A Great Review on Sour Beer Bugs

Mat "Dr. Lambic" Miller, author of the Sour Beer Blog, just posted one of the best and most comprehensive reviews of brewing organisms used in sour beer production, as well as the myriad of ways that they can be applied to the production of sour &/or funky beers.

Whether new to the sour scene, or an old hand, its a post worth reading.

Michael Tonsmeire Drops Some Knowledge

My favourite home-brew channel (Chop & Brew) just posted a video of sour beer guru Michael Tonsmeire discussing the brewing of sour beers. He starts off with the basics (advice to follow if brewing your first beer), but goes into some of the finer details later in the video. So grab your headphones, a homebrew, and retreat to a quiet corner of your home and let the knowledge flow through you...

 

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Want the Cole's notes version of the details? Here's two handy tables:

Controlling Funk:

Maximize	Minimize
Add wheat malt	Avoid wheat malt
Perform a ferulic acid rest (42C/1208F for 15-30 minutes)	Avoid low-temperature rests; go straight to Saccharification
Primary ferment with a spicy strain (Belgian, hefeweizen)	Primary ferment with a clean yeast
Use a phenolic Brett (B. lambicus, B. bruxellensis)	No Brett, or a mild brett (B. claussenii)
Sour beer in primary fermenter (autolysis = phenols)	Rack to secondary after fermentation. Optional:  cold crashing/fining/filtering
Bottle condition	Force carbonate

Controlling Acidity:

Maximize	Minimize
High saccharification temperature (158-160F, 70-71C)	Low saccharification temperature (146-148F/63-34C)
Use less attenuative brewers yeast	Pitch highly attenuative brewers yeast
Sour with L. brevis and Pwediococcus	Use Wyeast/White Labs L. delbrueckii, or L. buchneri for souring

Anatomy of a Wild Ferment

As part of my Hunting Wild Yeast project I am preparing a series of articles introducing brewers to the various wild yeasts and bacteria that can be found in wild-fermented beverages. But there is no point in describing the various players in a wild ferment without first describing what a wild ferment looks like.

Unlike conventional ferments, while involve one (or perhaps two) well characterized pure strains of yeast, wild ferments involve the successive action of a series of yeasts and bacteria. The organisms tend to appear in waves, with the ever changing nutrient and alcohol content of the brew enabling some species to thrive, while others die off. This complexity is what creates the unique flavours of a wild brew - a complexity that simply cannot be achieved with purified yeasts. My end goal is to purify a series of wild strains that can be used to replicate these multi-stage ferments, but without the risk of a true wild ferment - that being, contamination with a spoilage organism.

In this article I will briefly cover what is known of wild ferments, including the various species that can be found during the fermentation process.

The meat can be found below the fold...