Going to Brew First Kettle Soured Beer

[tominboston]

I don't drink sours myself but my older son is a fan, so he is putting a recipe together. I know enough to at least be concerned regarding after brewing sanitation of the equipment. I think I will use a glass carboy to ferment (its just a 3 gallon batch). I have been using the carboys only to collect RO water and after letting the bottom of one "tap " my basement floor when trying to get some water for a starter, I am moving more towards using plastic spring water 5 gal jugs for this in the future. Prob took me a month to shop vac up all the tiny glass shards from that disaster. So I would have no problem trashing the carboy I use for this sour fermentation or keeping it out in the shed away from the other brew gear.

I think he has the 3 gal recipe set up for BIAB and I may be able to get it into a 5 gallon kettle but not sure yet. I would like to as I have a 5 gallon kettle that I really do not use much for other than heating up spare water etc.

So to prevent problems down the road with other non-sour batches, I can certainly replace the rings on my SS brewtech kettle (I seem to have accumulated a bunch of spare o-rings ) and I can boil and sanitize the valve before reassembling. I have the standard Starsan as well as an iodine based version.

What do you guys think about how to make sure I don't start a permanent bacteria farm in my gear from this batch?

[sneezles61]

I'm not in that loop, yet, Ive heard some of the horror stories from the big brew guys up north being contaminated by the wrong "bug"....
Being simple... The SS wouldn't be a problem like the soft stuff... hoses and as you mentioned gaskets... Get some new hoses... and use the "old ones" for the sour side... Even the valve seat...? Perhaps?
Sneezles61

[tominboston]

Thanks. My son corrected me a bit, it will be a yeast that contains the souring bacteria that will be added to the fermenter only. So that is a relief that it will be contained to the glass carboy only. So when it’s done I will take the bung and airlock and toss them in the trash and then clean the carboy and then let it sit full of sanitizer for the foreseeable future...... and toss out whatever I use to transfer from carboy to keg i guess. But at that point it will be beer with alcohol so i am unsure what the danger level is.
I feel like I dodged a bullet.

[brew_cat]

OK don't freak out about it. If you kettle sour tha lacto is killed when you boil so contamination is 0. If you pitch a bacteria its pretty easy to clean with bleach water.

[brew_cat]

Just curious a few years ago it seemed sours were getting very popular especially gose and Berliner Weis styles. Haven't been out lately still popular ?

[squeegeethree]

There's nothing to fear from sours. Even Brett which is the hardest to deal with is easy enough to handle with proper sanitation. A true kettle sour is done in the kettle and not the fermenter and as @brew_cat says the bacteria die in the boiling of the wort.
I really recommend to new Philly Sour yeast for making sours as it has all of the advantages of souring without any of the risk.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/lallemand-wildbrew-philly-sour

[tominboston]

I don’t see sours that much, but when I took my sons to Asheville a couple of years ago for the home brew con, there were breweries in the area that specialized in the more “funky” stuff. I tried one and if I were trying to make sure I was not going to overindulge....... i would order a sour and it would take me all night to finish it. But some people really get into them.

[tominboston]

Thanks, that is pretty much the way my son is going this time, he will try this: https://www.theyeastbay.com/mixed-culture/melange

[squeegeethree]

I love that culture mix from yeast bay. You will get something much more complex than what I suggested. However, be warned that it has 5 kinds of Brettanomyces in it. You will want to sanitize all your equipment well afterwards. No big deal, just be sure to break every component down.

[tominboston]

Thanks! I will be super careful