Brewing TV - Episode 49: Sour Beers

Pucker up, buttercup. This episode is nice and sour! Brewing TV joins a certified cicerone for a quick taste-tour through some of Belgium's best sour beers. We take what we learn and put it to good use homebrewing and blending more than a half-dozen sour beers. This episode has been aging for a while and it's at its peak. Don't wait another moment, watch it right now! [Original postdate: November 18, 2011] View all the great products and community at Northern Brewer America's #1 Homebrew Supplier.
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[@salvatorefrisina5959]

This video got me in a home brewing many… many… many years ago. I have brewed over a dozen batches of sours, and we are hitting a mile stone this weekend! After five years of stockpiling lambics, we are going to blend our first gueuze! We are also starting a sour solera in a used barrel that we got from the Asbury Park Distillery. Thank you for inspiring, and guiding us knuckleheads into making amazing sour beers!!!

[@Jarastlad]

Such a nice thing to see the beers from my country explained so well. Thanks guys !

[@ct4649]

9 years ago I watched this episode I didnt even drink sour beers back then. Now I am a brewer with 10bbl each cooperage and cellarage of sour beer. Heck Im drunk right now drinking my beer and still love this episode

[@beirney82]

Dawson is a comedy genius!

[@iamfugazi1969]

This video was mind blowing for a long time homebrewer that has never brewed a sour. What an eye opener!

[@jeffreylyons1531]

Miss you guys.

[@drstrangecoin6050]

+BrewingTV we're almost at 5 years for that Plum Caribruin my dudes.

[@TreacleMary]

What a bunch of dorks, I love you guys!

[@belfastsixpack]

ahaha "The king is gone but he's not forgoten". bravo!

[@BrewingTV]

@jdhiv4 -- The beers we brew, ferment and store there turn out pretty awesome. The bigger concern is direct bright sunlight. The door in the area has a layer of milky-textured cover over it. Seems to do the job of keeping the harsh light out.

[@StillThrill1]

Awesome discussion and information! Thanks so much!

[@ferrangrau8392]

5 years! update for the old days?

[@ChopAndBrew]

Ferrish We are working on getting the guys together for a Chop & Brew video. Josh recently uncovered one of his bottles!

[@TreacleMary]

The way they finish as the credits roll is hilarious!

[@BrewingTV]

@backyardsounds --- Chip LOVES that beer. Can't wait for this version 2.0 to be ready!

[@johnjwilks]

I've had three encounters with sours which all tasted like worcestershire sauce to me. But watching this has inspired me to try some more.

[@BrewingTV]

@runnerdude47 -- Thanks for your support!

[@215Daniel]

This autoplayed for me from a previous video, not really interested in watching it but I want to compliment the writing.

[@duckmanco04]

Added the oud bruin extract kit to my Christmas list... I'm hoping to brew this and take the plunge.

[@HeartPumper]

Bump in 2019! All of those episodes became a homebrewing classics!! Nostalgia is a powerful thing (as a bonus yet skinny Dawson)! 26:28 are those forever lost in space & time (NB site shows mostly 404)?

[@ColtGColtG]

sour beers need to be come its own how to brew dvd,

[@unionrdr]

@dlbuffmovie-"don't fear the foam" is a catch phrase with home brewers,especially on HBT. 5-star says it breaks down into yeast nutrient. I just try to minimize the amount left in the fermenter. I like the Chimay blue label. But some of those lambics are beconing me in the beer cooler at giant eagle. That cherry lambic sounds good. Forget the brewer's name on the bottle though,yellow lable.

[@EmilJansson]

Tanx!! Love this ep!

[@ohdontchaknow]

Good point, I am pretty paranoid about the light thing so when I have a beer fermenting, I will put a large paper grocery bag over it (just cut a hole for the blowoff or airlock) and there aren't even any windows where I ferment! I know it only takes an hour or so for a beer to skunk in the light!

[@dcuccia]

21:19 it's been more than five years...how did it turn out? :)

[@jamesgodfrey1729]

So this guy at the store gets paid to drink beer? sign me up

[@Majnun74]

Another great episode! I've always been afraid to Homebrew these sours. I was thinking of purchasing a buffet steam tray (restaurant wholesale store) and making a mini coolship.

[@Liozeris]

@ 3:40, acetobacbacter you say! That's the devil that turned my AppleJack to vinegar this year. You remind me of those crazy Germans that I drank with at Laschet's Bar. 2119 W. Irving Park Chicago. They would squeeze a quarter lemon into an already sour Weiss Beer. And then they drank it! More than once I fell off my barstool just from seeing them Germans do that. This was when Carl Laschet (RIP) still owned and sometimes tended his bar, back in the '90's. They offered lots of good beers offered too.

