Sour Blonde 1.2.1

It has been 3 months since I brewed my first batch of Sour Blonde which is loosely based on a Belgian Lambic.  I will be transferring that beer off it's yeast cake and brewing a new batch to add to it.

For this batch I'll be using the same grain ratios but upped slightly to account for projected lower efficiency.  That will be 60% Pilsner Malt and 30% Flaked Wheat to try to simulate the starch contributions of raw wheat in a turbid mash (might try for a real turbid mash next time).

I plan on mashing at 162 F to try to preserve more sugars for secondary fermentation.  I missed that mark last time and after a month of fermentation the beer was down to 1.014.  I would like that to be in the 1.02s for this batch to try to get a bit more sourness.

Like last batch I'm going to leave the beer out over night to cool and hopefully collect some wild yeast to provide some other flavor contributions.  I don't expect high risk or high rewards associated with this as I'm pitching onto a cake that likely still has brewers yeast living in it but it's fun to imagine that I'm going to get something unique doing it this way.  I did learn that I lost a lot more volume from evaporation chilling this way so I plan on stopping the boil at 7 gal in order to end up with 6 gal in the fermentor.

It's really kind of fun brewing these batches of beer that I'm going to get to watch evolve over the next several years.  I know there is a risk that this particular beer might not turn out but I'm viewing all of these "Sour Blondes" as part of one big project where, even if one isn't great or doesn't sour up much, it could still potentially be used as part of a blend or, at the very least, teach me something useful about the process.

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 9 lbs Pilsner Malt
• 4 lbs 8 oz Flaked Wheat
• 5 oz Acid Malt
• Hops:
• 1 oz Hallertau (Pellet, 4.6% AA) at 120 min
• Yeast:
• Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend (Second Pitch)
• Water:
• 11 gal Spring Water
• 2 gal Tap Water
• 1 tsp Calcium Chloride
• 1 tsp Irish Moss at 20 min

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6.25 gal (Target 6 gal)
• Mash:
• 162 F for 60 min
• Boil:
• 150 min
• Fermentation Temp:
• Ambient Basement Temps (62 F to 75 F)
• Primary Duration:
• 3 months
• Secondary Duration:
• TBD (15 to 33 months)

Results:

• OG:
• 1.050 (Target 1.055)
• Efficiency:
• 64% (Target 68%)
• FG:
• TBD (Target 1.006)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• TBD (Target 89%)
• ABV:
• TBD (Target 6.43%)

Brewing Notes:

• 2/7/15 Brew day Part I - 2:00 PM to 7:20 PM including setup and cleanup
•  Brought 6 gal up to 196 F - Took 26 min
• Added the CaCl to the kettle
• Transferred 15 qt to the mash tun and let settle for 5 min - ended up at 182 F
• Added the grain and stirred vigorously to eliminate dough balls.  Ended up a bit high at 165 F so I added 2 cups of cool spring water which lowered the mash temp down to about 162 F

• Stirred after 30 min to try to improve efficiency - temps were down to 156 F which was pretty frustrating.  It was a pretty thick mash so that probably contributed (less thermal mass to hold the temps)
• Brought 9 gal of water to a boil - took 40 min

• At the end of the 60 min mash it was down to the high 140s to the low 150s
• Added 2 gal of near boiling mashout water, stirred, and then drained without a vorlauf - drained slowly at first and then with the valve all the way open (got some very cloudy muddy looking wort)
• Added 3.5 gal of boiling water for a batch sparge (raised mash temp up to 185 F), stirred and then drained
• Added a second 3.5 gal of boiling water which brought the mash temp up to 188 F (running a risk of extracting tannins) and drained
• Collected 12 gal of wort
• Brought to a boil (came pretty close to a boil over with that large volume) - took 25 min
• Once the volume got down to 11 gal I added the 120 min hops

• Added the irish moss once the volume got down to 725 gal
• Ended the boil at 7 gal
• Move the pot to the front porch to cool down over night and hopefully capture some interesting wild yeast from the air
• 2/8/15 Brew day Part II - 7:00 AM to 7:25 AM:
• Wort was down to 45 F the next morning.  Had 6.25 gal of wort remaining after evaporation.
• Cleaned up the krausen ring around the bucket the held the previous batch of Sour Blonde and swirled the yeast cake with the 1 cup of beer I left behind when transferring 1.1.1 to secondary
• Transferred SB 1.2.1 onto the yeast cake - transferred most of the cold break but left the hops for the most part.  With the wort being so cold I image the yeast will be a bit shocked and probably take a while to start fermentation

