Monday, July 12, 2010

Dreg Series: Sour Pale Common

So this beer was the first attempt with my new technique for creating sour beers. So I basically I took my California Common wort (1.044) straight from the kettle after boiling for about 5 minutes. In hindsight I should have allowed the hops to boil in the wort for a specified time to get about 5- 10 IBUs. So next batch I will do that. I only removed a half gallon this time but I might go for a full gallon in the future. So all I did was add the dregs from a Bavik Petrus Aged Pale Ale and I also decided to add the Bavik Petrus Oud Bruin dregs as well just to make sure.











To my surprise in 4 days I had a good bubbling pellicle going. I mean this thing took off. Check out the pics and I will keep updating.
 
7/25/10
Gravity Reading shows 1.040
It appears that the activity that I saw was due to lactic fermentation. I smelled and tasted the sample, delicious like a sweet gueze. It had a wonderful aroma of fruits and berries so I think the dregs have done some work. It was not very sour, just enough to give it a bit of crisp. I have added some of the California Common batch, this will add a bit more hops and yeast. I also added .25 oz of medium toast French Oak boiled for 10 min. This will be interesting where it ends up.

2/5/11 Update
Gravity 1.006
Sorta strange taste on this one - has some fruit flavors, a bit of funk, bit of sourness but the 1/2 gallon of California Common added too much bitterness. I need to decide where to go with this one. Maybe let it sour up a bit more then dry hop. That bitterness should keep fading.
Side note: I am not an sour beer expert (yet) but that looks like pedio on top. (it looks "ropy")

2 comments:

  1. good deal. Found this link on Mad Fermentist and I appreciate the specific dregs report. I am about to pop some petrus tops and enjoy some good brew. The dregs will go into my Imperial Sweet and Sour Stout! Cheers and keep up the funk

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For sure, glad it helps. Also I started a thread on HBT about this - http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/easy-way-make-sour-beers-1-gal-wort-dregs-189748/

      A lot of people joined in and it has a lot of good examples.

      I need to update my recipe page as I have many more examples on there too.

      Cheers

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