This week marks 10 years since I left my job in television to work on the Embrace The Funk program full-time. From 2012, when Linus and I teamed up to 2015, the program was growing at a pace too quickly for me to manage part-time. Looking back over the past 10 years of full time work I had a few thoughts to write down. Are things in the beer world great? I think we know the answer, but I believe we are back closer to where we started, which could be a good thing.
When brewers were laying the groundwork for sour and wild beer in the U.S., it was very much a brewer-driven movement. It was experimental, collaborative, and fueled by a mix of reverence for tradition (Belgian lambic, Trappist styles, saison) and a desire to see what American ingredients and microbes could do. The culture was about discovery, building communities of drinkers who wanted to geek out on the nuances of mixed fermentation, and sharing bottles in a way that felt almost underground.
The explosive growth of craft beer, especially post-2010, brought in a very different type of brewery founder. Some were business-minded entrepreneurs who saw opportunity in a booming market, not necessarily people with a deep personal passion for brewing. That isn’t inherently bad; good business sense keeps breweries alive. You definitely need practical business knowledge, but many times it seemed like:
Recipes were developed for marketability rather than artistic expression.
Prioritizing taproom aesthetics, social media, and branding over fermentation and ingredient nuance.
The community type culture shifted from brewers and drinkers hanging out, learning, and trading, to “customers consuming a lifestyle product.
When growth slowed and the beer market contracted (accelerated by the pandemic, inflation, and distributor consolidation, just to name a few reasons), the breweries with less “heart and soul” in their foundation were hit the hardest. If the only hook was chasing the hype styles of the moment, it was hard to maintain relevance when hype cycles got shorter and competition fiercer. I’ve noticed the breweries that remain strong often have:
A clear brewing identity. It’s pretty obvious what they stand for: local ingredients, clean flawless lagers, historical styles…
Deep roots and are active in their local community.
Brewers who never stopped caring about the beer first.
The “soul” of beer hasn’t disappeared, but it has become smaller and more niche again, closer to where at least in my world wild and farmhouse beer in the USA started. Passionate communities still exist, but they are fragmented across farmhouse producers, lager lovers, spontaneous fermentation, and even hyper-local breweries.
In some ways, we’ve gone full circle: the mainstream wave crested and has almost receded, leaving behind those who were in it because they simply couldn’t NOT brew. It’s the reality of their soul.
These are just some quick thoughts and observations in what I hope comes across as a general view. Just the whole as I’ve seen. PART 2 NEXT WEEK.
It has certainly been a while since I posted here. I never wanted to post, just to post. From the beginning, the blog has always been about helping people understand sour, funky, and wild beer, dispelling bad information, letting brewers tell their stories, and keeping the flame lit for these styles I enjoy.
The below is simply my observations, thoughts, and hopes relating to the past, present, and future of sour and wild beer. This is in no way meant to be an end-all answer, woe is me or a grievance list. Just some things I have noticed and wanted to put into words.
I probably left out some obvious things and didn’t word other parts right. I absolutely love creating these styles, discussing them, traveling to enjoy what others are making and promoting them. I hold a lot of hope for the future of the funk! 2025 will continue to be a year of correction, change, and creativity for the beer world. I hope you know I am writing this from a good place and want nothing more than to see sour, funky, and wild beer succeed. I truly appreciate everyone’s support over the years and the folks who helped get me to this point in my life. I am excited to continue making the classic wild styles as well as new world takes in 2025.
-Brandon
**The Decline of American Sour and Wild Beer: We Were the Monsters**
In the late 1990’s and early 2000s, American craft beer was at the forefront of a revolution, pushing the boundaries of brewing and experimentation. Among the many genres that captured the imagination of beer drinkers, sour and wild ales took the spotlight for their unique flavors and complex profiles. Breweries embraced wild fermentation, barrel aging, and a vast array of techniques to create beers that were as unpredictable as they were exciting. But as quickly as the sour and wild beer movement rose, it fell, and in many ways, it is a shadow of its former self. How did we get here? What happened to this once-vibrant segment of the American beer scene? In short: we were the monsters we created.
