Brew Sour Beer
After almost a year, today felt right. It was unusually warm, the sun was out, the birds were chirping, etc. etc. It was time to try the Oud Bruin I brewed last spring!
For those new to brewing, this may not the beer for you. In addition to taking a year or more to complete, the Roeselare Ale Blend I used which includes two Brettanomyces (Brett) strains.
Brettanomyces is in the same family as typical brewers yeast (Saccharomyces) but produces compounds that alter the beer profile. In most beer styles, Brett would be considered a contaminant by providing sour off-flavors and a vinegar-like taste. There are some styles, however, like Lambic, Gueze, or my Oud Bruin where Brett contamination is encouraged.
Using yeast with Brett has some unique challenges. First, you need to keep it separated from your other beer. Like I mentioned, Brett can and will contaminate your other batches, but that shouldn't stop you from brewing them. They give a unique opportunity to challenge what you know about brewing!
For those new to brewing, this may not the beer for you. In addition to taking a year or more to complete, the Roeselare Ale Blend I used which includes two Brettanomyces (Brett) strains.
Brettanomyces is in the same family as typical brewers yeast (Saccharomyces) but produces compounds that alter the beer profile. In most beer styles, Brett would be considered a contaminant by providing sour off-flavors and a vinegar-like taste. There are some styles, however, like Lambic, Gueze, or my Oud Bruin where Brett contamination is encouraged.
Using yeast with Brett has some unique challenges. First, you need to keep it separated from your other beer. Like I mentioned, Brett can and will contaminate your other batches, but that shouldn't stop you from brewing them. They give a unique opportunity to challenge what you know about brewing!
Brett and other bugs!!!
So let's take a quick look at what makes a sour beer... sour. In addition to the a fore mentioned Brett, there are other bugs that can play a role in sour beers, namely Pediococcus and Lactobacillus. Let's take a quick look at all three.
Brettanomyces
Brettanomyces (or Brett) is a non-spore forming genus of yeast in the family Saccharomycetaceae, and is often colloquially referred to as blah blab blah blah. You can read the details in Wikipedia. It's the primary strain used to sour beers. Flavors can vary from different types of fruit to horsehair or barnyard taste.
Pediococcus
Pediococcus (or Pedio) produces lactic acid. It adds sourness to your beer. It can also make your beer thick and ropey for a period of time. When this happens, it is referred to as "sick". Eventually it will recover. Additionally, it can produce alot of diacetyl which will give your sour beer a pronounced buttery flavor. Brett can clean this up so you never want to use Pediococcus without Brett.
Lactobacillus
Lactobacillus is primarily used when brewing a Berliner Weisse and can sour a beer faster than Pedio.
Brewing your first sour beer!
So brew day has come and you're wondering what's different about brewing a sour beer... well not much, at least not yet. You're going to brew a beer like normal. Along with the classic sour styles like Oud Bruin, Lambic or Gueuze you can brew a Porter, Mild, Imperial Stout, Tripel and on and on. The only beers you might avoid would be aggressively hopped beers, since they tend to conflict with the sourness and since much of the aroma and flavor is lost during the aging process anyway.
Article in progress...
(more to come)
(more to come)