re: Homebrewing Thread: Volume II

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What water do y'all use for brewing? Our tap water isn't as great as BR and the Northshore. I've been using Kentwood spring water but just curious how important that is.

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Water is very important, IMO, to making good beer. I use BR water and treat it for the desired style. For a NEIPA, water is critical.

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Water is very important, IMO, to making good beer. I use BR water and treat it for the desired style. For a NEIPA, water is critical.

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yea BR water is great but not particularly great for brewing. Once i learns about changing the water profile to match your style, the quality in my beer made a huge jump.

i need to get the valve between RO and DI for my RODI filter. so i can truly have a blank slate to do anything with my water.

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anyone with a good bit of beer fruiting experience. Im cold crashing my primary right now(36 hours) to drop as much yeast as i can. I plan to transfer it over 5-6# of small cubed peaches in a secondary. Thinking a good 5-10 days. Should this be done at room temp or at a 40 to prevent yeast from munching on the fruit?

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If your doing it at 40, might as well just add the fruit in the keg. You'll get a lot of flavor that way. As far as refermentation at higher temps, you'll get some but I don't think it will negatively impact your beer at all. It's really up to you.

Well, I'd put them in a muslin bag before I dropped it in the keg. Shouldn't have to worry about particles. But up to you.

well i could control how much peach flavor the beer has by removing the bag once i get enough peach flavor, frick idk too many options.

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Is that for a 5 gallon batch? Last year I used 8 pounds of the peachiest peaches you've ever tasted, and I only got modest peach flavor.

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Yeah, it takes a LOT of peaches to get peach flavor in a beer. I'd plan on supplementing with some peach extract at kegging time if the peach flavor isn't strong enough for you.

Another option is to try to find apricots. They tend to have a flavor very similar to peaches in beer and you don't have to use as much.

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ok i found peaches at Whole foods yesterday. i could double or triple the amount. hell Bmoney i think it is your recipe im doing.

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Well if you're throwing it in the fermenter, make sure you have room. The only downside to adding fruit is you lose beer qty.

I'd also consider freezing the peaches beforehand. Are you using a carboy or a bucket to ferment? If carboy, that may be another reason to throw it in the keg. Easier to get in or out.

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My question is when doing a fruited sour to i throw in the fruit the same time i pitch the yeast and bacteria?

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I wouldn't. I'm assuming your talking about a mixed ferm long age sour. The problem, as homebrewers, when adding fruit is that any fruit not submerged is subject to mold growth, especially if it sits for a long period of time. If it were me, i'd wait and add the fruit the last 2-4 weeks before bottling. Also, read this excerpt from milk the funk about fruit.

Milk the Funk Wiki - Sour Fruited Beers

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Give me some guidance on which bacteria to order since i have no clue what im doing on that piece. I have about 14 bottles of Great Rafts You Me and Everyone We Know, and was planing on throwing in those dregs.

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It's really all preference or really just trial and error. You said you are going to use a wheat ale recipe, so the closest thing to style would be a berliner weisse, though in sour beer, it really doesn't matter.

If you're going wheat, you could use a hefeweizen strain which i'd be curious how those esters/phenols interact with the brett. Typically, stronger phenolic sach strains will enhance the brett funk. I've been using belgian saison strains, but you can use whatever you want. I'd suggest either a hefeweizen strain, or any saison strain, whether it be French or Belgian.

For your Brett strain, each one is different. I thought i had some notes on what each strain does. I can't find them, but again, the milk the funk wiki can help you here. Scroll towards the bottom and it reviews commercial cultures. I'd peruse and find what sounds interesting to you, and either order online, or just see what la homebrew has and pick from there. I used Brett Brux in my first long aged and i really like what it gives off. I have several bottles left, i'd be happy to give you one.

Milk the Funk Wiki - Brettanomyces

For your lactic acid bacteria, you want a lactobacillus strain and maybe a Pediococcus strain for some added complexity. Now the same decision making process can be made again using milk the funk wiki, just type in lactobacillus in the search bar on the milk the funk page (do the same with pedio) and it will give you some information on commercial strains. There are also some good information about whether or not starters are needed for each strain and the aeration requirements.

Some lacto strains are more hop tolerant than others. So keep that in mind if you want to hop your beer. Also keep in mind, Pedio is not very tolerant of hops, so if you are using hops and pedio, you may just be waisting a pedio strain. I've only used pedio in a couple quick sours, and it was a pedio strain designed specifically for quick souring i ordered from Bootleg biology. Any other pedio that i may have, came from bottle dregs. But i can't confirm pedio made it's way into any of my long aged sours.

So, after all that i just typed, you can pick and choose what you want, or i'll just tell you what i used on my first long aged mixed ferm sour.

Sach - WLP565 - Belgian Saison
Brett - WLP650 - Brett Brux
Lactobacillus - WY5335 - L. Buchneri

Keep in mind i had about 4 IBU's worth of hops. It was the perfect amount of tartness for me. My other 2 long aged sours that are still aging are very low in pH and i'm hoping to up the ph towards the end if they are still this tart and i'm not pleased with it either by blending, or adding fruit or something.

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But I should pitch all 3 (yeast,brett,Lacto) all at once? dregs as well?

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You can. I did for my first one. Some sour beer breweries do a co-pitch as well, while others stagger their pitches.

Since it's your first, just pitch all at once.

Oh, and i forgot to mention, they also have strains that are all in one straings, like Wyeast's Roselaire blend. It's got sach, lacto, pedio, brett all in one vial. So you have that option as well. Eventually i will get to using that strain.

And on a personal note, i'll be brewing up long aged mixed ferm batch #3 next friday afternoon. Split batch of 2 bootleg all in one strains. Fall 2016 Solera blend and Mad Fermentationists blend.