Oversaturation: A Wild World Gone Wild
When the American craft beer community first embraced sours, it was revolutionary. A handful of breweries, including *New Belgium*, *Russian River*, *Jolly Pumpkin* and *Allagash*, began experimenting with the wild, unpredictable flavors that came from mixed culture, spontaneous fermentation and barrel aging. At the time, these beers were something new and rare in America. They were prized for their complexity and the time they took to produce. But like all trends in the craft beer world, the explosion of interest led to oversaturation.
What was once a niche small-batch offering became a must-have for any self-respecting craft brewery. Every brewery, it seemed, wanted to make a sour or wild beer, regardless of whether they had the space, experience, or resources to do so. The result? A glut of poorly executed sours that lacked the depth and character of the original pioneers. Breweries rushed to create sour beers, but without the expertise and patience needed, many ended up with inconsistent, overly tart, or just plain bad beers that didn’t live up to the hype.
The oversaturation wasn’t just limited to breweries producing too many sour beers. It also extended to the market itself. Consumers, eager to try the latest wild concoction, began to view sour beers as a novelty rather than a truly refined art form. As these beers flooded the shelves, they lost their mystique and became another commodity, subject to the whims of fleeting trends. The excitement waned as the novelty of “something different” and “sour” became just another marketing buzzword.
Price Points: The Cost of Complexity
In the world of beer, pricing is always a delicate balance. For natural sour and wild beers,they often require long fermentation times and specialized techniques, a higher price tag made sense. Barrel aging and wild fermentation are time-consuming and can be expensive. Brewers rightfully priced their products accordingly. However, as the market became oversaturated with sour offerings, many breweries followed suit by pricing their beers higher, even when they weren’t necessarily worth the price.
Price inflation became a problem. The cost of entry for a bottle of barrel-aged sour beer began to creep into the $20–$40 range, sometimes higher. For many beer drinkers, the high price point simply wasn’t justified by the end product. The unique and complex flavors that once made these beers special were often overshadowed by a sharp acidity that made them difficult to enjoy for those not accustomed to the style. As prices rose and quality fluctuated, many drinkers were left questioning if they were paying for a product that was truly worth the premium price point or effort to obtain.
The high price points didn’t just alienate regular beer drinkers; they also helped reinforce the perception that sour and wild beers were exclusive and elitist, further detaching them from the general craft beer scene. What was once a bold experiment became a luxury item, priced out of reach for many who once helped elevate these beers to fame.
### Too Acidic: The Sour Becomes a Chore
In the early days of American sours, the acidity was part of the allure. The tartness and funkiness were balanced by complexity and nuanced flavors. But over time, this delicate balance became harder to maintain. As more breweries jumped into the sour game, a worrying trend emerged: the overuse of acidity. Some brewers, eager to assert their wild side, pushed the sourness to extreme levels, resulting in beers that were acetic and harsher than pleasantly tart. The subtlety and nuance that once made these beers enjoyable gave way to a one-note sour bomb.
The resulting beers often felt more like a chore to consume than a fun celebration of flavor. Instead of offering a refreshing zing or a pleasant pucker, the excessive acidity dominated the experience, overwhelming the palate. For those unfamiliar with the complexities of sour beers, this intense acidity often felt more like a punishment than a pleasure. As a result, sour and wild beers began to turn away a lot of casual drinkers who once found the style intriguing but couldn’t stomach the sharp acidity.
The rise of quick sour and kettle sour techniques led to some confusion among consumers, particularly when compared to traditional long fermentation methods. Quick and kettle sours, which use controlled methods like adding lactobacillus to un-hopped wort to speed up the souring process, often result in a beer that is more one-dimensional and heavily fruited. These offerings tend to focus on an intense, sharp tartness alone or lactose-sweetened massively fruited technique and can mask the nuanced complexity of flavors that long fermentation naturally develops. In contrast, naturally soured beers often achieve a more rounded, multifaceted sourness with subtle layers of flavor that evolve. For consumers unfamiliar with these differences, the immediate fruit-forward and simplistic nature of quick sours might have lead to confusion, as they may not recognize the depth that long fermentation brings to traditional sour beers.
