Summer time means fruity sour. My homebrew shop is currently out of Wildbrew Philly sour, a strain of yeast that produces lactic acid as well as alcohol. This yeast has been my go-to for sours for the last couple of years, as it’s a lot less effort than kettle sours and produces similar results. However, I’m strapped for time given I want this beer done by Christmas, and Philly Sour isn’t really an option, so I’m going back to my kettle-sour roots.
I’ll be mashing this beer as usual, and then boiling briefly to kill off any unwanted bacteria or yeast. I’ll then pre-acidify the wort to 4.5ph to give the Lactobacillus a favourable environment for reproduction.
As with my first kettle-sour, I’ll be using Lactobacillus Plantarum in the form of IBS pills from Chemist Warehouse. These contain about 20 billion cells per capsule, which means I’ll need about 7-8 to get in the desired 150 billion cell range. I’ll sour the beer in the Brewzilla for about 24-48 hours, and constantly monitor the change in pH while trying to avoid oxidation. In the past, I’ve used Lactobacillus Plantarum solely, as it produces clean and consistent results without any unwanted funk.
After souring, I’ll boil for 45 minutes, add in 25g of Citra as a whirlpool hop, and then ferment as usual with 2 packets of Safale US-05. I’ll add 3kg of fruit after 5 days (probably strawberry), then cold crash and pressure transfer into a keg.
Fruited Kettle Sour
Luke Ryan
Straight Sour Beer
6.0% / 14.6 °P
All Grain
BrewZilla 35L
72% efficiency
Batch Volume: 23 L
Boil Time: 60 min
Mash Water: 20 L
Sparge Water: 14.58 L @ 76 °C
Total Water: 34.58 L
Boil Volume: 30.08 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.044
Vitals
Original Gravity: 1.056
Total Gravity: 1.060
Final Gravity: 1.014
IBU (Tinseth): 6.5
BU/GU: 0.12
Colour: 6.5 EBC
Mash
Strike Temp — 69.5 °C
Temperature — 65 °C — 60 min
Malts (5 kg)
2.25 kg (40.2%) — Gladfield Pilsner Malt — Grain — 3.7 EBC — Mash
2.25 kg (40.2%) — Gladfield Wheat Malt — Grain — 4.2 EBC — Mash
500 g (8.9%) — Oats, Flaked — Grain — 2 EBC — Mash
Other (3.6 kg)
400 g (7.1%) — Milk Sugar (Lactose) — Sugar — 0 EBC — Boil
200 g (3.6%) — Briess Dextrose — Sugar — 2 EBC
3 kg — Strawberry (Fruit) — Other — 0 EBC — Primary
Hops (25 g)
25 g (7 IBU) — Citra 12% — Aroma — 20 min hopstand @ 85 °C
Miscs
2 g — Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) — Mash
2 g — Gypsum (CaSO4) — Mash
5 ml — Lactic Acid 88% — Mash
10 ml — Lactic Acid 88%— (Pre-acidify)
Yeast
150 billion cells — Lactobacillus Plantarum
2 pkg — Fermentis US-05 Safale American 81%
Fermentation
Primary — 19 °C — 10 days
Carbonation: 2.4 CO2-vol
Water Profile
Ca2+ 55
Mg2+ 15
Na+ 44
Cl- 101
SO42- 57
HCO3- 117
-Mash as usual at 65-66c, with 5ml lactic acid added to wort
-Boil wort for 15 minutes -Cool to 35c
-Add 7-8 capsules (opened) of Lactobacillus Plantarum (20b cells each, in the form of IBS pills)
-Cover to avoid oxidation, maintain 35c for 48 hours until pH of 3.3 is reached
-Boil for 45 minutes -Add whirlpool hops
-Ferment as usual with 2 packets of US-05
-Add fruit after 5 days
-Closed transfer to keg
Resources
Brew Notes
-Pre-boil pH was 4.55 (10ml of lactic acid 88%)
-Added 200g of dextrose to boil
-Boiled for 15 minutes, cooled to 37c then pitched 120 billion cells of Lactobacillus Plantarum (IBS pills)
-Within 24 hours, the pH was 3.25
-Boiled for another 45 minutes, added 300g of lactose and added some whirlpool Citra hops
-OG was about 1.048
-Fermentation started slow, but kicked off strong after about 24 hours. I was meant to pitch 2 packets of US-05 but accidentally ordered 1. Would definitely do 2 next time, with pH this low.
Result
This beer turned out great! It reminded me of the very first kettle sour I made, which was pretty much the exact same recipe. It has a nice clean profile, low bitterness and not a crazy amount of sourness. The strawberry flavour is strong and fresh with minimal funkiness. I definitely prefer the taste of kettle sours over using Wildbrew Philly Sour, but it’s also a lot more effort and more time-consuming. Overall, this was a very successful beer!
