Souring in Guinness clone ???

[brad.maynes]

Okay, so I have looked at a number of Guinness-clone type recipes and many of them suggest souring some beer and adding it back in post-boil. These tend to suggest the terrifying (to me) method of leaving beer in a bowl for a week and then freezing.

This seems (to me) like a really good way to badly contaminate a batch of beer. Does anyone have any experience with this method, or other souring methods? Is this really a necessary step to get a good Guinness clone?

Thanks in advance,

BLM

 

[paranode]

You can also use acid malt to achieve a similar result without any risk.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I just skip that step...the only way anyone is going to know is by a side-by-side comparison anyway.

 

[Rhoobarb]

You can also use acid malt to achieve a similar result without any risk.

Yep, that's what I use. Check the recipe for my Irish Stout under my avatar. I wouldn't use more than that amount.

 

[john from dc]

the recipes i've seen say to leave the beer out for a week, but then to boil or at least heat pasteurize the soured beer before adding it back in. that seems much safer than just freezing it.

 

[greggor]

Just did this one myself. let about 20 oz of the sweet wort sit out for a week; very sour smelling, then boiled for 45 minutes (the boil stunk up the whole house). Just added 6 oz to 3 gallons of nearly completely fermented beer (1.012). I will be carbing it and tasting this weekend. I'll post how it compares with the real thing,

I left 2 gallons finish without the sour wort addition to compare the difference. mine is all grain using the classic proportions 70% pale 20% flaked barley and 10% roast ( I added 2 oz of black patent to make the SRM right because it seemed a little low)

 

[Want2Brew]

Just did this one myself. let about 20 oz of the sweet wort sit out for a week; very sour smelling, then boiled for 45 minutes (the boil stunk up the whole house). Just added 6 oz to 3 gallons of nearly completely fermented beer (1.012). I will be carbing it and tasting this weekend. I'll post how it compares with the real thing,

I left 2 gallons finish without the sour wort addition to compare the difference. mine is all grain using the classic proportions 70% pale 20% flaked barley and 10% roast ( I added 2 oz of black patent to make the SRM right because it seemed a little low)

Any word on how this experiment came out? Thanks

 

[Pete08]

I made O'Flannagan's sour stout using the set aside wort with a few crushed grains to get it going. I boiled the sour wort as well before adding it to the fermenter. It is a very fine stout indeed!