Poor Quality: The Brewing Monster We Created
Perhaps the most tragic part of the sour beer decline is how the market was hit with low-quality offerings. As the desire for sour and wild beers grew, so too did the number of breweries making them. But not all of these breweries were equipped to handle the unique challenges of brewing with wild yeast and bacteria. The risk of contamination, the need for special equipment, and the patience required for proper aging and blending meant that brewing quality sours was a craft in itself.
Too many breweries entered the market without truly understanding the complexities involved. In the rush to cash in on the trend, corners were cut, processes were rushed, and the final product suffered. Many of these beers lacked the proper balance of flavor and were plagued by off-flavors, packaging issues, or simply a lack of depth. What had once been a carefully crafted art form began to feel like a cheap imitation. In an increasing world of mediocre, poorly executed sours, the original pioneers who had invested years of trial and error into perfecting their craft were overshadowed by the sheer volume of subpar products flooding the market.
###Tick them all: The Badge Beast
On paper, ratings or tracking sites is a fun, and social way to enjoy a hobby. App, bottle cap and website ratings have increasingly influenced the store purchaser, perception of beer rarity over quality, with users often prioritizing limited edition or highly sought-after brews over the natural qualities of the beer itself. Beer enthusiasts rushed to rate rare or exclusive releases, the platform’s rating system can create an inflated sense of value around certain beers, even if their taste or craftsmanship isn’t objectively superior. This skewing effect helped lead to a focus on acquiring rare beers for the sake of status or collectability, rather than opening bottles to enjoy the diverse flavors of sour beers. This artificially propped up beer releases. The bottles never being opened and simply shuffled around in closets or shipped from state to state/ The result is a marketplace where rarity became a proxy for quality.
Conclusion: The Monster We Created
As the sour and wild beer movement has declined, we can see how the industry’s rapid growth and expansion led to a bloated and often disappointing marketplace. The oversaturation, high price points, excessive acidity, and poor quality were self-inflicted wounds. We were the monsters who created this Frankenstein’s monster of situation. The early innovators gave us something exciting, but the rush to capitalize on that excitement turned sour.
Can American sour beer ever make a comeback? Will the lessons learned from its rapid rise and fall lead to a more thoughtful, refined approach?
Only time will tell. But for now, I look forward to the future. We have many talented brewers in this wild world and sour, funky & wild beer most certainly has a place in the scene. As we head into the future I invite you to open that beer, enjoy what YOU enjoy, and remember how fun this beer stuff is!
Hey friends. From the get go I’ve had Google ads on my blog to offset the cost of hosting, media etc…Most years it’s been just enough to cover all those costs especially when I wasn’t posting new content.
However with the massively increased traffic over the past 6 weeks the ads will generate a nice excess payment from Google. I am happy to let you know that 100% of the excess for the remainder of 2020 (past what I need to pay for the hosting) will be donated to the Restaurant Workers Community Foundation to assist service industry workers during the pandemic. I’d be nowhere in this industry without your support of my professional projects.
Thanks to all the brewers who are participating in the new series. This is certainly a big boost to the traffic and making the donation bigger.
Now I’d like to offer you this wonderful recipe from Andrew Bell the innovation manager at The Bruery & Offshoot Brewing Co located in Placentia, CA.
This recipe can be brewed with whatever fresh citrus zest you have access to seasonally, but in this example I am going to use Buddha’s Hand (which is about to go out of season). This recipe is intended to be a bright, lively, and slightly tart wit beer – perfect for late summer.