[@jdhiv4]

At around 15:05 you put a carboy on a shelf with a bunch of others and there is a LOT of sun coming in through a big window just next to this shelf.....................isn't that BAD for brewing?? Great video though.....I'm very keen to try one of these styles and just let it go for a year or so...I WOULD like to find a few locally-available commercial styles to try in the meantime. Wish me luck! and..thanks again for the info!!

[@voidrender]

Nice HUB shirt!

[@wfu900]

would love to see an update on this

[@dlbuffmovie]

Are you filling a carboy that is full of sanitizer foam? I spend a long time trying to get all that out of my carboys, but looks like ya'll don't worry about it. Do get any harsh cleaner flavors from all that? (I know from one attempt to taste the overflow bucket [which started half full of sanitizer] that the burny taste was NASTY! I don't recommend it.)

[@mathewsmith7305]

223 years ago today, “The Dreadful Night” occurred in Western Pennsylvania, after an uprising called The Whiskey Rebellion. The United States was brand new. Soldiers who had fought for independence from Great Britain found themselves on opposite sides of a skirmish. Some were having their rights violated practically before the ink was dry on the Bill of Rights. Other Veterans of the Revolution were doing the oppressing at Alexander Hamilton’s behest. The Whiskey Rebellion saw farmers stand up to an unfair tax handed down by the federal government, and the government responded with the force of a monarchy. It may have all sprung from Alexander Hamilton’s desire for glory. Or Hamilton, the first Secretary of Treasury, may have had other motives for setting the precedent of force which still lives on today. It all started after the Revolution, in 1791, when the federal government was in debt, and had no official money. The notes they paid to soldiers were worth fractions of what was promised, but many had no choice but to accept the funds and go home in order to try to survive. But the soldiers were not the only ones who needed to be paid after the war. There were a number of rich investors and bankers who had provided the capital needed to win the Revolution. They too were awaiting repayment. Alexander Hamilton had a better relationship with these financiers than with the soldiers. Hamilton was one of the leading banking figures of the time. He proposed a tax which would have two purposes. The tax would raise the revenue necessary to pay back the wealthy financiers of the Revolution. But the tax would also bring under the jurisdiction of the federal government a group of pioneers living in rural western Pennsylvania. The tax was to be levied on the production of whiskey, and not just at a commercial level. Everyone who made whiskey owed the tax. This would be the first federal tax on domestic goods. This was a problem for the people of western Pennsylvania. Most people in this area used whiskey as a currency. Whatever surplus grain a family had would be converted into whiskey in order to preserve it. Whiskey would still have the calories of grain and was drank by almost everyone. It could be used for preserving and making some medicines. Whiskey didn’t spoil, was widely used, and easy to transport. This made it an ideal currency. No need for banks, no need for paper money the worth of which can be manipulated. These people had tangible goods with intrinsic value absent of government mandate. But Alexander Hamilton and the federal government insisted that the tax on whiskey be paid in coin. For western Pennsylvanians, this amounted to an income tax. But even worse, now they had to find a way to convert their whiskey into coin. They had no use for coin since they used whiskey as a currency. But now the federal government would require them to use more time and effort just to pay the tax. But it gets worse. Producers of whiskey were given a choice. They could pay a flat tax or pay a per gallon price. For commercial distillers who produced a lot of whiskey, the flat rate was cheaper than the per gallon rate. But for individuals, the per gallon rate was cheaper. This was a political reward that Hamilton gave to commercial whiskey distillers in the area. They would now have the cheapest whiskey available since the flat tax worked out to a lower per gallon rate than home-distillers were forced to pay. Hamilton did this to gain a foothold of support in the area (his enforcer was a large scale distiller) and to convert the economy of western Pennsylvania away from a whiskey-based currency. The sooner everyone was brought under the jurisdiction of the federal government, the sooner the government could raise money to pay for spending. The tax destroyed the way of life for your average rural Pennsylvanian. First, they were singled out for a tax that most city dwellers would not be affected by. Next, they were forced to find a way to earn coin in order to pay the tax. Then, the tax made their whiskey more expensive compared to commercial distillers. This meant it was harder to sell, making it harder to convert the whiskey into coin to pay the tax. Many people from this area moved out west to avoid the intricacies of society and government. Some were veterans of the Revolution. They would not accept this tax. They were outraged that this tax was levied against them while the Northwest Indian War was going badly for the U.S. making the area unsafe. Seeing the tax as an advantage to grain growers (who owed no tax) and big distillers in the east (who owed a flat rate) also fueled western Pennsylvanian’s anti-federal sentiment. They decided that if this was the way the new country was to treat its people, they wanted no part in it. They refused to pay the tax and served vigilante justice to tax collectors and other sympathizers of the federal government. They reacted similarly to how