Sour Beer

[sockmerchant]

I have been on a huge sour beer kick as of late. Especially flanders red and oud bruin. Lambic's can be a bit more hit and miss for me.

A few questions

Are any (commercial) brewers in NZ venturing into there territories as yet? It would be awesome to see an NZ take on the these beers. They are a giant pain in the bum to brews though, so i wouldnt be surprised if no one has.

Does anyone on here do these? I have started a couple recently, but clearly it will take some time before i know if i did a good job. Would be awesome to do some bottle swaps in the future. 

Assuming someone has brewed some flanders style sours, have you used WLP665 Flemish Ale Blend? Impressions? How does it compare to wyeast Roesalari blend?

Cheers 

[Scarrfie]

That sounds like it is going to be tasty! Can't wait to hear how it turns out and can't wait until I feel like I have the skills to brew something like this.

[sockmerchant]

There's nothing all that hard about the brewing of sour beer mate. The patience is another matter :) 

I currently have just over 100 Litres of sour beer fermenting in my garage. Two batches should be ready in a month or two. The rest will be a year...or two.

I thought about brewing some sours a year or more ago. At the time, waiting more than year made me change my mind. If I damn well brewed it back then though ... I'd have some sour beer to drink now.

[Scarrfie]

Oh I can be patient. I have an Imperial Stout about to make its debut tomorrow night at TBAG (The Beer Appreciation Group) at Tahi Bar and that has been sitting for almost a year. I would wait longer but this months theme is stout. So I guess when looked at that way then I could go for a sour. I had about 20 old fashioned dozen beer at my peak but stocks have got low over summer due to being on tank water. So for the next few brews it will be stouts, dark ales and an IPA for the July TBAG. 

[sockmerchant]

Sour beer update:

Flanders Brown: Its sick! Basically the pediococcus creates a slimyness. And loaaaads of lactic acid. It will go away with time

"This harmless but off-putting polysaccharide slime can pour with the consistency of oil or perhaps thin snot, so it is no surprise that this condition has come to be known as “sick” beer, or more specifically as the fat sickness, “la maladie de la graisse” in French." 

Putting aside the beer snot, its tasting much better than it did a month ago. Getting some sourness to it now. and the funkiness has turned more dark fruit than... rotten dark fruit.

Gose: I think the gose is done. Seems the same as it did a few weeks ago. So i'll probably bottle it soon. Some coriander is coming through now. Fairly tart but not unbearably so. Think it will be a nice wheat beer.

A portion is sitting on some fijoa, so that will need to wait a wee bit longer.

Flanders Red: This one tasting freakin awesome right now! Its already more sour than the standard rodenbach. A bit of acidity is kicking in. Very nice and funky. Honestly, at this point i probably like it better than most of the sours available from nz brewers. Its still a baby though, so will need to give it plenty more time.  

Its currently in plastic to promote sourness, but i might need to move it to glass in the near future. getting pretty sour. 

Quick Sour: This one is looking promising. Its only a week old. Moderately tart. Veeeery Funky. It fermented through, but i'll give it another month or so to develop. Added some oak cubes that have been soaking in pinot. I suspect I will rack half of it onto sour cherry eventually. 

[Peter Smith]

how did your quick sour go?