Brewing Saison with Sour Mash

[pinarphan]

After listening to the session from last Sunday I'm interested in trying a Saison (my first) with the sour mash tech. talked about.

I'm contemplating a basic saison recipe, mashing in at about 148-150, doing a no sparge mash, and leaving the whole mash overnight in the tun. My tun is a 15 gallon cooler that holds temp pretty dame well.

Thoughts?

[mr x]

I wonder how well your runoff will be if the temp drops to 135. Might be a pain in the ass...

[brewinhard]

I think you would have better success (and control) if you only soured a portion of the mash a few days in advance, then added that back to the mashtun right before sparging. I have good success with this technique in the past. Sometimes the sourmash can get out of control and you wouldn't want to lose a whole batch b/c of it. Besides, a saison can be sour, but not as sour as a berliner weisse.

[captain carrot]

Here is Chris Colby's article from BYO mag.
http://byo.com/component/resource/artic ... techniques
I think he did an interview on the subject with Basic Brewing Radio. Check there archives.
Good Luck!

[pinarphan]

I'm trying with the whole mash overnight. It started at 149 at noon and has dropped to 140. Should be about 130 in the morning.

So...The bugs survive the boil?

[brewinhard]

the lactobacillus present on the grains will not survive the boiling process, thereby leaving you with a controlled sour mash. Just be aware that your final product will probably dry out quite a bit due to the dropping temps in the mash tun over the 24 hr. period. But it is a saison, so it should be fairly dry anyway. Keep us posted with your results..

[positiverpr]

why not mash and then runoff and let just the wort sit overnight? then no stuck mash issues. thats what i did yesterday for a sorta-berliner weiss. again, its my first sour mash but what does letting the wort sit in with the grain add? i just threw in some grain at 120 degrees and put the igloo in the attic. i'm gonna bring to a boil in the am and pitch. i mashed out before running off but if your mashing at 147-149 for long enough how much more fermentable could letting it sit make it?