One of the most exciting and dynamic segments of today’s brewing scene is American-brewed sour beers, with craft brewers and homebrewers alike adapting traditional European techniques to create some of the world’s most distinctive and experimental styles. This book details the wide array of processes and ingredients in American sour beer production, with actionable advice each step of the way. Inspiration and practical applications for brewers of all levels are provided by some of the country’s best known sour beer brewers, including Russian River, Jolly Pumpkin and The Lost Abbey.

American Sour Beers: Innovative Techniques for Mixed Fermentation

Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction

About This Book

1. Sour Beers: A Primer

A Brief History of Sour Beers
Classic Commercial Examples of Sour and Funky Beers

Belgium
Germany
Great Britain
United States

2. Getting Started

General Suggestions for Brewing Sour Beers
Measuring Acidity
Sanitation and Safety

Sanitation
Safety

Brewing Your First Sour Beer

3. Wort Production

Recipe Overview
Designing a Grain Bill

Base Malts
Specialty Malts
Grains Other than Barley
Sugars

Classic-Style Grain Bills

Berliner Weisse
Lambic and Gueuze
Flemish Red
Flemish Oud Bruin

Water
Mashing

Starch Gelatinization
Turbid Mash

Hops

Aged Hops
Hoppy Sour Beers

4. Know Your Microbes

Saccharomyces
Wine Yeast Strains
Brettanomyce
Lactobacillus
Pediococcus
Acetobacter
Oxidative Yeast and Enteric Bacteria
Sherry Flor
Malolactic Bacteria (Oenococcus oeni)
Microbe Sources

Wyeast Laboratories
White Labs
East Coast Yeast
Brewing Science Institute
Other Strains
Harvesting Bottle Dregs
Other Sources of Microbes

Maintaining Cultures

5. Commercial Methods Of Souring

Classic European Methods

Berliner Weisse
Belgian Lambic, Gueuze, and Kriek
Flemish Red
Flemish Oud Bruin

American Breweries’ Methods

New Belgium Brewing Company
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Russian River Brewing Company
The Lost Abbey and Pizza Port
Cambridge Brewing Company
Captain Lawrence Brewing Company
The Bruery
Cascade Brewing
Ithaca Beer Company
Allagash Brewing Company

Sour Worting

6. Homebrew Methods Of Souring

Mad Fermentationist (My Method)
Other Homebrewers

Dave and Becky Pyle
Remi Bonnart

7. Spontaneous Fermentation

The Basics
American Wild Ales

Jolly Pumpkin Lambicus Dexterius
Cambridge Imperial Lambic
Russian River Beatification
Allagash Coolship Series

Spontaneous Homebrew in America’s Capital

Dcambic (DC Lambic)

Other Sources of Wild Microbes
Conclusion

8. 100% Brettanomyces Fermentations

Strain Selection
Propagation and Pitching
Fermentation
Commercial Examples

100% Brettanomyces IPAs

Conclusion

9. Fermentors And Wood Aging

Oak Barrels

Foeders
Preparing Barrels for First-Use
Transferring to Barrels
Cleaning Between Uses
Storage
Fermentation and Sampling
Emptying Barrels

Other Fermentors

Stainless Steel
Glass and Plastic Carboys
Plastic Bucket
Amphora

Closures and Airlocks
Aging on Wood

Oak Options

Woods Other than Oak

10. Adding Fruits And Vegetables

Fruits

Dried Fruits

Vegetables
Choosing the Right Beer
Adjusting for Processing and Quality
Adding Fruit to Beer
Correcting Flavor Intensity
Impact of Fruit on Alcohol Content
Final Thoughts

11. Aging and Blending

The Long, Slow Fermentation

Topping-Off
Monitoring

Blending

Solera Method

Creativity after Brew Day

12. Packaging

Carbonation

Bottle Conditioning

Re-yeasting

Finishing with Brettanomyces
Bottle Conditioning with Young Beer

Bottles
Microbial Stabilization

Chemical
Pasteurization
Filtration

Kegging and Force Carbonation

Other Options

Waiting for Carbonation
Bottle Aging
Drinking

Critical Evaluation
Blending and Sweetening in the Glass

13. Troubleshooting Guide

Fermentation Did Not Start
Too Much Lactic Sourness
Vinegar or Nail Polish Remover Aroma
Not Enough Sourness
Not Enough Funk
Final Gravity Too High
Unusual Appearance
Too Much Oak
Sulfur Aroma
Other Off-Flavors
Bottled Beer is Undercarbonated
Bottled Beer is Overcarbonated
Wheaty Flavor in Bottle-Conditioned Beer

14. Recipes

Classic Inspiration
100% Brettanomyces Beers
American Original Sours

Appendix A: Fruit And Beer Suggestions
Appendix B: Impact Of Fruit On Alcohol Content
Bibliography
Index

Publish Date: 2014
Format: 6" × 9" softcover
Pages: 398
Publication Weight: 2 lbs