Starting OG: 11.5*P
Estimated FG: 0.5-1*P
Target ABV: ~5.5%
Grist:
50% Pilsner Malt
40% Unmalted Wheat
10% Rolled/Flaked Oats
Notes: Use favorite local or imported malts. % for this recipe are by weight, not extract. Depending on the brewer’s setup, rice hulls might be needed for lautering.
Mashing: Single infusion mash with a target rest temperature of 152*F. Water wise, use lactic or phosphoric acid to target the lower end of your mash pH range (say 5.0-5.2pH). Our water in general is lacking calcium, so I’d use just a bit of Calcium Chloride for roundness – no need to heavily adjust your water.
Boil: Boil as long as needed to volatilize DMS precursors (be it 60, 75 or 90 minutes). Aim for a 10 IBU bittering addition with whatever clean bittering hop you prefer (Gr Magnum for us).
WP Addition: 80g/bbl freshly milled coriander and 290g/bbl of fresh Buddha’s Hand Zest. The amount of Buddha’s hands needed to produce this zest will vary based on size. Feel free to sub out for another type of fresh citrus zest.
Fermentation: KO at 68*F with O2 aeration.
Ideally: knock out into cold rinsed but previously inoculated puncheons for primary fermentation with a blend of WLP400 (or equivalent), Brett Drei and Brett C (pitching approximately 250k cells/ml/*P of each). Allowing the yeasts to do the majority of fermentation, but also allowing the bacteria in the wood to lower the pH a bit.
Alternatively (in a fermenter/carboy) – pitch with the blend of wit and brett strains and allow to ferment at 74*F. At about 50% attenuation pitch a small amount of mixed culture slurry to allow slight souring.
Aging should be relatively short for a mixed culture beer – approximately 3-5 months. You are looking for a beer that is still recognizable as a Wit but with some acidity, light funk and vibrant zestiness.
Dry Hop: If aged in fermenter, dry hop with a small amount (150gr/bbl) of Motueka. If aged in a puncheon, transfer to a purged vessel and dry hop per your normal method for dry hopping beers. Now would be a good time to taste and see if you’d prefer more fresh citrus.
Finishing: Once the dry hopping step is complete and any residual dry hop creep has finished (if applicable), crash to 32*F. Either force carbonate to +2.7vol of CO2 for draft or pitch fresh brett and prime with sugar for bottle conditioning. If your glass bottles can handle the pressure, target 3-3.3 vol of CO2.
I titled this series “Inspiring Recipes” for a few reasons, the main reason was to get useful information to you but the biggest reason was to inspire with technique & passion from people I look up to. As we socially distance and change our daily lives it is important not to emotionally distance from what is important and what makes us…well us. I am very pleased to present this philosophy and recipe from my buddy Tim Clifford of Sante Adairius Rustic Ales located in Capitola, CA. The elegant- approachable – complex – simplicity of SARA beers are a harmony of understanding what works in their process. I hope you enjoy and really take in Tim’s words.
photo courtesy: Sante Adairius
Embrace The Mixed Fermentation
Words By Tim Clifford
Hey! I didn’t see that you were here with me! Well now that you are, let me share some things I’ve learned along my brewing journey that may be of use to you, my friends.
I was fortunate enough to be asked by Brandon Jones to submit an original recipe for Embrace the Funk. It’s an honor to be sharing with all of you in this unprecedented time, where the world seems incapable of righting itself. Thank you all for being here with me.
It’s super cool to think about beer again on a smaller scale like the way I learned many moons ago. Rather than give y’all the standard recipe format, I’m going to talk a bit and hope by the end of my talking, you’ll be able to create something at home of mixed fermentation you’ll be proud to pour with your friends, when sharing a beer doesn’t have potentially dire health consequences.
Yes, you’ll have to read the whole thing. Yes, there will be no clear outline or quick way through this. Like me, you are going to have to read everything and slog through things that may seem over your head or seem way too facile. I promise that something good will happen for you, though, if you take the time to hear me out and really apply yourself.
