making sour beer. Options

[Thorhale]

so I tried this beer from a place near San Diego called the Bruery, it was a called a belgian golden ale. It was very sweet, but it is just what I am looking to make. They also did this same beer in burbon barels, it was fantastic.

I want to make a christmas beer, a sweet golden ale with cranberry and a bit of spice, and soured ever so slightly.

Unfortunatly I have neither a recipie, nor any clue of how to make a sour beer. Any contributions are much appreciated!

[Soup]

link to recipe that has a sour component.
http://byo.com/recipe/1209.html

to paraphrase:
For the sour mash, start 2–3 days in advance. Steep 3 oz. (85 g) 2-row pale malt in a pint of 150 ºF (66 ºC) water, then cover and let sit for 2–3 days. On brew day, steep the sour mash along with the wheat and dextrin

I followed the recipe and wish I had made more than the 5 gallons, it was fantastic & so drinkable.

[csbosox]

That is a great beer. It is not sweet, but I understand why you would think so, there is a perception of sweetness from the pils malt and the fruitiness. I didn't get much sourness out of it either, just the normal yeast byproducts. You should try to brew a regular Belgian Golden Strong Ale and see what you think. They are very easy to make and the yeast (I've only used the Wyeast version) produces some wonderful flavors. Mine was 1.067 with mostly pils with a little wheat and munich and 14% sugar. I hopped mine a little higher than usual, but try for around 25-30IBU's with Styrian GOldings and Saaz with a fair amount at 15-20 minutes and a fair amount at KO.

[Thorhale]

That is a great beer. It is not sweet, but I understand why you would think so, there is a perception of sweetness from the pils malt and the fruitiness. I didn't get much sourness out of it either, just the normal yeast byproducts.

I didn't find it to be sour, i want to make it sour.

[Jimmy James]

Jamil did a great podcast on Berliner Weiss I think. The take-home, if I remember correctly, was it may be easier to achieve the level of sourness you are going for by souring the beer during fermentation. I have only made a sour beer once and I fermented out with WLP001 and then pitched the bugs. You could brew a Belgian Golden and pitch something like WLP 677 either with your yeast or a couple days after you pitch the yeast. I think Jamil discussed the pros/cons of a sour mash and pitching bugs during fermentation. At any rate, either way will get you there, just go with the method that makes sense to you and your system.

[kbhale]

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jam...l-Show-06-02-08

[BrianHolton]

That is a great idea. I'll be trying it out soon.

link to recipe that has a sour component.
http://byo.com/recipe/1209.html

to paraphrase:
For the sour mash, start 2–3 days in advance. Steep 3 oz. (85 g) 2-row pale malt in a pint of 150 ºF (66 ºC) water, then cover and let sit for 2–3 days. On brew day, steep the sour mash along with the wheat and dextrin

I followed the recipe and wish I had made more than the 5 gallons, it was fantastic & so drinkable.

[erichonour]

I want to make a christmas beer, a sweet golden ale with cranberry and a bit of spice, and soured ever so slightly.

Have you brewed with cranberries before? The tartness they're going to add to your beer may be enough to get you to "soured ever so slightly." The sour mash might also work. If you use brett or other bugs, you may end up further over that line than you intended.

If you haven't made a Belgian golden ale before, you might want to do that first so that you have a feel for your base beer. Then make another batch with the berries, spices, etc.

Good luck,
EH