Beer Forum

how do you do a sour mash. ive read like 40 diffrent things online and im still confused. whats the best way to get that sour caracter without waiting a year

markyv wrote:how do you do a sour mash. ive read like 40 diffrent things online and im still confused. whats the best way to get that sour caracter without waiting a year

2 different questions, I hope.

A sour mash is done by mashing your grain & letting it sit for an extended period of time. Hold it at 80-90 degrees for 24 (or more) hours. The lactobacillus found naturally on the grain will go to town on the sugars. You'll draw off a sour tasting wort. You can either choose to boil it or not. You can add other yeast when you normally would... or not.

Getting a sour character in less than a year... well...

You can dose your beer with lactic acid. It's like microwaving a steak. Yeah, you got the job done, but I would never recommend it. It's going to be sour, but lacking character. And depth, and complexity, and all that other deliciousness. Otherwise, you can't. Sour beers are a labor of love & patience. I've got a Flanders Red on deck & even though I'm brewing it sometime in the next month, I have no plans to touch it for well over a year, maybe more than 2. It'll let me know when it's done.

ive got a flanders brown that has been sitting for about 8 months now and it smells amasing but there is not really that much sour caracter to it. i just wanted to get a sour bee on tap quicler. i might try and do the sour mash when it getts a little warmer out. thanks a bunch

I made a batch one time using 1/2 pound of acidulated malt, a saison yeast blend, and aged it on peaches. I was drinking it in 6 months. A sour mash isn't really worth it in my opinion. Just throw some acidulated malt in there.

I have not done a sour mash myself, but the best homebrew I have had was a sour mash berliner made by a friend. He soured the mash for a few days, did a light boil, fermented with us-05 and had a fan-fucking-tastic sour berliner in a matter of weeks. From what I have heard from JZ's show is that this souring method is just not always that consistent. The sour character was really complex and rich. Leaps and bounds above most commercial examples.

If I recall correctly, he mashed then let the mash sit in a bucket in a cooler with some saran wrap on top of the mash to minimize oxygen intake. He added some fresh grains to inoculate with lacto. He filled the cooler with proper temp water and changed it multiple times a day to keep the temperature consistent. When it tasted as sour as desired (2 or so days), he ran the mash off and did a light boil (with some hops I believe) and fermented it out with US-05.

His claim after the multi-day mash was that he would never do it again. After tasting the results, he quickly withdrew that claim.

Sour mash is great. Try Mike Dixon's recipe here. I loved it.

http://www.ipass.net/mpdixon/Homebrew/K ... Common.htm

When performing a sour mash do your best to avoid introducing any oxygen to the mash as this is what leads to those nasty off-flavors in your finished product (ie butyric acid (vomit smell), cheeziness, and shit smells). If you have a corny keg, you could mash your grains in there and purge it with CO2 to minimize oxygen pickup and decrease your chances of getting those off-aromas/flavors. You can easily make a good sourmash beer in under a month with this process from start to finishe. Just something to keep in mind if you plan on doing it.