Beer is super easy to make. Let’s make that point very clear. Really great beer, though, is a different story and that isn’t the point of this small treatise. So, let’s focus on making good, solid, consistent beer first. You gotta walk before you run, not unlike a certain handsome twin(s) we all know from Denmark. Hi boys!
My assumption is that you aren’t a novice brewer. You at least have a few all-grain batches under your belt. Perhaps you are a very accomplished brewer looking for new techniques or little gems to push your beer even further down the road of awesome. Both will benefit from what is written here.
Note: everything IS really in these words. Please don’t contact me for further details, analysis, or extra hints or discussion. It’s all right here. The tattoo world has a wonderful saying: “Don’t criticize what you don’t understand.” That holds true here, too. Praise, however, is always welcomed, friends! Also, I love you, but please share your results with your friends and family. I’m swimming in beer, friends. I made that fruitful decision for myself years ago.
I don’t really care what kind of system or equipment you have. It could be the most sophisticated RIMS system(are those still cool these days?), or a very basic hobbled-together set of ugly, repurposed materials that ain’t pretty to look at. Both will get the job done and neither are a badge of brewing prowess.
Ok, so equipment doesn’t really matter, right? Well, I lied. There are two minor investments you can make RIGHT NOW that will take swill and turn it into liquid gold! Buy yourself a 5000ml Erlenmeyer flask and a small oxygen stone. Figure out on your own how to use them. They are your new, or already-established, best friends.
Good beer starts with basic brewing science. Hell, terrible beer and world class beer are based entirely around basic brewing science, for that matter Bone up on your chops, friends. Books, those beautifully bound objects of time immemorial hold all the truth you’ll ever need. Read everything bound. Don’t trust a goddamn thing you hear from people online. They aren’t your friends. They are merely boastful pontificators of pure crap. Log out, walk away, and go to the library.
Ok! So now you are a well-informed, learned, homework-doing brewer! Congratulations! Start a brewery! No, don’t. It’s harder than it looks. For now, focus on making simple, delicious beer from the best ingredients you can acquire. Good is just great!
Do I still have your attention, friends? Because I’m starting to get to the really, really good, good stuff!
If equipment doesn’t matter and basic brewing science is all you need, then why am I writing? Because I have a few tricks up my old weathered sleeves. Keep up and you might learn a thing or two, kid.
Brewing good beer is no different than preparing a big family meal. By that I mean, that if you try to be spontaneous and just whip something together, you are going to make Uncle Charlie very disappointed he took a day off from the horse track just to mingle with you simpletons. So, plan ahead. You’ll be “brewing” or “doing brew stuff” every day leading into brew day.
You have all your ingredients and it’s Tuesday and you are set to brew on Saturday. What’s first? A yeast starter, of course! So get that going with some dme, but only use 1500ml of your 5000ml flask’s capacity. Two days later, decant and this time add 3000ml of dme. Swirl that shit daily to introduce a bit of oxygen and get those fat, gluttonous yeast cells back in the ring. They have lots of fighting to do, kind of like that hotdog-eating champion, Joey Chestnut.
It’s first light on Saturday morning, yawn!, and you have a cup of coffee in one hand and your phone in the other. Put your phone away. You won’t need it. Presumably you are heating strike water you’ve at least ran through a charcoal filter. You can enjoy your cup of joe while you wait for it to come to temperature.
Visualize your mash. You’ll be using 1.25qts of brewing liquor to every pound of grain you’ll be using in the mash. You’ll be targeting a solid 152 degree mash temp and that shit better be adjusted to a proper ph. Porridge doesn’t make itself, friends!
Huh? Figure it out. Remember…science. Ain’t nobody going to hold your hand drowning in that swamp. You are all alone. Read. Read again. Every little thing matters. Don’t get discouraged. Zen and chaos.
The mash? Oops. Wasn’t that the point of this little tome? Absolutely, friends. Check it out.
