So rather than lactobacillus to sour the beer, this recipe (I've seen more than one) uses a fairly large % of acidulated malt (about 2 lbs in a 5 G batch) along with an addition of 88% lactic acid to "backsour" the fermented beer. In the recipe I'm finishing now, they added 10 tsp of the acid ("to taste") at the time they kegged it.
I'm curious about this vs the typical kettle sour. I've not brewed a kettle sour, but from what I've read, you add the lacto, hold the temps and monitor for the pH to drop to the desired level. Does the lacto add flavor elements or is it just dropping the pH? Given the kettle sour vs the backsour approach, if they have the same final pH, will they taste pretty much the same?
Thoughts on this approach? I'm doing it for a Gose that I'm brewing for my son because I don't currently have a mechanism to maintain the souring temps for the lacto to do its work...plus it required less monitoring.
I'll report back on the result, but I'm curious about what to expect and why more recipes don't sour this way.
I'm curious about this vs the typical kettle sour. I've not brewed a kettle sour, but from what I've read, you add the lacto, hold the temps and monitor for the pH to drop to the desired level. Does the lacto add flavor elements or is it just dropping the pH? Given the kettle sour vs the backsour approach, if they have the same final pH, will they taste pretty much the same?
Thoughts on this approach? I'm doing it for a Gose that I'm brewing for my son because I don't currently have a mechanism to maintain the souring temps for the lacto to do its work...plus it required less monitoring.
I'll report back on the result, but I'm curious about what to expect and why more recipes don't sour this way.