First let me say that I enjoy your blog. Happy to get the link from Mike T. over at The Mad Fermentationist. Obviously this blog is not trying to be TMF Jr., but I’ve noticed that although you obviously brew sour and funky beer, you don’t post many recipes. What up wit dat?
James-
Thanks for the comments. Yeah Mike does an outstanding job with TMF. Its a great resource!
Honestly when I started this blog I really didn’t know where I was going with it. My wife had started a blog about tea and I thought it was cool, so I made up a name and bought the domain in about 5 minutes. I thought I would just put a few things about my homebrewing experiences to hopefully help someone else, list some of the beers I liked…and if for nothing else as a record for myself.
After a few posts I started to feel like it was turning into just another one of the hundreds of beer blogs. So as the blog was trying to find it’s identity I hit up my buddy Vinnie for an interview, well more of just a conversation. That was the turning point for the blog when that post alone got over 500 views in 1 day and the story was picked up by Beernews. That’s when it hit me there are great sources for all things beer news and home brewing news in general. However there wasn’t really anyone actively seeking out news stories specific to commercial sour/wild beers or news related to wild/sour homebrewing to put into one location. Blending in some “sour beery” things I’ve learned, Beers I like, and the sour brewing I am doing at home with all that is where I think my niche in the beer blogging world is. Getting into enjoying the beautiful wild/sour styles and certainly getting into sour brewing can be very intimidating. So I hope combining the 2 areas of knowledge into 1 place will help others.
So about the recipes…you have great timing! I have a post going up today about a split batch of Saison I brewed a few days ago. I was waiting for the fermentation to get really active so I could include a few more pictures. It should be up this afternoon. My brew session in December wasn’t a sour beer (Wheat IPA) so I didn’t post anything on that.
Sweet! Anxious to read the saison post. I’ve got a couple batches of it in the bottle myself.
As far as recipes go, I think the reason that TMF is so popular is that there aren’t many people who have a really good grasp on what the constituent fermenters in sour and funky beer can do and Mike gives more information on that than anywhere else on the web. Even more so than the BBB in my opinion and the blog format is more involving than a brewing message board.
Recipe formulation is one thing, but knowing what to expect from the different strains of Brett as well as lacto and pedio is a big question mark for most brewers. Even though I’ve done a fair few 100% Brett fermentations and have had a sour solera type of project going on for the past 5 years, I still don’t think that I have a great grasp on it. Better than I did when I started, but that’s not saying much.
That was the reason that I asked the question in the first place. I think that more readily accessible “stream of consciousness” type of information on this subject is needed, because most that have it don’t seem to be sharing in this manner.
Like I said, very happy to find this site and I’m looking forward to more from it.
Love the blog and looking forward to brewing my first Berliner soon. I was planning on using Wyeast 3191 and wanted to know if you had any tips with this style and maybe a recipe you could share. Thanks!
I like a basic Pils 60% and 40% Wheat grain bill mash hopped with something like Saaz. Berliner is a nice intro style to sours, just keep it simple and let the lacto shine!
hi brandon. love the blog for a while now, and i have a question concerning pellicles. i find myself being happy with some beer that have some huge pellicles on them and im wondering if it is best to just let them fall naturally or is it ok to siphon from underneath them? any thoughts would be great. thanks , Don
Hi Don- Honestly Ive done both ways and been happy with the beers. I feel like if the beer tastes good then its fine. Ive had pellicles that never dropped but the beer tasted awesome.
Embrace The Funk 
First let me say that I enjoy your blog. Happy to get the link from Mike T. over at The Mad Fermentationist. Obviously this blog is not trying to be TMF Jr., but I’ve noticed that although you obviously brew sour and funky beer, you don’t post many recipes. What up wit dat?
James-
Thanks for the comments. Yeah Mike does an outstanding job with TMF. Its a great resource!
Honestly when I started this blog I really didn’t know where I was going with it. My wife had started a blog about tea and I thought it was cool, so I made up a name and bought the domain in about 5 minutes. I thought I would just put a few things about my homebrewing experiences to hopefully help someone else, list some of the beers I liked…and if for nothing else as a record for myself.
After a few posts I started to feel like it was turning into just another one of the hundreds of beer blogs. So as the blog was trying to find it’s identity I hit up my buddy Vinnie for an interview, well more of just a conversation. That was the turning point for the blog when that post alone got over 500 views in 1 day and the story was picked up by Beernews. That’s when it hit me there are great sources for all things beer news and home brewing news in general. However there wasn’t really anyone actively seeking out news stories specific to commercial sour/wild beers or news related to wild/sour homebrewing to put into one location. Blending in some “sour beery” things I’ve learned, Beers I like, and the sour brewing I am doing at home with all that is where I think my niche in the beer blogging world is. Getting into enjoying the beautiful wild/sour styles and certainly getting into sour brewing can be very intimidating. So I hope combining the 2 areas of knowledge into 1 place will help others.
So about the recipes…you have great timing! I have a post going up today about a split batch of Saison I brewed a few days ago. I was waiting for the fermentation to get really active so I could include a few more pictures. It should be up this afternoon. My brew session in December wasn’t a sour beer (Wheat IPA) so I didn’t post anything on that.
Thanks for the support!
Brandon
Sweet! Anxious to read the saison post. I’ve got a couple batches of it in the bottle myself.
As far as recipes go, I think the reason that TMF is so popular is that there aren’t many people who have a really good grasp on what the constituent fermenters in sour and funky beer can do and Mike gives more information on that than anywhere else on the web. Even more so than the BBB in my opinion and the blog format is more involving than a brewing message board.
Recipe formulation is one thing, but knowing what to expect from the different strains of Brett as well as lacto and pedio is a big question mark for most brewers. Even though I’ve done a fair few 100% Brett fermentations and have had a sour solera type of project going on for the past 5 years, I still don’t think that I have a great grasp on it. Better than I did when I started, but that’s not saying much.
That was the reason that I asked the question in the first place. I think that more readily accessible “stream of consciousness” type of information on this subject is needed, because most that have it don’t seem to be sharing in this manner.
Like I said, very happy to find this site and I’m looking forward to more from it.
Fromboise is Raspberry, is raspberries use in this recipe
I’m a little confused … Which recipe are you referring to?
Love the blog and looking forward to brewing my first Berliner soon. I was planning on using Wyeast 3191 and wanted to know if you had any tips with this style and maybe a recipe you could share. Thanks!
I like a basic Pils 60% and 40% Wheat grain bill mash hopped with something like Saaz. Berliner is a nice intro style to sours, just keep it simple and let the lacto shine!
hi brandon. love the blog for a while now, and i have a question concerning pellicles. i find myself being happy with some beer that have some huge pellicles on them and im wondering if it is best to just let them fall naturally or is it ok to siphon from underneath them? any thoughts would be great. thanks , Don
Hi Don- Honestly Ive done both ways and been happy with the beers. I feel like if the beer tastes good then its fine. Ive had pellicles that never dropped but the beer tasted awesome.