The Recipe! The holy grail of brewing! That thing that brewers worship more than their shiny stainless-steel symbols of male virility! That thing folks hide in safes, use legal means to protect, and guard like my little man, Higgins, with a steak bone.
Sorry to burst your bubble, friends. But recipes are bullshit! I don’t mean that standardized measurements of ingredients in ratio to batch size and desired outcome are useless. Exactly the opposite, actually. I just mean that any one single recipe isn’t inherently better than others if it’s built around sound brewing science for a particular style. Lots of paths to good beer, friends!
The problem with recipes is that, frankly, they are most often terribly inadequate. There are so many minutiae to brewing good beer, that getting caught up in any one path is shortsighted. Well, then, how the fuck are we going to know what ingredients to use?
Let me digress. I make a lot of Saison. It’s the style that really got me motivated to try my hand at contributing to the canon. Those beers, the way they smell, their balance, their obvious authenticity, made me the brewer I am today. So, let’s talk about how to think about building a Saison of real character. Here come the secrets!
There are no secrets. Saison is just another beer style. Perhaps more elastic in terms of how it can be characterized, but a very simple beer style to brew well at home, on a farm, or in an industrial warehouse a half mile from the beach.
What color is our Saison, friends? Pale yellow? Gold? How about a little of both? Yes, let’s do that. So, base malt. You can use basic two-row and/or you can use Pilsner malt. Either way, and in whatever ratio, it will compromise 88% of your grist. It could also compromise 77% of your grist. At 66% it’s getting into Grisette territory, or perhaps lambic, but both of those are beyond the purview of this discussion. So 88%.
Now you need something rustic up in the mix. You know, your wheatys, your ryezies, your speltzers, your quinoawowzas. Pick one, shit pick ‘em all, but for this little doodad let’s go with 8% of at least one of the risticos!
Finally we need something a little gritty, right friends? Something that screams “I’m a 19th century farmer trying to make use of everything I grow because for fucks sake I must.” You’re right, I’m thinking oaties too! Let’s throw 10% of those flaked beauties into le pot and get mashing!
Chill, math guy, I know those numbers added up to more than 100%. Keep your brewer’s imagination honed and consider the ratios, the ingredients, the simplicity. Oats aren’t terribly fermentable, so really throwing a few extra handfuls in doesn’t really throw off the numbers, math be damned. Oats lend an intangible to these beers. Use them liberally, even if it’s illogical. The point is that this mixture will work, but if it is making you mad, bruh, just take out some base malt. Or add some more rustics! It’s all a very easy game, that thing we call a mash. Trust me.
What about the hoppies? Well some dudes use American and New Zealand hops well in Saison (Hi Shauny! Hi Jeanie!), but I’m a continental hop kinda guy myself when it comes to the farmhousies. If you must buy American, go with Vinnie’s favorite from years ago, the mighty and ever-dwindling Sterling. It’s a solid Saaz-like hop, and buying it helps the economy. IBU’s are garbage, but depending on your water source and so many factors, consider a mere 15 bittering units for your first addition. And pellets, friends, no bonus points for doing it the hard way.
Your boil MUST be 90 minutes long!!! Not true, but that is my preferred length. Hops, usually in equal amounts, go in at 60 and 10 minutes left in the boil. People put a lot of stock in mixing varieties of hops in various recipes. I’ve never been particularly impressed with that notion, it’s one more variable potentially standing in the way of achieving goodness, and its easier to just open one bag and use it throughout. Give it a shot! I promise it’ll work, and it won’t need an acronym to be smashing! Or shing!
Ok. We have reached the true magic core of this entire discussion. Still with me, friends? It’s time for the yeast!!!
Here, come close, I’ll tell you exactly what to do. Ready? USE THE DuPONT STRAIN!!! Obviously. Not a secret. THE Saison of saisons, of course you trust and pay homage to the masters. But what about temp, Tim? Shouldn’t I ferment super high to produce a bunch of fusel alcohol notes and shitty esters? Obviously not. Take care of your wort/beer. Keep it cool. Shoot for 68F. Really? Yes, really. Basic brewing science and processes, friends.
