Michael Tonsmeire Drops Some Knowledge
My favourite home-brew channel (Chop & Brew) just posted a video of sour beer guru Michael Tonsmeire discussing the brewing of sour beers. He starts off with the basics (advice to follow if brewing your first beer), but goes into some of the finer details later in the video. So grab your headphones, a homebrew, and retreat to a quiet corner of your home and let the knowledge flow through you…
Edit:
Want the Cole’s notes version of the details? Here’s two handy tables:
Controlling Funk:
| Maximize | Minimize |
| Add wheat malt | Avoid wheat malt |
| Perform a ferulic acid rest (42C/1208F for 15-30 minutes) | Avoid low-temperature rests; go straight to Saccharification |
| Primary ferment with a spicy strain (Belgian, hefeweizen) | Primary ferment with a clean yeast |
| Use a phenolic Brett (B. lambicus, B. bruxellensis) | No Brett, or a mild brett (B. claussenii) |
| Sour beer in primary fermenter (autolysis = phenols) | Rack to secondary after fermentation. Optional: cold crashing/fining/filtering |
| Bottle condition | Force carbonate |
Controlling Acidity:
| Maximize | Minimize |
| High saccharification temperature (158-160F, 70-71C) | Low saccharification temperature (146-148F/63-34C) |
| Use less attenuative brewers yeast | Pitch highly attenuative brewers yeast |
| Sour with L. brevis and Pwediococcus | Use Wyeast/White Labs L. delbrueckii, or L. buchneri for souring |
