Funkadelic Mastery; Part 2 Setting up for Sour... The easy, affordable way.

Belgian brewer's, the masters of Sour Beer.

So you have decided that you want to get into sour / funky brewing.  Cool.  This is a segment of brewing that is loads of fun, educational, and delicious.   The very best brewers I know, all dabble in Sour / Funky beers.   And it is widely suspected that the very best brewers in the world, the Belgian Lambic Brewers of the "Knighthood of the Brewer's Mash Staff", brew sours exclusively. Their techniques and practices are carefully guarded secrets that are literally handed down from father to son.  

The truth about sour beer is it actually is the older, more traditional process of beer making.  Pure yeast strain brewing has only been with us for about 200 years.  Hops as the predominant flavoring and preservative agent in beer has only been with us for about 600 years.  Beer however has been with us much, much longer.  And before the development of pure yeast, and the advancement of sanitation,  many beers were sour.  Or, to be more accurate, they became sour.  

This beer is insanely good!
English Raspberry Rye
Sour!

Have you heard the term young beer or fresh beer.   What about the term old ale?  These terms refer not only to the age of a beer, but also how long it had been in an oak cask.   In the oak casks the beer took on flavors from the wood, and was acted upon by microbes living in the cask.   You are probably aware of Belgium's important place in sour beer production.  You undoubtedly know that America is pioneering amazing sour beers.  But did you know England also has a rich history with Strong Sour Ales?

So getting into this realm of brewing is embracing the total history of brewing.  It makes you a better brewer because it makes you think about what the microbes are doing,  and what you want them to do.   It teaches you patience.  Some of the beer's you'll make won't be ready for years.   Yes, years.  But the reward of opening a beer you brewed 3 or 4 years ago, is unlike any other reward in home brewing.   

I ferment, and bottle right from the
same bucket.  In truth, I made my own
so that I could put the spigot higher,
and not pick up any trub at all.

OK, I'm in.  I won't brew sours all the time, but I'd like to make them occasionally.  So what do I need?  If you are a home brewer, you already have almost everything you need.  But you will need a couple more items.   You will need a dedicated fermenter / bottling bucket,  The idea that brettanomyces can not be removed and cleaned out of a fermenter is absurd.  The idea that it takes a lot more work than it is worth to go to that level of sanitation... is not absurd.   So for your 5 gallon batches go get a 6.5 gallon bottling bucket with a lid. And never scratch the inside of it or use abrasive cleaners, or cleaning gear.  The lid should have a hole and a grommet for an air lock.  You will need a length of tubing the same size as your bottling tubing, and you will need a separate bottling wand.   That is it.  That is all you need for 5 gallon batches of funky beer.

Barnyard Funkadelic
a sour mash beer.

For sour beers (not necessarily funky)  I promote the practice of mash souring, or wort souring. These beers can be fermented and packaged like any other beer.  The lactobacillus and pediococcus die in the boil. (more on that later)  But you will probably want 2 or 3  one gallon jugs for souring your wort.   

That is really everything you need.  See?  It isn't that bad.  You will also want some pH strips, or a separate pH meter for checking the wort as it sours, and/or the beer as it ferments.   Do not use your standard pH meter.   Remember the first post, treat everything in sour beer like a potential contaminate.  You never use a pH meter for sour, then clean it and reuse it for standard beer.  Why?  Because it could infect your beer.  Will it infect your beer?   Probably not, but it could.  So just don't mix the two.  Treat everything in sour brewing this way.   Everything except stainless steel equipment.  Your thermometers, your spoons can be cleaned adequately to be used across all batches.  Everything that is used in sour / funky beer production is marked with a permanent magic marker.  Everything, including the air lock.  

I generally have 1 batch of funky beer going at all times.  I even use a Mr. Beer Little Brown Keg, for small batch sours (I seal the lid). When the beer is ready to be bottled, I know it is time to make more.   I often just pitch right on top of the yeast cake.   Yes, the yeast mutates and changes faster than pure ale strains.  That is part of the fun.  The second batch will taste different than the first batch.  

In general I do not recommend kegging funky beers at home.  If you choose to keg, use the same tubing and keg every single time.  Kettle sour, mash sour, and wort sour beers that are boiled before fermentation can be kegged like any other beer.   But really,  why would you keg a sour beer at home.  Bottle it up. Age some of it, revisit it later.  Maybe even years later.  That is part of the fun.  

Funkadelic Mastery; Getting into Sour and Funky Beers... A new feature on Counterbrew.

There are few experiences as a beer
drinker that compare to a well made
oak aged sour beer.

