Not quite a Festina Peche clone..please hold my hand

[Phil]

I had festina peche for the first time a couple weeks ago and was blown away. What a great refreshing summer beer. I don't want to bother trying to clone it, but it gave me some ideas for a sour peach beer.

Based on berliner weisse recipes around the net, i'm thinking of the following recipe.

5 gallon batch
2.5 lbs wheat malt
3.5 lbs continental pilsner
1 oz saaz in the mash
mash at 147F, then sour for a few days

boil .5 to 1 oz saaz 15 min
WPL011 European Ale (maybe WLP001?)
49 oz (1 can) peach puree in the fermenter

Thoughts on any of the following?

I'm going to sour the mash for 2-3 days with a handful of raw grain. Leaning more like 3 days since there will be no lacto in the fermentation (don't want to deal with bugs yet).

Going with wheat malt on a hunch. I'm thinking unmalted wheat would give it too much mouthfeel, taking away from the refreshing-ness.

I think saaz would be good against the sweetness, but maybe sterling? keep it simple and go with a mild hop? Does 1 oz in the mash and half ounce in the boil sound good? i know you lose utilization in mash-hopping, and the boil is very short so maybe an ounce for each.

I've heard apricot tastes more like peach than peach, but I called Oregon Fruit and the gravity on apricot is significantly higher (13-18% brix vs 10-14 for peach) and I want this to finish really dry and under 5% abv.

I'd really appreciate input on any aspect of this recipe. This is the first time I've formulated my own, I know it's to do something weird like this for my first try but whatever. I've got good beer lying around if this doesn't turn out nice.

[Phil]

let's double check for a second:

1.36 kg of puree at 15% brix yields 0.2 kg of sugar, which yields about 11 points in 5 gallons of beer, so with my malt bill i should shoot for 1.031 to get an OG of 1.045 with the puree. right?

[calpete]

I recently tried the Festina, too, but I wasn't so enamored. It's not the first sour beer I've tried, nor the last, but I wouldn't call myself a real sour fan. At least not yet.

While I was intrigued by this beer, and I almost liked it, I kept getting an off-putting stomach-acid aftertaste. (And no, I wasn't throwing up in my mouth while looking at pictures of Baloo and Glopper in their Lunch Meat shirts.) Do others get this same flavor from this beer? I expect the acidity, obviously, but I think there is something about the peach that presents it in the wrong way. At least for me.

[BrewChemistinCO]

While I was intrigued by this beer, and I almost liked it, I kept getting an off-putting stomach-acid aftertaste. (And no, I wasn't throwing up in my mouth while looking at pictures of Baloo and Glopper in their Lunch Meat shirts.) Do others get this same flavor from this beer? I expect the acidity, obviously, but I think there is something about the peach that presents it in the wrong way. At least for me.

I got a 4 pack of Festina Peche a few weeks ago and was severely disappointed. I love a lot of the DFH brews and when I heard of this beer I was really excited. I got a ton of the rancid butter taste at the end and it was really not a taste I liked. As far as peach beer clones go has anyone heard of a recipe for New Belgiums Eric's Ale? I think that was one of my favorite sours and a great peach beer.

[Phil]

Man i dunno where those flavors are coming from. All 4 bottles i got had a nice dry finish and mostly just peach and sourness throughout, and a bit of graininess that i actually liked since it makes it seem more beer-ey.

the ratebeer reviews are all over the place. maybe this is just one of those love it or hate it beers, which is a good reason to try and brew one that's not so divisive in my book. or maybe it travels/ages poorly?

[Evan B]

My fiance and I are big fans of this beer, and have had it in our fridge pretty consistently for the past few months. It has a pretty strong tart-ness that I've noticed throws a lot of people off. But on a hot summer day, it's one of my new favorites.

Though sampled next to Russian River Consecration, it does pale in comparison

[mediumsk]

i always do a 50 50 mix of pils/ wheat malt, mix the grist and mash in half at 154 degrees then let it drop to 100 degrees and hold for 4 days ( you dont actually have to throw a handfull of grain in) on brew day i mash the other half at 150, mix the 2 after conversion and proceed as normal. ive never had a problem with it not attenuating down enough, i think the reaaaaally long sour mash makes a much more fermentable wort.
anyways, the 3 that ive brewed using this process have given me a mid level sourness, definitely noticeable but not intrusive, i feel that the secondary ferment on peaches would definitely bring it into that assertive level of tartness. Bottling with lactobacillus is also a traditional way to get even more tartness.
i wouldnt worry about hops too much. they really dont play into the beer at all unless your doing something like dry hopping it. i would shoot for 5 IBU's rager formula.
i love these things and just wanted to give my process, i hope it helps you with yours

[Phil]

i always do a 50 50 mix of pils/ wheat malt, mix the grist and mash in half at 154 degrees then let it drop to 100 degrees and hold for 4 days ( you dont actually have to throw a handfull of grain in) on brew day i mash the other half at 150, mix the 2 after conversion and proceed as normal. ive never had a problem with it not attenuating down enough, i think the reaaaaally long sour mash makes a much more fermentable wort.
anyways, the 3 that ive brewed using this process have given me a mid level sourness, definitely noticeable but not intrusive, i feel that the secondary ferment on peaches would definitely bring it into that assertive level of tartness. Bottling with lactobacillus is also a traditional way to get even more tartness.
i wouldnt worry about hops too much. they really dont play into the beer at all unless your doing something like dry hopping it. i would shoot for 5 IBU's rager formula.
i love these things and just wanted to give my process, i hope it helps you with yours

now THAT's a fuckin reply. thanks brotha. i'm going to follow this mash process and maybe bottle with lacto.

do you just pitch a vial with your priming sugar and rack onto it?