cooled wort to 68 degrees and added to fermenter and topped off to get 5 gallons. I fermented the beer in my beer closet since it was winter time and let the temperature free rise. Fermentation ended in the upper 70's.
OG 1.063
On December 20th, fermentation had slowed and I racked it to secondary which was a 5 gallon glass carboy. Gravity reading at racking was 1.016. Also added to the secondary 1.5 oz. of Medium American Oak Cubes and 1 vial of WLP650 (Brettanomyces bruxellensis).
A small thin pellicle formed but nothing spectacular. Let it sit in the beer closet checking only to make sure the airlock did not dry out.
March 19, 2014 - Took Gravity reading and it was at 1.009
March 29, 2014 - Added Wyeast 5733 (Pediococcus) and WLP 677 (Lactobacillus). At this point the recipe called for topping off the carboy with a neutral beer or Chardonnay wine to reduce headspace for aging. I choose to use Chardonnay wine. I used Naked Snoqualmie Chardonnay since it does not have added sulfites and I liked the taste. Also it is unoaked and did not want to add anymore oak flavor. It took 4 bottles or 3 Liters of wine to fill the carboy to the top off the neck. I then moved the carboy to a chest freezer I use as a beer cellar and keep the temperature at 65 degrees.
Basically, left it alone and made sure the airlock did not dry out. Used vodka in the airlock to make sure it would not dry out. Took a sample in May and had good flavor.
The recipe calls for aging the beer for 6 to 9 months after adding the souring bacteria. I never wanted it to be too sour and at around 6 months it tasted fine to me so I bottled the beer.
September 24, 2014 - Bottled beer. I wanted to carbonate to 3 volumes. From doing online searches, I found to assume the beer to have 0.4 volumes of CO2 with such a long time sitting. I then used the formula 4 grams of cane sugar per liter of beer to get 1 volume of CO2. I needed 2.6 volumes and had 20.8 Liters of beer so I used 7.6 oz of cane sugar. I also used a little over 2 grams of EC-1118 Champagne Yeast rehydrated at bottling.
OG 1.063
FG 1.009 (before adding wine)
I calculated that with the added wine my final ABV was around 8%
I bottled 29 Bombers and 2 7oz Ponies for a final volume of about 5.25 gallons.
Things I learned and would possibly do different next time. A 5 gallon carboy is really closer to 5.5 gallons to fill up to the neck. I did not anticipate having to use so much wine to top off the carboy after adding the bacteria. Next time I would probably brew 5.5 or 6 gallons knowing that I will be losing some as I rack. I don't think this affected the final taste but was not expecting. I used glass carboy and I think this reduces the sour and brett character. I also live in Texas and do not have a basement. My beer "cellar" is a chest freezer in the garage I have hooked up to a temperature controller. I had the temperature set to 65 but it would cool down to 58 sometimes during the on cycle. Not sure if this affected the brett or bacteria.
My goal was to do something simple so I would not have to stress about it and still get good results. I think I accomplished this.
I'm not a brett/sour connoisseur but I definitely get sourness on the tip of my tongue and get the brett coating on the back of my tongue. The oak flavor is just right and for me, I think the oak flavor masks the sourness some.
The beer is very drinkable and so far everyone that has tried it has liked it. As I get more feedback, I'll post what people have to say about the sourness and brett character.
