Sour styles

[bds3]

I'm relatively new but I've brewed 4 batches now, all extract, which have turned out pretty well so far. I recently tried a sour stout (Madrugada Obscura by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales) that made me really want to try to brew a sour beer. I apologize in advance for my inexperience, but is there any way to brew a sour beer strictly from extract (which I'm familiar with) or do I need to do at least a partial mash (which I don't fully understand). Thanks.

 

[Rivenin]

i'm sure you can fairly easily, i'm not a fan of those brews at all. last one gave me heartburn and made my mouth hurt lol, but best of luck! even though i dont like it, i would like to try to make one!

 

[humann_brewing]

it is really easy to sour a beer, the key is to do so and make it taste good.

Sours are an advanced style and if you really want to get into, start reading "wild brews"

 

[shanecb]

A berliner weisse is a decent sour style to jump in with. It's not terribly difficult to brew. There's a lot of good info here on the forum. You'd be able to do it with just extract by pitching in lactobacillus instead of doing, e.g., a sour mash.

 

[bds3]

Thanks for the responses; I tried a forum search and couldn't find much, but I'll dig a little deeper.

 

[vanceromance]

The current addition of brew your own has articals and recipies on brewing sour beers.

 

[vanceromance]

I forgot to add, the recipies include extract recipies.

 

[humann_brewing]

The current addition of brew your own has articals and recipies on brewing sour beers.

I think you mean the may/june of zymurgy or march/april. It's one of the 2

 

[Zixxer10R]

And you also mean the "current EDITION" not "current addition". Unless you're adding the two magazines together to get a recipe.

 

[cervezarara]

To the OP- there is a sub forum on here called "Lambic and Wild brewing" with tons of fun and interesting threads about stepping over into the wild side. There are many knowledgable sour brewers who hang out there and are very happy to answer questions.

To make a decent sour, in general, you need patience and some unfermentable sugars for the bacteria to consume (and do their souring chores!) Extract lends itself pretty well to the style, and you can pitch yeast, sour blend, dregs, or combinations of these. I really like the Jolly Pumpkin dregs as they are fairly young and highly active. But they can take from months to years to fully mature-- that's where the patience comes in.

Read some of the posts on the Lambic forum to get some idea what may lie ahead for you!