Ok, first off, the title is kinda silly.  You can never really master sour and funky beers.  That is kind of the point of funky and sour beers.  They are a bit wild, and when you make a sour beer, or a funky beer you are there to serve the needs of the yeast / beer.  Think of yourself as a shepherd when you are making these beers.   Keep the flock in the pasture,  keep the flock from grazing other pastures, and give the flock what it needs to flourish.  So mastery, is kind of the wrong term.   Do not attempt to approach them with the same techniques and practices you use when brewing clean ales and lagers.

This is a radically different approach than clean ale or lager brewing.  It also produces radically different results.  And believe it or not, it actually takes more cleaning and sanitation than regular brewing.   Yes, I said it, more, not less.   I know you have all heard that before, but I want to stress the truth of it here and now.   When you deal with sour beers you need to treat them like contaminates. You need to be extra, extra careful with washing your hands, your brew gear, your brewery etc.   Even across the internet,  I hear some of you out there groaning.  Some of you experienced sour guys are rolling your eyes audibly.   Yes, I know it is just yeast and bacteria.  Yes, I know that standard sanitation practices will most likely prevent infection of future clean beers.   But remember this blog targets new and intermediate brewers.  Most of whom are still refining their cleaning and sanitation processes.   So yes, treat sour and funky beer like a contaminate.   Clean and sanitize everything the beer comes in contact with, and use separate racking and bottling gear when making a sour.

Michael Tonsmeire, a great champion of sour beers.

But don't let this scare you off.  I am going to give you four approaches to sour beer that produce great results and which, when used the way I describe,  will prevent infection of your brew gear.   1. Bottle Dregs additions (the easy way to make a sour) 2. Sour Wort procedure 3. Sour mash procedure 4. Mixed yeast (or bacteria) fermentation.   And really, other than capturing your own yeast or open fermentation, which we will do in a later post,  those are the only ways to make sour or funky beer.  We will not be getting into traditional Lambics, or traditional Gueuze.  We will not be learning about turbid mashing techniques.  If you love sours, and want to learn about those techniques I strongly suggest "American Sour Beers"  by Michael Tonsmeire.  It is, in my opinion, the definitive book on sour beers. Michaels website it the hang out spot for us sour beer nerds. Themadfermentationist.com .  If you've never brewed a sour, the website may be a little overwhelming at first. But you'll catch on. And feel free to ask questions. Michael actually answers them.

Blending beer is a blast!

We will eventually be getting into blending sours, and funky beers with other beers to make unique and amazing new creations.   We will be getting into fruit, and the role they play in sour beers.  So this isn't a series as much as it is a new feature.   We will also make a cheaters sour fruit beer.  Something I sometimes do to decrease the time from kettle to glass.   Every sour beer will be bottled.  Not kegged!  Bottle conditioning is important to sours, and part of the fun.   

I have told you all, for the duration of this blog that I do some more advanced brewing, Some sours, some wine blended and wine fermented beers,  some fruit sours, and some oak aged sours.  Now, I'll pull back the curtain and let you all in on how I make these mini masterpieces.   But,  and this is important, we will not be trying to clone the great sour beers you love.   I have found cloning a sour beer is like herding cats.  Frustrating, and a general waste of time.    So one philosophy I embrace about sours, is  to be inspired by a brew, but to never try to clone it exactly.

Here are the general guidelines we will follow.

1. Sour / Funky brewing is about having fun and experiencing new and different flavors.
1. If the extra time and effort are worth it to you, this will be a blast.  if they are not, well then... maybe you shouldn't brew sours.
2. A batch can take 6 months to a year to be ready to bottle
1. It may not peak in the bottle until 6 months to a year later.
2. Sour / Funky beers require extra cleaning
1. Before you brew or handle
2. But especially after you brew or handle the beer.
3. Sour / Funky beers require additional equipment.  
1. I'm sorry but there is no way around this.   You will need at a minimum a separate bottling wand and tubing.  
2. Ill show you how to set up a sour system for minimal expense.
4. Sour / Funky brewing makes you a better brewer of regular beers.
5. Sour / Funky brewing is a great tool to have in your brewing tool box.
1. I ruined a Centennial Blonde with too high of mash temperatures last year.  Remember? I tried Amylase enzyme, and other methods to get the beer to drop beneath 1.014.  To no avail.
2. So I transferred to my sour bucket, and  for a couple of weeks, every time I drank a Boulevard Love Child, I poured in the dregs.   The end result is an amazing golden Brettanomyces beer, that I call "vivid interlude".  

I use 1 bucket for making sours. I bottle
straight from the bucket.