So you’ve pitched your beautifully healthy yeast after decanting off the majority of the weird dme beer (you did remember to chill it in advance of the day to create some separation, right?), well PITCH then, just after you’ve oxygenated the fuck out it. Put a wet towel around the fermenter, or be a show off and have more advanced temperature control, and let that baby rip! Then go pay attention to your person. They both respect and loathe your brewing. Give them some attention. It’s Saturday.
Dupont is a magical yeast, but it plays tricks on brewers. It’s a 95% attenuator, and does 90% of that fairly quickly, even at these cooler temperatures. That last 5%, though, doesn’t come quick, and I forgive those that consider the beer finished after seemingly normal stasis, albeit mistakenly.
All beer needs time, even the freshest ones. And that’s a great thing for us because this is a mixed fermentation beer. Thought I forgot, right? I didn’t. I’m just playing for the big reveal!
You might want to be fancy and either build a multiple strain and bacteria culture, or, really worse, pitch some coveted bottle dregs. But I firmly believe that is a mistake. Best to pitch a single strain of the big bad Brett that is reliable. Of course you should build a healthy starter in advance of the big day. And, yes, you should eschew oxygen at this point.
Pick a letter, any letter. I prefer C and don’t mess around with White Labs, or anyone producing yeast in their lab. No, sir, I look elsewhere. Old school is the best school, so go with the other campus.
People make a big fuss about transferring beers off yeast, and at home, to an entirely different vessel. No need unless you want that yeast for another Saisony. I’ll assume for now you want to focus on this beer alone, so don’t bother messing with the beer and just pitch, kid, pitch!
But how do I know when it’s done? It isn’t bubbling, must be finished. Ahh! There’s a funky mold growing on top, am I going to die if I drink this? Yeah, right. Keep reading. And waiting.
Eventually you’ll need to use your senses, as in sensory, to figure out when to package. A hydrometer will multiple readings that indicate stasis also helps. If it tastes like shit, it is. Dump it, read this again, know that your cleaning practices are suspect, and brew it again.
But if it tastes good, then great! Terminal gravity should be no higher than 1.002. I add 1 oz. of dextrose per gallon to the mix and bottle in thick glass bottles. You can go cork, or, Jesus, cork and cap, but I’m a simple guy and love a simple black bottle cap. No, you do not need to sanitize them if they have come from a new bag or one opened and stored properly. Fight me!
The rest of the ordeal is yet to come. The waiting is the hardest part! Tom Petty was absolutely right. But, nevertheless, waiting is what you are going to do.
Picture this: you’ve suffered through this rambling diatribe, but were inspired enough to give my methods, Science’s methods mixed with a wee dram of abstract expressionism, a full effort. It’s EXACTLY 90 days since you bottled, and you know right now is the freaking magic! Stemmed glass at the ready, you pop that cap and, voila!, that beautiful pale, golden hue pours intensely, beautiful lace and legs everywhere all at once! Old dogs can teach new tricks. Woof woof!
So, was it worth it, friends? Did you take away anything of substance, or is my style too flakey and Santa Cruz for you? Either way, I had fun. Just remember beer is simple and simple beer is best. Unfiltered, unfined, I bid you all happy brewing! Thanks for being here with me.
If you need a marker point of how gracious the brewing industry is then this series certainly shows the greats skew it to a point of wonderful. As this series developes I’m reminded of how passionate and excited brewers are about living, mixed culture and wild fermentations. The end products which are only achievable by microbe driven fermentations, environmentally influenced layers and skillful artisanship.
The next 2 recipes come from John Rowley of Rowley Farmhouse Ales in New Mexico and Bootleg Biology in right here in Nashville!
I first met John and the crew a few years ago during GABF in Denver and absolutely hit it off with him, Elissa and the whole crew. Their dedication to detail and highly enjoyable beers shows in each batch, but most of all for me the great conversations mean a ton. John was kind enough to send in this recipe and process for a beer they made about 6 years ago.
