Sour Apple English Brown?

[Arrheinous]

I've just harvested ~12 pounds of small crab apples from my tree. The grow in clusters of little cherry tomato sized fruit. Tons and tons of them, 12# was just what I could reach with a short ladder.

Had a plan for something like a Southern English Brown Ale but maybe it could be a sour apple brown now.

5.25G batch; 70% eff; 1.051 OG

6# Maris Otter (57.1%)
3# Munich 10L (28.6%)
0.5# Midnight Wheat (4.8%) - in place of chocolate malt
0.5# Crystal 60L (US) (4.8%)
0.25# Victory (2.4%)
0.125# Special B (1.2%)
0.125# Crystal 120L (US) (1.2%)
Mash at 158F, 1 hour

14.3 IBU Styrian Aurora; dry hop with Styrian Goldings or Glacier

12# crab apples in secondary (frozen, then heated to 180F and crushed)

Wyeast 3209-PC Oud Bruin Blend might be good for keeping the maltiness intact.

 

[kingwood-kid]

12lbs is a lot of crabapples for a 5gal batch. You could use malolactic bacteria to convert the malic acid in the apples to lactic, then just use sacch to ferment so you'd have a quick beer without sacrificing any maltiness.

 

[Arrheinous]

I've seen malolactic around the LHBS. Is there a difference between malic and lactic acid for sour?

I'd like to get some Brett/funk too but Brett will reduce the FG.

 

[kingwood-kid]

Malic is harsher/more intense. I'm not sure if there's a difference other than the intensity; taste buds perceive pretty much any acid as sour. Maybe the bacteria could be a backup plan if the beer is more sour than you want. Brett without pedio (which I believe is what's in that blend) wil lower your FG, but I don't think it will do so as much as brett with pedio. You could primary ferment with a saison yeast that will produce some mouthfeel-enhancing glycerol. Some flaked whatever will add some beta-glucans that even brett won't bust through. Bear in mind that 12lbs of crabapples will add about 2lbs of fermentable sugars to your beer.

 

[Arrheinous]

Then with all the malic acid I probably won't need to add lacto for more.

I've got WLP565 as the house saison strain. That might give the illusion of funk in a brown ale. If it's done at moderate temps then it won't get bone dry. And without any bacteria I could campden it at the right FG.

EDIT: How about this: use 6# crab apples, mash high to account for the extra 1# of apple sugar, use WLP565 and if anything goes wrong then 'backsweeten' with lactose. The Southern English brown ale BJCP description puts it similar to a sweet stout so lactose might not be too far off.