Sorachi Sour (all grain no boil)

[akueck]

Part Deux of the Sorachi brews. Another new technique for me, which I think I will be repeating often in the future: mash hopping. The wort was gently flavored with the hops, but not bitter (no boil). Mmm. No boil also means I might not have totally denatured the enzymes. Ah well.

Sorachi Sour ~3 gallons
2 lbs wheat malt
1.5 lbs Belgian Pils
1/4 lb acidulated malt
1/2 oz Sorachi Ace in mash

Mashed at 148 F. Collected 3 gallons, soured with malt dust. Next day pitched US-05. OG 1.032.

This one smells a little funkier than previous sours. Might still be ok. If not I'll try again, I still have some Sorachi left. Might try picking up a lacto culture though.

 

[Medsen Fey]

I'd not even heard of sorachi ace before (had to look it up ). What are your impressions of it? Do you happen to know the alpha content?

Edit - I looked at the other post and saw the answers there. Thank you.

 

[akueck]

Good point, I should cross-reference for ease of searching. Not that "sorachi" is a common term around here.

Here's the link to the first brew I made that day, which explains where the Sorachi Ace came from and why. FWIW, I got them from Freshops and I am pleased with their service. They also sell rhizomes.

 

[manwithbeers]

Are you specifically going for a Berliner Weisse? Looks that way to me. Give it 6 months and enjoy!

 

[Braxton]

From what I understand, using malt dust to sour beer is a bit of a gamble - it's sure to add sourness but you never know exactly what other types of flavors you're going to get. My kind of gamble! Good luck!

 

[akueck]

It's sort of a Berliner Weisse style. I've done several along those lines (check the brewlogs!) and I like the style.

Malt dust is how I've done all these so far. Some are better than others. Right now this one smells pretty rank, so I'm not particularly hopeful. On the plus side, I can just toss it and try again.

 

[akueck]

The sweaty foot smell has subsided considerably and the funky contamination-look has died down. Hopefully I will be able to pull a sample later this week, then decide if I should rack it, leave it, or toss it.

 

[akueck]

Pulled a taste. It has a funky smell, but it's more of a farmhouse ale, wild fermentation kind of smell than overtly feet-like. Big improvement! The flavor has a nice sour note, though I think I would prefer for it to be more sour. Carbonation will probably help. I think I will not toss it, and bottle it up after the holiday at some point. Still, next time I think I'm springing for a professionally produced lacto culture.

 

[Braxton]

My experience with commercial lacto cultures has been that they take several months to reach peak sourness. Making a starter seems to speed that up some. But for the sour beers I've made I expect 3-4 months before the sour notes really start to kick in nicely.

 

[akueck]

Well this one seemed to be heading out of "tastes like socks" land, but then suddenly clouded up and formed a pellicle. Taste actually wasn't terrible, but the smell could kill a horse. Decided to just call it and dumped my first batch in 6 years of brewing. (I even bottled the potato-soup-looking V8-tasting millet beer!) Ah well.

To make up for this tragic loss, I'm trying again today on my day off. This time, no souring. The grain bill changed a lot, so I'll just post it up separately.

 

[wayneb]

Take heart! An occasional crash and burn is the inevitable result of pushing the envelope.

 

[akueck]

Yeah I'm not phased at all, I'm surprised I'd gotten this far without total failure. I keep telling the interns at work: "Failure is the most interesting result of a test. You might actually learn something." ;D

 

[Chevette Girl]

My Aikido Sensei (instructor) always tells us to go ahead and make the mistakes, you learn more that way.