• Measured OG as 1.050 which is about 64% efficiency.  The sample was very cloudy - lots of starches in the wort.  It was sweet but also pretty bready - I'm guessing the the mash temp problems aren't going to screw up the souring of this beer too much.  No tannins in the flavor.
• Moved down to the basement to ferment - will check on the gravity in a month once primary fermentation is complete.
• 2/12/15 - The beer finally started to bubble today.  It filled the airlock with gunk.

• 3/14/15 - It has been just over a month since brewday.  Pulled a sample and measured the SG as 1.008.  So, it's down a bit more than I would have liked (would rather have seen it in the teens).  I'm going to try really hard to keep the mash temp higher on the next batch.  No real pellicle on the beer at this point but it does have a tart aroma.  The beer has a very slight acidity with a bit of brett funkiness - tastes nice.  I believe it's a bit farther along the road towards souring than the previous batch was after a month.

• 5/10/15 - Transferred to secondary after 3 months - took a bit of the yeast cake with me to give the brett a bit of extra food.  Measured the gravity as 1.006.  The beer has pretty intense funky/fruity aroma like the last one.  The flavor is also pretty funky - no real sourness has developed yet.  It's very similar to the last one except for the lower gravity at transfer.  I'll check on this again in 3 months.

• 3/4/16 - Sampled the beer today.  Measured the gravity as 1.005.  It has cleared beautifully and is a very nice golden color.  There is a pretty strong brett funk on the nose.  Quite a bit of brett in the flavor as well.  Still no sourness has developed.

• 10/20/17 - Status Report:
• A bit of earthy funk along with a bit of fruit
• Lightly gold and slightly hazy
• Beer has a bit of earthy funk.  Also get some alcohol flavor.  Maybe a slight bit of fruity ester mixed in as well.  No sourness has developed
• Pretty mild flavored and not very complex
• 12/2/17 - Topped off with 1 gal of lacto soured 1.020 beer to add a bit of sourness to this beer and to give the bugs a bit more to eat after a couple years.
• 5/25/18 - Status Report:
• Pungent earthy and cheesy aroma to the beer.  Maybe a bit of overripe fruit.  Quite musty as well.
• Light gold and clear - a few pellicle chunks floating in it.
• Fruity with a light tartness in the finish.  Has some earthy brett notes.  I detect a bit of sulfur.  Also get a bit of bread flavor in the finish on this one.
• Medium-light bodied a bit of sweetness to it.  A bit of prickling acidity in the mouthfeel.  Drinkable beer.
• Some nice flavors and aromas with pretty good complexity.  I quite like this one
• 6/3/18 - I used this batch on three blends today:  4 gal in a Plain Sour Blonde, 1 gal in a Cherry Sour Blonde, and 1 gal in a Raspberry Sour Blonde.  The beer seemed to have improved a lot with some extra food which made it very attractive as a blending component.  As unimpressed as I was with it 6 months ago that was a big surprise.  There was about 1 quart of beer remaining at the bottom of the glass carboy along with some yeast dregs.  I added Sour Blonde 6.1.1 to this (calling this Fermenter #2).

Lessons Learned:

1. I don't think collecting all the pre-boil volume I did makes much sense.  The runnings from the final batch sparge were like water - I can't believe I got much sugar out of the beer with that one.  I also don't think a 150 min boil bought me anything that a 90 min boil wouldn't have.  I'm really sick of doing batch sparging.
2. Mashing this batch was a disaster - can't move to the RIMS setup quickly enough.  It seems like no matter how much stirring I do the mash varies significantly in temperature from one spot to another.  I'm sure the beer will be fine but this fire and forget methodology just doesn't suit me very well - I want control that I'll never be able to have with the current setup.
3. I like the simplicity of this recipe and I think I'm getting good starchy wort out of it in spite of the mash not behaving as expected.