Yesterday we brewed more sours. About three weeks ago, a first batch of sours in 2014 was brewed. Our standard batch volume of about 18 gallons results in three 5 or 6 gallon carboys. That gives us the ability to have a single recipe to which we can add three different yeasts. We did this earlier this year with three different Brett strains.
For the batch three weeks ago, each carboy received a dose of British ale yeast and a sour mix of Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. This was the base or control. That is all that went into sour A. Sour B received an addition splash of the ‘dregs’ from a bottle conditioned Oude Tart from The Bruery that we liked. Sour C received the dregs from The Bruery’s Sour in the Rye.
Yesterday, we transferred these three beers into secondary carboys for aging and the newly brewed batch went into the ‘dirty’ carboys so we could use that yeast a second time. This has advantages, notably that it saves money and it gives the new wort a huge population of yeast to help get it started. I’ll call these sour D, E, and F. Sour D went into carboy from sour A, the control. To this we added dregs from a Cascade Kriek Ale. Sour E went into the carboy from sour B and received dregs from a Bottle of The Bruery’s Tart of Darkness. So now sour E has dregs from both Tart of Darkness as well as Oude Tart. Finally, sour F went into the carboy from sour C and is awaiting the addition of some dregs.
A <– control
B <– control + Oude Tart
C <– control + Sour in the Rye
D <– A + Kriek Ale
E <– B(Oude Tart) + Tart of Darkness
F <– C(Sour in the Rye) + TBD
We tasted the early sours coming out of A, B, and C and the results were very interesting. The control, A, had a very mild flavor with just the beginning hints of sourness. Beers B and C had much more pronounced sour characteristics. This was quite unexpected. We thought the dregs added would contribute a minor addition to the sourness of the beer, yet it seemed to dominate the flavor profile. What the heck is in those dregs?! Maybe some superbugs – I don’t know.
And we’re only just getting started 