Beer Forum

So in radical brewing there is a beer called Dingelheimer's Lichtenhainer..... I am brewing small beers currently in an effort to make story time less interesting for my kids when I invent and mispronounce words after a couple of pints.

This seems pretty prefect. I have had a look at some other recipes around the net and I am pretty happy to start with the one in radical 73% smoke and 23% acidulated with German ale yeast to ferment.

I guess the main question is, mash temp? Will have to be infusion but not sure about what I should target. I was thinking being a small beer (around 3.5%) go for a fuller body - 154f - 68c?

Not so much for this first attempt but for later I was reading the beer should be sour so I was thinking some sort of Berliner Weisse type fermentation? Flat tail did one with Brett which people were impressed by, so maybe a 100% brett fermentation?

I realise a question like "What would be best?" is pretty hard to answer but What do you think?

Thanks a lot for any advice... it's good to be able to bounce ideas off other people who have a better understanding of these things...

The acid malt is gonna take care of the sour. Just ferment with a German ale yeast. Try to hit half-as-sour as a Berliner Weisse and half-as-smoked as a Grodziske. If you live East of the Mississippi, Westbrook Brewing out of S.C. has a nice Lichtenhainer out. Mosher's recipe turns out something very comparable.

I'm not sure if Adelaide is East of the Mississippi, but it's definitely West of the Mighty Murray River. I'd mash really low like 145F or 63C because I like my sour beers to be bone dry, but that's just my personal taste. The recipe in the book says that the beer was originally produced solely from smoked barley and aged in lactobacillus inoculated barrels. I see where he's going with this recipe. I think if you mash low and use the recipe that was provided, you should end up right where you want to be.

You are correct in your mash temp. 154-156 is an excellent choice. If you mash much lower than that your beer will lack body & flavor. Mashing at 145 would be a very big mistake. Sour beers should have perceived dryness, but you're going to get that from the bacteria or tartness & carbonation.

Hey Fellas, just wanted to say a huge thank you for taking the time to get back to me.
Not a lot of experience with sours so appreciate the input.
If it is worth the story will let you know how I get on in this thread.