Golden Sour Solera 2021
>> Monday, February 15, 2021
Today I'm brewing 10 more gallons of base beer for one of my Soleras, barrel #03 to be exact. I pulled a sample off the barrel not to far back and I think we're about ready for our first pull so that also means I needed to brew this batch to refill the barrel.
This batch is very similar to the first 30 gallons, with the biggest difference being I'm doing a 100% Brett primary, and I'm also bumping up the grain bill by 10%. Here's the recipe as I'm brewing it today:
11.55# Great Western Pure Idaho Pilsner Malt (*I was running low on PIPM, so I had to use a blend that also included Viking Pilsner and Root Shoot Pilsner)
2.86# Spelt Malt
56g Aged Hops (60 min)
Yeast Nutrient
Whirlfloc
Propagate 710 Brett Stave
Mash at 160F. Collect ~9.0 gallons, then top up to ~12 gallons. 90 minute boil, ferment at room temp.
Water Profile
50/50 blend of carbon filtered tap water and RO water.
Brewing Notes
No issues with the brew itself, but late last night when I was setting up for the brew day, one of my GFCI outlets broke. It was too late to pick up a new one last night, so I used the HEX to heat my strike water then started the mash. While that was going, I ran to Lowe's and picked up a new outlet and installed it in time to heat my sparge water.
pH was 5.4 about 20 minutes after adding phosphoric acid. I added a little more and it read 5.27 at the end of the mash.
First runnings were 16.3 Brix (1.065), pre-boil was 9.9 (1.038), post-boil was 11.2 (1.044).
Update 2/16/2020
Fermentation is pretty active this morning. I forgot to mention, the yeast for this batch was dated April 2019 and it's one that I completely forgot I'd purchased. It's been sitting in my fridge since I bought it on a trip to Colorado, but it looked healthy; mostly a light creamy color rather than brownish. For the starter, I stepped it up in gravity and volume starting with about 1.020 wort, then 1.030, then 1.040. About 3 days before brew day I hit it again with some 1.020 wort just because we'd been out of town for two weeks and I wanted to make sure it was good to go.