Here’s a recipe I brewed before we opened for a mixed fermentation farmhouse ale that utilized pink grapefruits in the mash for secondary pH adjustment and flavor extraction. I affectionately called the beer Pink Parts, and it won a silver medal at Big Beers when it was still back in Vail if I recall correctly. My notebook says I brewed it on 5/17/14.
I grew up some mixed culture from what was to become my house culture for this, but you could just as easily utilize dregs from your favorite purveyor. Feel free to experiment as desired.
The following is directly copied from my brewing notebook (so I am assuming a batch size of 5.5 gallons, but adjust in your software as you like for your system and requirements):
To 9.9 gallons of RO water, add 4 grams CaSO4 and 70 drops of H3PO4
measured pH of H2O = 5.47
5 lbs pils
4 lbs wheat
2 lbs Munich 1
1 pound golden naked oats
mash in with 4.5 gallons
15 min protein rest @ 125F
45 min saccharifaction rest at 152F
Add 3 large halved organic pink grapefruits to the last 45 minutes of the sacch rest
pre grapefruit mash pH = 5.55
post grapefruit mash pH (after 45 min) = 4.99 (clearly a difference is made)
75 min boil
0.5 oz Citra addition @ 60 min
whirlfloc/yeast nutrient (I used to use Servomyces back then) @ 20 mins
Postboil OG was 1.063 (but tune it lower or higher depending on your tastes)
It’s very rare I’d miss a chance to talk about my buddy Jeff Mello the founder of Bootleg Biology. I first met Jeff around 2013 when he still lived in the DC area and he was visting Nashville to look at houses. He brought me some really cool microbes to play with and I recall us standing in the cooler at Yazoo tapping a keg of our new collaboration with New Belgium called “Rufus”.
From the unique project of isolating wild yeast from every zip code to making home yeast wrangling information/kits widely available Jeff and the crew at BB are doing some fun & inspiring work. Where would most breweries be without the dedication from yeast labs? I’m fortunate Bootleg is right down the road from our barrel cellar and excited to present these 2 recipes from their employees Sam and Don.
Hot and Hoppy Pils (5 gallons) – Recipe by Sam Wineka
OG: 1.046
FG: 1.011
ABV: ~4.6%
Malt
9lb Weyerman Pilsner
.5lb German Carapils
Boil Hops
.75 oz German Northern Brewer (9% AA) @ 60 min
.5 oz Perle (5%) @ 45 min
1 oz Spalt (3%) @ Flameout
.33 oz Perle (5%) @ Flameout
Dry Hops
.75 oz Saphir (3%)
Yeast
Bootleg Biology Oslo: Homebrew Pack
Single infusion mash @ 150F for 75 min. Boil for 60 min, adding hops at appropriate intervals. Chill wort to 90F and pitch full package of Oslo (or make a 500ml starter). When FG is reached (usually 3-5 days) “chill” fermenter to room temp and add dry hops. After dry hops have been in contact for 24 hours, cold crash and package. Can lager this beer to clear it up or drink it keller style. Any noble hops may be substituted, shooting for 35-40 calculated IBUs.
Sour Weapon Saison (5 gallons) – Recipe by Don Graves
Mash @ 150F for 60 min. Boil for 60 min. Chill wort to 95F and pitch SWP, maintaining the temperature to 85+ for 24 hours to obtain PH. Once the target PH has been reached, decrease temperature to 72 degrees. Next, pitch Saison Parfait and add the Mosaic dry hop. Once fermentation is complete, you can package or optionally conduct a secondary fermentation with Funk Weapon 2.
These are great recipes! Remember to support your local homebrew shop and great local breweries. Thanks to Rowley and Bootleg for participating in this project. I have really enjoyed seeing these recipes and what producers are excited about in the beer world, Stay tuned for more recipes and techniques from these wonderful folks!
Embrace The Funk 