sour IPA thoughts?

Beer Recipes
1

Looking to brew a sour IPA as a side challenge for an upcoming competition.  I see there are a few craft breweries out there producing sour IPAs.  I don’t mean dry hopped sour ales or IPAs fermented entirely with Brett.  I mean Lactobacillus soured IPA style beers with high IBUs.  Anyone ever tried it?  I don’t live where I can find any commercial examples.  I’m guessing kettle souring is a must, then boil and brew as a normal IPA, otherwise the high IBUs would inhibit Lacto fermentation.  I’ve always been under the impression sour and bitterness don’t mix but am now curious after hearing about a few commercial breweries trying it.  I’m thinking I’ll try blending a sour ale and a regular IPA on a small scale first, just to experiment before committing to five gallons.  I’d appreciate any insight.

Cheers,

Jeff

2

Yeah you need to kettle sour because the combination of high IBU and LAB doesn’t produce acidity in most circumstances.

I’m not a fan of the sour IPA. It doesn’t work IMO; the character clashes and you lose a lot of the hop character.

3

+1.  Sour and bitter I just do not enjoy together.  Try drinking a sour beer followed by a fresh IPA.  It’s like brushing your teeth after you drink orange juice.

4

Its ok to try brewing one, but its also ok not to. I agree the two clash.

5

I have plans to try something like this, but at very low IBU’s. My plan is to do a sour wort, then bring it up to 170F to pastuerize. Once it gets there I’ll do a hop stand with a whole bunch of hops, much like I’d do with a normal hoppy beer. At that temp there will be minimal isomerization but you will get a lot of hop flavor and aroma. This way there is less of a clash between bitter and sour flavors.

I’m thinking you’d want to stick with fruity/citrus hops rather than pine/earth/herbal. Citra, Galaxy, Meridian, Motueka, Nelson, etc. would be the route I’d go.

6

Thanks for the insight.  I found a little more information I thought I’d share.  Trinity Brewing in CO was one of the craft breweries I was thinking of when I mentioned commercial sour IPA examples.  Their Red Swingline is 100 IBUs (theoretical) and 3.6 pH.  Check out this blog post: Microbus Brewery: Super Juice Solution - Trinity Brewing

Based on some info I found on Milk the Funk, a lower pH reduces hop utilization.  Thus, a 100 IBU beer doesn’t taste quite as bitter when the pH is lower.

I’ll do some experimenting and see what I come up with.

7

I’ve had some decent ones fermented with Brett, but they’re not really sour.

8

+1.  Maybe even a tiny bit of tartness, but that is all.

9

Im a firm believer in brewers trying out whatever they can dream up. I also believe in giving yourself permission to not brew versions of IPAs. So, go for it and let us know how it goes. But brew a non hoppy one to compare it.

10

I just tapped a 100% Brett brux (wyeast) 100% citra and 100% red wheat, the funk factor is huge with the estimated (beer smith) 133 IBU’s taking a back seat in flavor

No sourness though, ph was 4.43 on the mw-102

I can only see a dry hopped sour working out, otherwise the hops will prevent any evident sourness

11

Hmm, this sounds rather interesting. My initial thoughts are that sour and high IBUs doesn’t sound good together. However, I haven’t had one either. It would be an interesting experiment. I say go ahead and give it a whirl. Perhaps do a small batch.