Sour Mash Experiment - 25%

So here are some details on the 25% sour mash I created.  I am making one-gallon test batches that will be soured in 25% increments.  My first test is a 25% sour.  This means 25% of my wort will be soured and then reintroduced into the primary.

After 3 days this is the wort
with a small pellicle.

I mashed Aromatic, Caramunich II, Special B, Munich and Pilsner with some flaked corn.  After pulling the needed amount of wort, I took 32 oz of the wort and set it aside in a small container.  I then added a handful of the Pilsner malt left over and added that to the 32oz or wort. 

Malt contains lacto bacteria on it naturally.  This is the bacteria that should make this portion of the wort sour.  I then let this sit for 2-3 days while it builds up some funk.

The remaining 75% of the wort is just brewed as normal and I just used dry ale yeast.

After the spoiled wort is filled with funky goodness, I skimmed off the pellicle and strained the gains out.  I took this mixture to the stove top and pasteurized at 180 degrees for 30 minutes.  I let it cool and then added it to the primary with the remaining beer that has been fermenting with the yeast for the past three days.

After fermentation slowed down I moved the beer to a secondary. I let some of yeast settle out for a few days and then added some French Oak chips that had been soaking in beer for a few days.

Gnarly Funk with some tart
cherries popping through

After two weeks I planned to add Oregon Tart Cherries.  This is where things got interesting.  When I opened the small bucket I was fermenting the beer in, I noticed there was another pellicle! 

I skimmed off the film and then added the cherries.  A week later and the funk was really starting to take over the beer - which I hope is a good thing.

I decided to skim the funk off one more time and transfer the beer to a tertiary fermenting bucket without the funk, cherries and oak.  The thought here was to just clean up the beer for one-two days before bottling.

Clean beer under the funk

On bottle day I decided it was time to try the beer.  Under all of that funk was a nice amber colored beer.  It had some nice malt flavor to it and a lemonade-like tartness. 

I was satisfied – so – into the bottle it went.  In one more week it may be time for a taste to see how phase one of this experiment really turned out.  More to come once we crack a bottle.