Has anyone said “fu#k it” and made the switch to an entire sour operation? No separate gear to speak of and only fermenting sours?
Not me, and not likely in the near future. Just love clean ales and lagers too much
I don’t make a huge effort to keep things separate. occasionally I get bit by it but not usually. I have thought about it.
If you like sours, why not? I lost my taste for them, as they are bad acid reflux triggers.
Yep. Damn old age.
I need to start a sour program. My wife is into them and they are too expensive to buy on a regular basis. Luckily she likes wine more than beer.
+1 - some sours are great for a glass, to appreciate. but I wouldn’t want 10 gal of it.
Sounds like you’ve never had a Gose.
I bet he has. I like all kinds of sours, including gose, but I’m with Paul: I like them in smaller amounts and less often.
Another +1. I like and appreciate it in small quantities. Not sure if I’ll keep tinkering with brewing them or just buy a good one or two occasionally. I agree with Jeff on the acid reflux thing - more than one or two doesn’t agree with me. Justin - if you’re really committed to it, go for it. Different ballgame though.
I use to brew a ton of sour beers including lots of blending which turned out great. In the past 2 years I have slowly been fading away from brewing them as I just wasn’t drinking them as often. I am enjoying other beer styles more though. I usually have at least one sour going in the pipeline. Right now I have a flanders red aging on merlot soaked oak cubes in secondary. Haven’t even had a sample of it since I racked it to the secondary last September.
I’ve had a handful of different ones. I appreciate the craftsmanship and talent it takes to create a good one I just prefer other things.
one thing I don’t like, when judging, is the proliferation of really bad sour beers that are passed off as “its supposed to taste that way, you just don’t know sour”
Yeah, I love that explanation. Acetic acid in your face!
Nail polish remover in a caged and corked 750 ml bottle.
Here, try some of my acetone sour said the guy at the local club meeting.
I really enjoy sours, but I have judged them a few times and some folks enter a flawed beer - not good. I have a few that are in the rotation: a Flanders blend Solera project that is several years in the process now (blending old an new each year) and an annual Blackberry Brett Saison. For me, the thing is that the underlying base beer must be good in order for the sour to be good. One guy in my club is quite expert at sours and some of his Brett beers are truly a joy to drink. The acid bombs that peel the enamel of your teeth - no thanks. I made one Berliner Weisse that was so sour that I used it to back sour a Gose - a unique way to avoid kettle souring the Gose and to achieve the right level of lactic flavor, I also salted it at the same time to get what I wanted.
As to the OP - I cannot see why I would give up my favorites and go only sour. Like others said, sours are great, but I like variety, too.
To me, sours are like barley wines. They are a treat that I enjoy once or twice a month. I brew a couple of batches if each a year and that is already more than I would consume even if I didn’t try any commercial examples. Thankfully both are typically suitable for cellaring.
The vast majority of my brewing is sour/brett but I do brew some clean beers. I have a couple sets of equipment but tend to only use one and diligently clean it all. Bottling equipment gets bleach bombed days before bottling clean beers (and then sanitized immediately before bottling). No problems with that process.
Not sure I will ever completely give up on clean beers. It’s a great way to explore ingredients and sometimes I’m not in the mood for horse blanket and acid.
I really enjoy Sours and make one every couple of months. I could never just limit myself to “all sour” though because my BADD (Beer Attention Deficit Disorder) would not allow it.
Not a fan of sours, but appreciate the talent and effort it takes to make them.