Tart Cherry Sour Ale

[BeardedBeerMan]

Looking to try my hand at a sour ale and was hoping for some recipe/process guidance. I'm able to procure some fresh tart/pie cherries (not sure exactly what variety). In the past I've made them in to cherry wine, but I wanted to do something different this year. Sour ale!

My hope is to have more of the lactic acid sourness over the barnyard funk. Here's what I've come up with so far:

Tart cherry sour ale

OG: 1.069
FG: 1.015
ABV: 7.03 %
IBU's: 8.57
Batch Size: 5.00 Gals
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Grains
8.00 lbs 50.00 % Pilsner (2 Row)
7.00 lbs 43.75 % Rahr Red Wheat
1.00 lbs 6.25 % Wheat, Flaked

Hops
0.50 ozs Cluster@30 mins (chosen because I happen to have some in the fridge from about a year ago)

Additions
10.00 lb Cherries

Yeasts
Belgian Saison - Wyeast 3724
Lactobacillus - Wyeast 5335 (Seconday)
Brettanomyces Lambicus - Wyeast 5526 (late secondary)

Mash Steps:
Infusion 60 [email protected]°F
Mash Out 10 [email protected]°F
Batch sparge


Going to do a clean ferment in primary with just the Saison yeast but pitch at about 90 degrees and allow to cool to room temp over the first few days.

Cherries get added in secondary along with the lacto (leaning towards pitting the cherries, but I've seen some say you can just leave them in?). I'll let that do its thing for about 10 months, then add the Brett. Again, don't want much funk, maybe just to help balance or clean up the lacto.

So to summarize the couple of points I'm questioning.

• Whole or pitted cherries, or does it matter?
• Will it hurt anything to just leave cherries in secondary for 12 months?
• Would lacto in secondary give me a decent, but not overwhelming, sour?
• Would adding Brett so late even do anything?

Also curious on thoughts of adding brandy-soaked oak chips.

 

[porterpounder]

Whole or pitted doesn't matter much, but you will get a bit more depth of flavor form unpitted. Once the cherries go in, I wouldn't leave them in for more than a month or so. You're not going to develop any more flavor longer than that and it will likely fade. Lacto in primary will likely be the best bet depending on the strain as many lacto strains will be killed at that alcohol content and not sour at all. I'd add lacto first for a couple days THEN add the primary Belgian strain. Late Brett may continue to ferment out some of the complex sugars and over time create a bit of funk, but it may take a long time. And yes on the brandy oak chips. Maybe split the secondary, add the chip to one and blend to taste in case you over do it on the booze.

 

[Schumed]

not a fan of the wyeast sour blends and lacto ....you can have a nice sour cherry beer in a matter of a few weeks using the sour worting technique....
grain bill looks good
skip the hops but do a 15 minute boil ( to kill anything)
cool down to 110ish and transfer to fermenter
pitch lacto (omega lacto is awesome for this)
hold temp between a 100 and 85 for a few days...should get nice and tart
drop temp to normal pitching temps...pitch your belgian yeast to finish it out
once finish rack your cherries for a week or so to give it nice fresh fruit flavor

That's how I would do it

 

[BeardedBeerMan]

Thanks for the tips!

I had at one point thought of just doing about 2 weeks with cherries, but with adding the lacto at the same time I figured more time would be better.

Schumed, any specific online retailers you like for purchasing Omega? My LHBS generally only carries wyeast, but may be able to order others.

So this round I'll sour first, then finish with the Saison. Secondary on whole cherries for about 2 weeks. Then bulk age for several months and decide on adding Brett and brandy oak?