Adventures in Homebrew: Sour Mash Belgian Pale (cont.)

When I started brewing my Sour Mash Belgian Pale last month, I was shooting for something close to Russian River’s Redemption, but with a more pronounced sourness. While my brew ended up tasting nothing like Redemption, its story is a dictionary example of the term.

Ten days into fermentation, the brew was stuck at 1.014, unchanged for 4 days and much sweeter than the sub 1.010 final gravity I was aiming for. The beer was also exhibiting a distinct cheese smell that I image is a result of the lackluster sour mash. Disappointed, I just about sent the whole mess spiraling down the drain. At the last minute, I decided to dry-hop it, an attempt to mask the cheese-funk. I added an ounce of Sterling hops to the secondary vessel and racked the brew on top of it. This seemed to kick-start fermentation again and by day 20, I was down to 1.011.

The spicy Sterling hops did a decent job masking the pungent off-odor, but they also completely neutered the tartness of the sour mash. The beer wasn’t bad, just bland, uninspired. Again, I was on the verge of dumping the batch, but decided to reenact my original plan and rack onto some fruit; hopefully gaining back some of the lost tartness. Two gallons were racked onto 2 pounds of cherries; a mix of store-bought red cherries and sour cherries from the tree in my back yard. The other three gallons were racked onto 4 pounds of nectarines and 1.25 ounces of crystallized ginger.

The cherries were pitted and mashed; the nectarines cut roughly and pressed to break up the meat. I didn’t bother sanitizing any of the fruit. At this point, the brew was less beer and more lab experiment. I also pitched a start of Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale yeast into both fermentation vessels. The primary yeast, Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale, has a hard time dropping clear and I was hoping the highly flocculent Scottish yeast could pick up the slack.

After one week on the fruit, the nectarine portion was sitting at 1.009, the cherry portion at 1.007. And then the heat came, pushing the beer into the mid 80′s for 4 days. By last Sunday, day 12 on fruit, the portions had dried out to 1.005 and 1.004. They were also both tasting very good; the cherry tart and a hint medicinal, the nectarine bright and fruity. It was time to bottle.

I mixed up several blends of the two portions for my wife and I to sample. We both agreed that the 50/50 and 67/33 nectarine/cherry blends were the best, leaning toward the latter. A final mix of 61/39 nectarine/cherry was settled on. At this ratio, the sweetness of the nectarine helped bring forward the cherry flavor, but the cherry was light enough that the medicinal quality could not be detected. Wanting an effervescent beer, I primed for 3 volumes, and bottled the batch; which turned out to be a big mistake.

Despite the low final gravity, there must have still been a good deal of sugars left in suspension. After just 4 days carbing at room temperature, I cracked the first bottle last night and was met with a geyser. Well, maybe not a full-on geyser, but I did lose a good 2-3 ounces before the foaming slowed enough to pour a glass. Issue aside, the beer had transformed from being the first batch I was ready to give up on to the best batch I have ever brewed. Redemption. Of course this feeling was quickly replaced with an urgency to get the rest of the bottles moved to the fridge. The last thing I want is my proudest (homebrew) accomplishment blasting a hole through the pantry door.

I will be sharing this brew with a few friends on Monday, pics and tasting notes to follow. Now if we could just get this OLCC mess sorted. I have a sneaking suspicion this batch is will either be completely consumed or detonate before we’re cleared for competitions.

Cheers!
Kevin