BeerBorg

Hey guys,
My LHBS is out of all wheat and even pilsen...
My Berliner is gone...I need to brew something though!

Here's the recipe I did for my last Berliner that turned out great. I'd say these are 4 gallon batches in the end.
3# Wheat
3# Pilsen
.5 oz Tett @ 15
US-05
5 day sour mash at ~120F steadily decreasing to around 80F
Natural Lacto on handful unmilled grains
3.15lbs of raspberries for a week in secondary

This beer turned out amazing. I want something similar.
So since I can't have wheat/pilsen, what about 100% 2-row? It should be much more bland in the base.
Just looking for ideas at this point. Maybe an all 2-row sour will turn out awesome? Hell, maybe I can throw caution to the wind and do the secondary treatment from the sour fest of:
1.5# blackberries
1.5# tart cherries
1# raspberries
32oz of grape juice, though that was for 5 gallons so maybe dial it back 1/4

Suggestions? Criticism? Old cheese? Throw it all at me please!

The biggest difference in the "sour profile" I think will come from the wheat starches that the sour bugs like to eat not being there. Although that might not be that big of a deal in a sour mash vs. a long term aged sour. They may not come so much into play until much later in the process when the bugs run out of the sugars IE in a bulk aged sour like a gueze.

I make "dampfbier" once in a while which is basically wheat beer without wheat. It tastes great, just "different", so I would imagine the same would be true for a sour like this - still could be great, just different.

I'd try it just to see.

So you are saying it will be less sour? Cuz that would suck =(

jivex5k wrote:So you are saying it will be less sour? Cuz that would suck =(

I don't know. It probably will still get plenty sour I think.

I know the sour bugs like to eat any left over starches from wheat/oats/etc. that regular yeast won't touch which is why unmalted wheat/oats is often used in authentic aged sours like Gueze and also in Lambics. Without unmalted wheat/oats in those, they might not develop the proper level of sourness. They are not just lacto, they have brett and other stuff in the mix too. The idea is to give them food when the more normal sacc yeast strains poop out.

But since your using malted grains and doing a sour mash, you will get some sugar conversion and the bugs will be eating the already modified starches that don't convert in there right up front when sugars are not available. So I think your still good. Just different.