Sour Ale Experiment #1

This Saturday is the start of a new Homebrewing project.  Sour Ales.  The fear of these bugs goes a lot farther than the understanding of how to contain their unique character.  When writing this I don't want to give the impression that I understand these sour bugs.  In fact this project is a shot in the dark to Danny (Deeperrootsbrewing.com) and I.  Over the next year we hope to gain a fair amount of understanding of these bugs.  For our 1st brewing project we are going to create a Flanders Red Ale now called Farmer's Daughter Red.

Here are a couple of key points that will be controlled/addressed during the fermentation.

• Brewing a 10 gallon collaborative batch at Danny's house.  11/12/2011
• The Wort will be split into two, 5 gallon carboys.  
• Carboy #1 will have WLP655/WLP001 added into it at 62 degrees.
• Carboy #2 will have WLP001 added into it at 62 degrees.  A normal fermentation will be conducted.  We will let the beer free rise up to 68.  It will stay at 68 degrees for one week.
• Carboy #2 will then have WLP655 added after primary fermentation.
• Both beers will let the bugs work on them for 6 months.  
• After 6 months we will try the beers and adjust the timeline if necessary. 
• The final product will be blended together according to taste.
• The left over beer will be blended into the next Flanders Red we brew.
• We are adding 2 oz of used (Kate the Great) American Oak Cubes to my carboy

I will keep this updating about every month as this rides out.  Any changes to the brewing process will also be updated.

Update #1

We brewed this yesterday.  It was a rainy day here in San Diego (Chula Vista)  The brew day consisted of both of our brewing systems.  Danny did the main beer and I did the Gallon Project 2nd Runnings.  Our gravity was to high.  Finishing at 1.070.  We were expecting around 1.060  We also dropped the yeast in both beers today.

My WLP001 fermentation is looking great.  we both pitched at 62 and mine is slowly rising to 68 degrees.  I lost my airlock in the chamber due to a very active fermentation last night.

Update #2

I am adding the used American Oak Cubes from Kate the great in the beer today.  (Dec 13, 2011)