Wheat beers and sourness

[nogoer]

Some time ago i brewed my first wheat and it got infected. It had a very sour taste to it, but i just attributed that to the infection. Recently i just brewed my second wheat and it also had a very sour taste, but there were no signs of infection. At least not like the first time which was really clear. I brought this second attempt to the LBS and one guy identified a very small infection.

What doesnt make sense is that ive done multiple batches before and after with the same equipment and none of those other batches were infected or sour so i question the infection diagnosis with that batch. So now yesterday i racked a saison and when i tasted it i tasted that same sour flavors as both of the other wheat beers. It is very pronounced and noticable. What im unsure of is why none of my ales have issues but now 3 wheat style yeasts have given me sour flavors. I think saisons are supposed to have mild notes of sour but i don't think what ive got is mild. I even replaced all my plastic but the bucket jst in case.

The saison was spot on OG and dead on FG after a week. I'll check gravity again next weekend and if its further than maybe an infection? I just brewed a 10 gal double batch of a sierra clone after the last wheat and before the sasion. Not one sign of anything wrong. Could my water or basement be bad for wheats and giving me higher pronounced sour flavors?

 

[tre9er]

I had one witbier that was sour and none since, all same equipment. I ferm'd hot though and opened once or twice to check gravity. I think something must have simply fallen in there. It's been bottled for months, opened on the other night, still just as sour as it was 3 weeks old. I've heard sour doesn't go away, either. I just pretend I meant to make a light sour, or you can pour a bunch of OJ in it and it makes it seem more like a shandy.

 

[nogoer]

I had one witbier that was sour and none since, all same equipment. I ferm'd hot though and opened once or twice to check gravity. I think something must have simply fallen in there. It's been bottled for months, opened on the other night, still just as sour as it was 3 weeks old. I've heard sour doesn't go away, either. I just pretend I meant to make a light sour, or you can pour a bunch of OJ in it and it makes it seem more like a shandy.

Its funny you mention OJ, it was a hitachino clone which had 2 cups of fresh oj added during the boil. The other thing that seems to be common to these 3 batches and not to my ales is the inclusion of the typical orange peel spices that a lot of wheats use.

For the sasion, i had never tastd one until the other day when i had a Hennepen. It had a slight sour note to it but my saison was stronger in sourness. It was also very green so im hoping it mellows a bit over the next couple weeks. The last wheat beer though went 5 weeks, then kegged and it got overbearingly sour at that point.

One last thing to mention is my basement temps are mid to high 70s and even though i keep the carboys on the concrete floor would these wheat style yeasts produce sour flavors if fermented too high?

 

[tre9er]

Its funny you mention OJ, it was a hitachino clone which had 2 cups of fresh oj added during the boil. The other thing that seems to be common to these 3 batches and not to my ales is the inclusion of the typical orange peel spices that a lot of wheats use.

For the sasion, i had never tastd one until the other day when i had a Hennepen. It had a slight sour note to it but my saison was stronger in sourness. It was also very green so im hoping it mellows a bit over the next couple weeks. The last wheat beer though went 5 weeks, then kegged and it got overbearingly sour at that point.

One last thing to mention is my basement temps are mid to high 70s and even though i keep the carboys on the concrete floor would these wheat style yeasts produce sour flavors if fermented too high?

That can do it. I'm told adding OJ into the beer pre-fermentation can really sour it up. On the ferm temps, I always ferm'd wits warmer than that and only had the sour beer once.