John currently has two different sour beer brewing experiments going on of different ages. We gathered in his basement recently to check on the progress of those two brews.

18 Month Old Sour Beer

Our first taste test was on an 18 month old version of sour beer. The beer had been in primary for about a year, then it got racked to secondary. 18 months later, we decided to give it a taste. The Brett character is right up front and strong in the flavor. It tastes like a classic funky beer with notes of horse blanket. The acidity is pretty well rounded. It is not strong but it definitely has some acidity to it. There is still some interesting residual body to it. I suspect that if left alone it can continue to sour and evolve.

6 Month Old Sour Beer

The second batch we tasted was the same recipe but put on the one year old yeast/bacteria cake of the first beer. Here we are 6 months into the fermentation of the beer and we decided to open up the bucket and give a look see.

There was a very nice pellicle on this beer. It was bubbly and soft looking. We poked into it with the thief to try a sample. As ugly as she looked, this beer is nicely on its way. It is decidedly more sour than the first. We feel it is a function of a revived and evolved population of microbes from the original Roselare pitch done 18 months ago.

Sour Beer Brewing Wrap Up

Ultimately, I think that both beers need a little more time. Just in time to perhaps brew a third wort and pitch that on the most recent cake once the pellicle falls. Then we’d have three beers that we could possibly start talking about blending, doctoring, or even do some fruit additions.

Sour brewing is pretty new to us so it is a work in progress. Homebrewing is really all about diving in and getting something started.

Learn and rebrew.

Speaking of which, I need to get my sour batch going too.

CHEERS!

Let us know about your sour beer adventures. Please leave a comment below.