Soft entry to sours?

[Sadu]

Hi sour brewers, I find myself with some spare fermentors and would like to put down a couple of simple sours.
I already brewed a kettle soured Berliner weisse which came out great. Keen to try something with Brett or similar, something I can age for a few months rather than years so I can review and refine things before doing the next batch. So keen for recipe ideas or tips.
Will be fermenting in 5L glass demijohns (small batch) so presumably those can be cleaned up for normal beer afterwards. No problem dedicating some hoses and other peripherals to the sours though.
Cheers.

 

[mitchard]

Brett itself won't produce what you'd consider a sour beer. You might be able to pull off a lacto Gose and Berliner in a couple months, but anything else will be more like a year for decent results. For quick turn around, kettle souring will be your best bet.

Maybe do a another kettle sour Berliner and finish it with Brett brux?

 

[gometz]

So I'm a weird sour brewer in that only a few of my sours have been aged more than a few months before bottling (and I have won about 6 medals for my sours). While I will say that sours get better over time, you can churn out a good sour in as little as 4 months. My bacteria/yeast mix started life as the Wyeast de Bom 3203, then added an unknown amount of dregs (so while I believe it is possible to make a good sour in a shorter time than most, I honestly can't tell you what I am using).

To get you started though, I would say dedicate a carboy at least 8-12 months to the sour. Hop around 10 IBU (only using 60+ min additions! Adding the hops at 5 min so that the IBU are only 2-3 doesn't work that way). Get a good blend from a yeast company, then add dregs of your favorite sours over the next couple of months. Keep the carboy at room temperature.

 

[chrilr]

Built up dregs from crooked stave and/or jolly pumpkin will sour things pretty fast.
Try a simple recipe of pilsner, wheat and oats 10-15 ibu and primary ferment with those dregs.

I know this is not what you want to hear, but blending really does make a difference. Make 2-3 different batches with different yeast/ bug blends and it will increase your chances of making good beer.

 

[Sadu]

I guess what I was really asking is, what is a reasonable next step in sour brewing after doing a successful kettle sour?

I'm not especially in a hurry - just I find that a good way to learn is to brew a batch, taste it, then refine the process/recipe and brew it again. I have built up some really nice recipes this way, customised to my own tastes. This is of course harder to do with a year in between, but if that's what it takes then I guess it's workable.

Berliner kettle-sour finished with brett brux sounds good. Might give that one a blast. There are a few recipes in BCS I was looking at too, not sure if any of those are better than another for starting with.

 

[chrilr]

Rock on. I found that every kettle sour I made tasted similar, no matter what sacc strain was used to finish fermenting it. When Brett was used, that's when different flavors starting popping, without fruit or dry hops. My two favorites were white labs brux and a blend of white labs c, trois and wyeast lambicis

 

[20grit]

My first sour just involved stealing some of a bath of my brown porter. After fermenting, I took a gallon and pitched dregs from a bunch of sours. I have no idea what is in it, but the bugs have definitely eaten everything they can get their hands on. I'm planning to do a sort of solera with mine.

Rather than funk up your demijohn, why don't you just buy a gallon of cider (in a glass jug) and use the jug?