Sour Beer Pipeline

[mo_feezy]

Hi All,
I've got a bunch of better bottles waiting to be filled with sours.
I have a split 10 gallon flanders red going since early April (2013).

I was thinking I would like to do a lot of split batches to experiment and possibly give me blending options.

Next up is going to be a lambic style beer.
I want to do 5 gallons with dregs from RR Beatification.
and the other 5 with some Cantillon dregs.

After that, split 10 gallons of Oud Bruin, and probably do half along the lines of supplication and the other half with different bugs.

Last I want to do a sour stout (along the lines of Tart of Darkness). and half with ECY bug farm VI and the other half with dregs from a few sours.

I prefer to do a double batch since it takes the same amount of time for me to brew 10 as 5 gallons, but because of the long wait time I want to have as many going as I can.

Do you have any advice for the oud bruin and the sour stout?

 

[t0rin0]

In regards to your lambic I may be in the minority here but I wouldn't make a lambic (if unfruited or unblended) with Cantillon bugs. They do great gueuze and fruit lambics but the base lambic isnt all that great (Bruoscella, Iris, Grand Cru). Use Girardin, Boon, Lindemans, or even one of the blends like 3 Fonteinen or Beersel(though I think this is just Boon lambic). Actually, some of the less popular brewers make decent to good base lambic before they load it up with artificial sweetener. If you want to get creative and you have some one gallon jugs laying around you might try using some Mort Subite, Timmermans, de Troch, etc.

Beatification is also a nice beer but it's mostly lacto and acetobacter, or at least that's what I taste in it.

The original Tart of Darkness was good but I think that had a lot of acidity to it and definitely some vinegar (which tends to be the case with Bruery sours). In the second batch they toned it down quite a bit but it also wasn't nearly as good. I guess I don't have much experience with sour stouts but I would say keep the roast and bitterness down as I really don't think that bitter goes well with sour. You may look at Jolly Pumpkin for a good sour stout. Their beers all pretty much taste the same after a year but it's a good flavor.

 

[Cyclman]

As Sours take so long, if you can make enough to have a routine pipeline, I am impressed.

Gonna start doing sours one of these days, I do love them, but haven't yet learned that much patience.