Sour Red

I think the main reason I've been so attracted to brewing is that it combines science with art.  As an engineer, I am exposed to and appreciate science to the highest level, but I rarely get to express myself artistically.  Brewing lets me do this.  Using bacteria and wild yeast to craft "sour" or wild beers, as done in Belgium for centuries, opens up a whole door of science, art, and inspiration, that many brewers who follow the traditional German or English methods do not get to experience.  Additionally, drinking these beers adds a whole new complexity to the flavors the most experienced traditional beer drinker would associate with beer.  I knew I wanted to brew one of these beers, I just needed a little more time to learn the craft and, um, gain inpiration by seeing what flavors can be found in other sour beers.

Prior to brewing this beer, I read Wild Brews by Jeff Sparrow.  This text covers the history, brewing methods, and tasting experience of sour beer both in Belgium and newer interpretations in America.  I would say it's a must read for any fan of sour or wild beers. 

For my first sour beer I wanted to do a lambic.  However, procedurally, it's a little complicated to begin with (turbid mash, long boil, aged hops, and that's not even getting into spontaneous fermentation).  So I decided to go for my next favorite sour style, a Red Ale.  Something similar to Rodenbach Grand Cru, Russian River Supplication (my favorite), or Jolly Pumpkin La Roja (the commerical bugs I used in this batch), but uniquely my own and most importantly actually drinkable a year from now!

My thought process in designing this recipe is to do a single infusion mash (for simplicity's sake) but do it at a high temperature to give the Brett and bacteria more sugars to eat during the long secondary fermentation.  After a couple of months I'll taste the sourness and add more bottle dregs if I want to try to add to it. Once it's nearly done I'll taste it again and see what fruit I want to age it on. I'll probably bottle half straight and age the other half on fruit for a couple of months.

See also Kombucha Fermented Beer Experiement.

Sour Red Ale
Batch size: 5.5 gallons
OG: 1.060
FG: ???
SRM: 15
IBU: 20

Grain
3 lbs. Belgian Pils Malt
3 lbs. Munich Malt
3 lbs. Vienna Malt
2 lbs. White Wheat Malt
1 lb. Caramunich
6 oz. Crystal 120
~4 oz. Crystal 15

Hops
2.00 Hersbucker (Pellet, 3.1%AA) @ 90 min., left out of freezer for about a month

Yeast
Wyeast 3763 Roeselare Ale Blend
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja dregs (bottled 9/17/2013)

Misc.
1 tablet Whirlfloc @ 15 min.
1/2 tsp. yeast nutrient @ 15 min.

Mash
Sacch rest. at 157F for 60 min.

Water
Carbon filtered DC tap water with some 5.2 stabilizer thrown into the mash.

Notes
Brewed 3 May 2013, by myself
Mash pH seemed a little low so I tossed in some 5.2 stabilizer.
Had some Crystal 15 left over in the bottom of my grain box so I threw that in too.
Collected 6.5 gallons of 1.052 runnings.
90 minute boil.

Cooled 5 gallons of 1.065 wort to 71F, added 1/2 gallon of distilled water to get the gravity down to 1.060.
Pitched the 3763 and dregs and left at ambient temperature to ferment (~70F).
 
6/5/2013 - Racked to secondary with 1 oz. French medium toast oak cubes boiled for 10 minutes. Down to 1.011, subtle sourness, very fruity and sweet, but tasty.  I'll revisit this in a year or so.