In the next episode we will talk about setting up for sour.  It is easier and more affordable than you may think. All you really need is a dedicated bucket with a spigot, a dedicated wine theif, and a dedicated bottling wand.   We will also talk about the 3 main sour cultures,  Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus.  We will get into our first 2 methods.  1. Bottle Dregs, and 2. Sour Wort.  And I will give you some recipe guidelines for brewing sours.  

Important Note on Safety. Here at counterbrew we do not advocate true wild fermentation. I know it is all the rage now but there are some potentially dangerous pathogens that can make you sick that just love to hang around beer. They don't generally end up in your finished beer, the acidity and alcohol kill them. But they can get on your hands and gear when you are brewing and make you sick. We believe in pitching pure cultures of the yeast or bacteria that you want in your beer. Even if you harvest the yeast yourself, you should take the time to purify the culture. We will get into that in our series on yeast wrangling, in the future (late summer and fall).

Thats all for now Beer Nerds!

Prost!

Fruit Beers and sour mash fruit beers... my sweet spot

Every brewer has something they do very well.   And that something may not even be what they most prefer to drink.  For me... well I'm one of the lucky ones.   I love fruit beers.   I love the complexity of flavors, how the malt and hops play against the fruit.  As much as I love fruit beers I love sour fruit beers even more.  And I do them so well... this is a new passion for me, but I'm learning fast.

"Sour beer?  Oh no you've turned into one of those beer elitists who looks down his nose at the common home brewer.   You can't make sour beer at home, it will infect your brewing set up, you'll never make a clean beer again".

Be calm... In the words of our forefather, the great Charlie P...RDWHAHB... Relax Don't Worry Have a Home Brew. I can show you the path to stress free sour beers.

Please notice I said stress free.  I did not say you should try a continuously hopped chocolate imperial sour stout aged on oak and wild cherries.  (although I was being funny, I have to say that sounds amazing!)  I said stress free, even dare I say easy.   The key to this is learning how to sour mash.

Sour mashing is the easy way to produce a sour beer.   The concept is simple.   Mash your grains as normal, chill to 120, then add some uncrushed grain in a disposable hop bag to the beer (base malt works best). If you are a BIABer just put it into the bag with the other grains. Let it sit for an hour or two for the Lacto to get in there.  Then  Hold this at 120 F for 1 - 3 days.  You can use a heating pad, or a warmer, or even just put it in the oven with the light on.   In 24 to 72 hours you will have very sour wort.  Make sure you are souring in a container that has 0 air space.  Funky, barnyardy bacterias need oxygen to metabolize.  So don't give them any.  The lactobacillus that occurs naturally on the grain will work it's magic.   After the 1 to 3 day "lacto rest" (my term).  Boil as normal with all of your normal hop, fining, and nutrient additions. Chill the beer down, pitch your normal yeast (I like US-04 for most sours and fruit sours).  Ferment.   Add your fruit as normal, or your fruit extract flavoring as normal.  Age. Bottle.  Drink.  Repeat.  The boiling of the wort will kill any lacto that is in the wort, but it will leave behind the acid (sour) produced by the lacto rest.

There are very few draw backs to this method.   The only ones I feel compelled to mention are;  a lack of complexity (over come by the fruit) and the need for experience and practice.  

Common questions and other ramblings.

Do sour mash fruit beers take more time than other beers?
Yes,  A week or two more.  The beer needs to sit on the fruit for a while.
Can I adjust the sour mash after the fermentation?
Yes,  I make a silly sour hop monster.   It isn't ready for publication yet but the general idea is to hop a sour mash so much that you get to the "sweet point on hops"  To do this I add hop tea.   You can also add lactic acid to adjust sourness.  And you can adjust sweetness with malt tea, or wine conditioner.  You can also perform a true secondary fermentation with wine yeast.   The possibilities are endless.
Can I sour a beer without fruit?
Yes.  But again the sourness of the sour mash procedure is less complex than a brettanomyces or a pediococcus soured beer.  Or a blended, or really complex beer.
What are the other possibilities for sour?
How about making a true Guiness style beer? Real Guinness has some sour beer added to it. How about a blend?  blending a sour with another beer. Multiple fruits?  sure... but be careful with your fruits.I recently talked to a guy who was determined to make a Kiwi Cerveza...Kiwi just doesn't have very much flavor.  I like fruits that are sour and sweet. Raspberry is my favorite.  

As I said the possibilities are endless.
I strongly recommend you watch the basic brewing you tube video on Berliner Weiss.  In fact, I recommend you watch all of their videos and buy their log book.   And the DVDs.  They are the best I have seen.