Sourish American

I like sour beers, though they take a tremendous amount of time in most cases to do the full souring process. I'm talking like 8 - 12 months minimum. I've completed a Flanders Red which turned out very good but not quite sour enough, and a Belgian strong dark sour which is currently in process, but will likely be ready in another 4-6 months.

A couple of months ago I had a chance to grab a smack-pack of WY3202 - De Bom, a sour blend that can apparently create a good sour in 2-4 months under "optimal conditions". Turns out though that those conditions are fermenting at 75F-80F. Probably I should have brewed this thing in the summer, when things are more in the optimal range. But I figure waiting a long time for a sour is kind of normal. So we'll see what happens.

The recipe is a basically scaled version of Sourish American from The Mad Fermentationist's book, "American Sour Beers." I highly recommend the book, though at this point I cannot directly speak to the quality of the recipes. Though this recipe uses a US 2-Row instead of Pilsner malt and different hops, the biggest difference is the sour mix, since I didn't have a vial of ECY Bugfarm. I also mashed really high to give the bugs lots of complex sugars to chew on.

Sourish American
3.25 gal batch

4.25# US 2-Row
2.5# Maris Otter
12oz White Wheat
8oz Flaked Barley

.5oz Fuggles, 4.5%, 90min

Wyeast De Bom - No starter

Expected OG / FG / IBUs / ABV: 1.062 / 1.009 / 12 / 6.8%

Mash at 158F, sparge with 180F water.

After primary fermentation, add red-wine soaked oak cubes. 

Brewed on 9/13/14
Hit my mash temp well, and the gravity of the pre-boil wort was correct.

However I over-boiled and ended up with like 2.5 gallons of wort, so I topped off with some boiled water to get my volume right. I hardly left any wort in the kettle.

Pitched at around 70F, left in 68F ambient air.

9/14/14, 10pm - Solid krausen forming.

9/22/14 - Krausen has dropped but there still seem to be some bubbles occasionally emerging. Temperature is around 68F - 70F but has fluctuated a bit.