First try Sour Beer

[humpadilo]

So I wanted to try my hand at making a sour beer. I was at my buddies house (Saturdsay)while he was making an Amber. he was done with his grains and I thought "What the hell" might as well go for it. I took the grains and put them in a fermenting bucket. I added water in a 1# to 1.25qt ratio. It was 10# (dry) grains and I rounded to 3-4 gallons of water. (I didn't write down specifics because I didn't expect much to happen my first try.). I threw in a handful of crushed grains that have not been mashed. I then flooded the head space with CO2 and covered with plastic wrap.
I then took it home and gave it more CO2 and covered with a lid and airlock. I put it in a 120 degree water bath and put it in my warmest closet. It stayed pretty hot because I had some insulation and warmed it with a heating pad. But the next day (Sunday) it dropped to low 100s. I took a peek and I could see some bubbles inside the fermenter, so I knew it was doing something. Then over the next two days the temp kept dropping until Tuesday it was around 80. I took a look last night it had a pretty white film over it.

I wanted to check the gravity but didn't want to take a big sample with my hydrometer. So I used my refractometer and it was 1.016. I know it isn't real accurate because it has some alcohol in it, but I figured it would give a good reference for later. The original wort was 1.036 if that matters. Again I didn't expect good results so I didn't take notes.

I am going to take a look at it under a microscope tonight. I am going to swab it and give to my wife so she can culture at her work, but I am pretty confident I got Lacto. That was what I was going for anyway.

My question is I have several different ways I can go now. Should I make a beer just out of that wort and get about 2 gallons? Should I add this wort to mash/boil to sour a regular beer? ETC. What do you guys think. I will taste it when I get home tonight to see how sour it is. It will probably depend on how it tastes. Here is the wort when I looked at it last night.

 

[chad_]

In not really sure what you are looking for, so I'm not sure how to advise. You are doing what some people do to make a Berliner weisse. However your grain bill doesn't fit that. Most sours use other bacteria (brett and pedio) and those take a year to get those good complex flavors and funkiness, the way your doing it will get you a quick sour beer though, just one dimensional, but that's not always a bad thing

 

[humpadilo]

Thanks for the reply. That does actually help. I guess I need to read up on Berliner Weisse. I just wasn't sure on the best way to use it. After talking to some people I think I want to make a stout, and just use the sour as part of the boil to make a sour stout. That sounds really tasty to me.

Any reason why I shouldn't do this? I plan on making it this weekend.

 

[thisisbeer]

No reason you shouldn't do anything to try it! Unless someone can tell you from experience not to. But that wort should keep souring. What most people do for a berlliner is let it sour for 2-3 days then do a short boil or heat it up to kill the bacteria. You don't want to keep souring it. Then they blend it into a beer.

At least that's one way.

 

[humpadilo]

That's exactly what i was planning on doing. I am out of town until Saturday but it is staying pretty cool until then. It stays between 65-80. I guess thats cool for Lacto.