Hey Brewsters, we need participants for the School Series for our upcoming Summer BrewBQ Sat Aug 13.
Boollish and Struck have agreed to use a Tuesday Brewsday to create a big batch of kettle side sour, then we would divide the base beer up and let people add fruit, herbs, and/or spices.
This seems like the most practical way to do a Beer School Series on sours in time for the party. I guess if others have sours to share we could open it up.
We need to pin down a date, but I imagine a bunch of folks would like to learn more about kettle side sours. Hopefully we get a team working on this so we have up to 6 entries.
James, Mike, Kyle, and anyone else, please chime in here and help firm up this idea. Illuminated Brew Works is our partner for this event, and I bet we could get their head brewer to attend our Tuesday Brewsday. I just had a IBW sour blend at Local Option the other night, it was awesome.
Summer BrewBQ Beer Sign Up:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fQAZnJQJQof2d8OdLHG2fpq9ILkFiVXT...
I can bring back my flanders if interested.
I also have some of the westi clone that we barrel aged and it soured. I bottled it and it's cellaring in my parents basement. I'd have to see how much I have, but I could bring a bottle and we could see if it's party worthy?
I'm actually serving a sour/wild as my beer. It's completely different than a kettle sour, though.
I'll help out with the brewday if needed, though. I mean heck, you could do it the Tuesday before the party and be gtg! ;)
Lots of people are bringing sour beer to the party, which I think is fantastic if the hot weather cooperates.
But for our "school series" specifically, we would be brewing 30-odd gallons of wort, souring it over ~48 hours, then doing a boil. Each of the 6 participants would be getting ~4 gallons of sour wort that we envision would play to adding different kinds of fruit (or salt, but hands-off the gose, that's for my share).
Kettle sours are a little different than the sours I think James or Kyle would bring. Long-term soured beers with bug blends typically are more complex, funkier beers, whereas kettle sours are basically straight lactic acid (+citric acid if you are adding fruit) which is more canonically a 3% summer wheat beer. Think of a berliner weisse as a prototypical beer of the style.
In my experience, sour beers typically require a lot of yeast, so I was hopiong for to ask the club to chip in some yeast, since the grain bill for 30 gallons of sour is something like 35-40 pounds.
Thanks for clarifying Boollish, I've signed up for 4 gallons:
Gin & Juice, a Snoop Dogg inspired herbal blend of Juniper, Mint, and Lime.
Will this be July's Tuesday Brewsday on the 12th?
James, we always skew heavy on Belgian beers for Summer, so a Flanders Red would fit right in. IBW has a nice Roselare blend out right now called "All Colors of the Darkness", hope they have still some in August.
We can empty the lambic barrel in time for this also. Ill taste this weekend and decided on an extraction date
Looks like there is a lot of interest in "real" sours being at this party.
If we can lock down some "real" sours for the party, I (and I assume MIke) would be perfectly willing to cut down on the amount of kettle sour to maybe only 20 gallons (or however many it takes to fill up the rest of the school).
James, I think you guys are good with pursuing the Sour School. It's different enough from the other submissions. Plus, it's a cool experiment to show different directions brewers can take with sours. A lit of Homebrew Con is focused on that, so we're on point with everyone else in the country on this.
Let's see what you creative mofos can come up with this summer!
Yes, a variety of sours would be awesome for Sour School, thanks everyone!
I'd still like to help with the Tuesday Brewsday submission, even if it's another day altogether.
Holler - 312-504-7108
Hey Sour Heads,
We don't have enough traction behind a group kettle side sour collab, so Sour School would be better by featuring all the sours we have currently.
Josh, James Lewis, and Kyle have mentioned having sours to offer. I will work with Boollish and Struck to see if we can get a kettle side sour in the mix.
We can pin down details at the meeting this weekend.
~steven
Also, Josh, Bill, Struck, and I are donating our Goose Island Homebrew kits to the party. It is a pale al made with hops that have been kindled for different periods of time (or temperatures). At any rate, its 4 beers that will showcase how slight variations in how you prep hops change the final product
I think you just out-schooled the school. I'm too into my Firday buzz to process an answer. Let's settle it at the meeting Sunday :)
Hey Folks, we are going ahead with Sour School featuring all the sours on the menu (more about variety and processes as opposed to focusing on one technique.)
James, Kevin O, and I have split up a kettle side sour flavored different ways. Kyle has a sour on the beer list. Daniel Barker is bringing a bunch of bottled sours to share.
James Lewis, are you bringing the Flanders Red?
Josh, do you have a sour to contribute?
~steven
Yes, Ill drop it off tonight or tomorrow.
I have bottles but very very few, I'm afraid. That won't go far but I'm happy to share what I have.
Thanks to everyone who stepped up with their "real sours". I look forward to trying all of them.
menu is looking good, here's the sours...