My understanding is that you can’t first ferment cider with sacch, and then add brett/lacto/pedio, because all the sugars will be have been consumed. Correct? Has anyone tried making cider with something like WLP655 Belgian Sour Mix? It contains brett, sacch, lacto and pedio. Good results?
I’ve done “wild” ciders before, but that’s as close as I’ve come to sour. In my experience it doesn’t really sour much. I suspect that malolactic fermentation evens out any sugar to lactic acid production. I’ve never gotten the sort of funkiness you’d expect from Brett. either. Apple juice may not have the necessary precursors to produce a lot of that.
Personally, I’d just use more sour (acidic) apples, but I live in the US and can’t really get proper cider apples so I usually dose with wine tannin and acid blend to get it where I want.
I’ve never tried brewing a sour cider, but since the simple sugars are rapidly consumed by the yeast I’d consider either pitching lacto first or adding some maltodextrin to boost the amount of residual food left for the bugs.
I’d be afraid that a sour cider would be too tart since they finish so dry.
Just brainstorming here. I’ve made a couple of ciders with tart cherries, and backsweetened with honey. They are good, but I would like to blow the skulls off a few people with my next batch.
Apple juice is often used for lacto starters. If you’re really looking to push the envelope, then I’d pitch the lacto first and let it rip before pitching Sacc and/or Brett.
There is a cider company in LA that makes their ciders with a mixed fermentation. I don’t buy them anymore due to the cost at $10 for a bomber and they tend to have large amount of dregs.
Shoot them an email and see what their process is. http://www.101cider.com
The problem is that lactic acid bacteria will all break down the naturally occurring malic acid in apple juice, along with the sugars. This is done intentionally in some wines to reduce the perceived acidity and actually raises pH. As an off flavor in wine it is said to have a green apple flavour, so you might want to keep it around in your cider anyway.
To give another perspective Granny Smiths, a common american tart apple, have a pH around 3.5. That’s in the realm of your flanders red and most lambics already. Add a few volumes of CO2, ferment out to around 1.00 and your are going to be in the realm of Berliner Weisse anyway (pH ~3.1).
not sure what exactly you are suggesting 
I’ve tried making cider a few times and they were all too sour for my liking.
That’s why I don’y make cider anymore. 
I have made a Sacch/Brett cider before. It does keep on going and get funky like beer does. That said, I really did not like it at the time. Nowadays I would probably appreciate it a lot more. Have you ever tasted a Basque cider from Spain? It is very dry, tart, and funky with a distinct green olive flavor. That is what mine tasted like. People pay a lot for Basque ciders but it is certainly an acquired taste that you might not enjoy on your first go. Maybe try a commercial version before simulating your own with Brett. They come very close.
Cheers.
But it’s not a bad idea: try to find a commercial example before making a sour cider. Let’s stick to fruit in season to add in secondary for now, and use wine yeast.
An attempt by Mike Tonsmeire: Sour Cider | The Mad Fermentationist - Homebrewing Blog
Apparently not the greatest of success in the world.
I made a cider late last year with 3522. When the gravity was around 1.020, I racked it into a keg with some oak cubes and pitched a WL vial of brett. That was in January; I haven’t checked on it since.
Maybe I’ll have a chance to sample it this weekend.
In the end I added kolsch yeast to the apple juice. Ferment @15C.
I sampled the brett cider this morning. It has a moderate sourness, and a good amount of barn yard in both the flavor and aroma.
Gravity is now 1.001, which puts it at 7.5% ABV.
I think it’s ready for bottling.
Interesting. Pure brett should not add any sourness at all.