the United States reacted to unfair British taxes which sparked the Revolution. By 1794 the climax of the situation unfolded. A U.S. Marshall was sent to the area and a showdown ensued. Some rebels were shot in a skirmish and their leader, a veteran of the Revolution, was killed. The tax collector and U.S. Marshall were captured only to later escape, and the fury of western Pennsylvanians peaked. There was talk among the rebels that they should secede from the United States and form their own country. The plan that emerged was a watered down version of protest in which the rebels would march through Pittsburgh nonviolently. This was meant to send a message that they would not back down against what they saw as Hamilton’s attempts to pay back the wealthy by taxing the ordinary citizen. President George Washington decided it was time to send in the army. A commission he sent to western Pennsylvania returned and recommended using the military to enforce the tax laws, and restore order. By October 1794 Washington was seeing troops off, and heading back east, much to the dismay of some moderate locals including Congressman William Findley. He saw Washington as a fair president who just wanted to do what was right. Alexander Hamilton was the real force behind the army heading west, according to Findley, who was included on Hamilton’s list of possible rebels to be arrested. Hamilton went with the army of nearly 20,000 as a civilian adviser. He was instructed by Washington to maintain the utmost discipline among the troops. As they advanced toward their target in western Pennsylvania, Hamilton was to prevent any breach of law by the troops, such as pillaging the countryside. Officers harshly punished any soldier caught stealing, but the soldiers were doing so because of the lack of rations and clothing. Hamilton decided to solve this by making the theft of these goods legal. According to William Hogeland in his book The Whiskey Rebellion: The quartermaster corps, [Hamilton] announced, would impress civilian property along the way. Now families watched helplessly as bayonet-wielding soldiers-no longer freelancing thieves but officials, authorized by the president-commandeered hard-won winter supplies of grain, meat, firewood, and blankets on behalf of the government of the United States. A steady, freezing rain meant the arrival of winter. Families whose sustenance was carted away faced grim months ahead (218). Once the army and Hamilton finally arrived at the target county in western Pennsylvania, they contonued their oppression. They did not care much to follow the due process laid out in the Bill of Rights in new Constitution, despite Hamilton’s assurances to the President. Many residents had signed oaths of support for the U.S. government. By signing, they risked local vigilante justice. But the U.S. promised that they would be pardoned as punishment was served to the region for failing to pay the new tax, and leading an insurrection against officials of the federal government. These oaths were ignored and many who had signed them were arrested by Hamilton and the army anyway. A month earlier the first arrests of a few rebels had been made, prompting the most guilty among the rebels to flee. Anyone left in western Pennsylvania had minimal roles in the insurrection, and had certainly not led it. The most violent rebels, who had committed the worst acts against government officials, had already fled. “The Dreadful Night” began in the middle of the night on November 13, 1794. Hamilton had created three lists of people: those who were not to be arrested, those who would be arrested, and those who were to be brought in as witnesses for questioning. The first list was not provided to the generals. Hamilton gave them the authority to arrest anyone they suspected of having participated in the rebellion, aided the rebels, raised liberty poles, or robbed the mail. He also authorized the troops to arrest local officials who failed to suppress the insurrection. The officers and soldiers who were passed these orders were delighted to finally have some excitement and authority on this trip west. One particularly unstable officer named White was put in control of the 40 prisoners which Hamilton thought would give the most valuable intelligence on the whole situation. These prisoners “were brought to a dark log structure” where they were tied up and seated on the muddy floor, and guarded by soldiers instructed to keep the prisoners away from the warmth of the fire. The tavern keeper was told he would be killed if any prisoners received food, and thus for more than two days the sadistic officer in charge: in CHAINS ,HISTORY WILL REPEAT'...

[@hinault851st]

Great Neil Young references

[@DevonHomeBrew]

How about a follow up to the sour beer video?

[@erikhobro475]

I wish you guys where my buddies... considered moving to sweden?

[@erikhobro475]

+Erik Hobro its closer to Brussels and that means Cantilion the really great sours ;)

[@TVinmyEye]

Other than the Rodenbach, i wouldn't really consider the other beers a true sour. Russian river supplication, All of the cascade beers, tart of darkness are real sours to name few.

[@biker944]

cool

[@thorhale]

Cicerones will never measure up to real home brewers..... I love the way he says Saccharomyces : Sacromisis wtf bro

[@vulcan1429]

When someone looks at the ground while talking to you,,they know you know they are lying to you.

[@BigCypress]

vulcan1429 LOL 100% of the time right? Troll.

[@andrewt248]

Old Boody. LOL

[@backyardsounds]

18:22-18:24 :)

[@michaelsinclair7587]

love the info but you guys are drier than the beer you're drinking. Maybe wear some funny hats?

[@sellersmike]

Framboise is not pronounced "frahm-bwah;" it's "frahm-bwahz." I've heard two different American beer connoisseurs say it wrong n the paste 5 minutes.