All Grain Brew Day - Blackberry Kettle Sour Tutorial

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In this video, I go through the necessary equipment and the full 2 day process on how to do a kettle sour the easy way. I typically use a 32oz Goodbelly probiotic drink on the first day to sour the beer.
For more in-depth videos on the brewing equipment, brewing process, and transferring to a secondary, see the videos below. Happy Brewing!!
You can see all the exact equipment I use in my videos at my Amazon page here:
www.amazon.com...
*Recipe*
Ingredients:
white wheat malt - 7.5 lbs - 57.7%
Pilsner Malt - 5.5 lbs - 42.3%
Rice Hulls - 0.5 to 1 lbs (optional but highly recommended, also optional to rinse and soak in water first so they don't suck up wort volume)
~10 ml Lactic acid
32 oz carton of Goodbelly Probiotic Drink (souring bacteria- Lactobacillus plantarum) Any flavor works since all drops out, but I still try to get one a similar flavor/color to my fruit additions.
Use the mango for lighter or non fruited sours.
Yeast - Safeale US-05 lacto
Directions:
- Mash normally @ 152F
- Boil 15 mins (Don't add hops yet. kills any bacteria on grains and slightly reduces volume) Don't add hops yet.
- Cool to 100F degrees
- Add about 3ml of lactic acid at a time until PH is about 4.5
- Add 32 oz goodbelly probiotic drink
- Wait 18-24 hours until pH drops to 3.5 or to desired level of sourness
- Boil for the remaining 45 mins - This also stops souring process
- Pitch and ferment as normal @ 67F for safale us-05
- After fermentation is complete, rack to secondary. If adding fruit, use about 1 pound per gallon. - - Let sit for 7 days.
- Rack to keg or bottles.
*Tip*
Use frozen fruits(less bacteria and freezing helps break down fruit skin/casing), or if using fresh, rinse with sanitizer and freeze first to kill any natural bacteria. Pull fruit out several hours before your transfer to thaw and mash in a bowl with sanitized potato masher. I also use a 5 gallon paint strainer bag to keep fruit and any seeds in.
You can see all the exact equipment I use in my videos at my Amazon page here:
www.amazon.com...

[@pinkkloudsrising4835]

Great tips, thank you

[@CityscapeBrewing]

You're welcome! Let me know if you have any topics you'd like me to cover in a future video.

[@tim-tim-timmy6571]

Thanks for the clear explanation. I made an attempt at kettle souring a couple of months back using probiotics. I didn't adjust the pH before adding the bacteria and what could happen actually happened. I got something else in it and it tasted like old socks and vomit. We had last week a bad beer tasting and I took with me the last bottle I didn't pour down the drain. People got what they wanted: the most disgusting beer ever (it was boiled after souring, no wild stuff living in)

[@CityscapeBrewing]

Thanks for sharing. Yeah the lactic acid added first is important for that reason. Sometimes we learn the hard way when making beer. I've had to dump a few beers myself over the years for different reasons. Always hard ... 🍻

[@robertpaluska6354]

I’m going to try this recipe. Thanks

[@CityscapeBrewing]

You're welcome! I added the recipe in the video description for you! I use this base grain bill for all of my fruited sours, then just change up what I put in the secondary. I did another filming of a raspberry sour. I brewed over the weekend. That video will be up shortly! 👍

[@CityscapeBrewing]

Also great idea to use rice hulls. That much white wheat can give you a stuck sparge. I added that in the description.

[@johnyount9409]

What if any hops were added in boil?

[@CityscapeBrewing]

I typically do not add hops to kettle sours that I am adding fruit to. If you do add hops, you want to make sure that you do it after the souring process on the second day. Also, I'm doing a peach sour video now that will come out in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned! 🍻

[@alanbull6915]

Does it matter how much probiotic is used?

[@CityscapeBrewing]

I don't think so, I think it would just take longer to sour if you use less than 32 oz

[@pctansill]

Do you worry about cross contamination from sours to regular beers?

[@CityscapeBrewing]

Great question.. No, because kettle sours don't generally use a wild bacteria. When you use Brettanomyces or other mixed wild fermentations by letting it sit out to sour or putting beer in a barrel... Then you have to worry about contaminating your equipment. Brett can create a biofilm that clings to surfaces and resists disinfection. Kettle sours are different because they generally use lactobacillus plantarum (lactic acid) which isn't a bacteria that clings to equipment as much. I've used several kegs for sours and then ales with no issues. Make sure you have good cleaning and sanitization practices and you'll be good to go.

[@pctansill]

Thanks for your help - I have brewed a lot using a Grainfather kettle but have not done fruit adjuncts or sours. Looking to expand my offerings.

[@CityscapeBrewing]

No problem. Happy to help! Let me know if you have additional questions! 🍻