#BEERSMITH 3 WINE ACIDITY HOW TO#
#BEERSMITH 3 WINE ACIDITY FREE#

The fact that many world class sour beers embrace some seriously funky characteristics does not mean that the sky is the limit. It should never be used to attempt to cover up an off-flavor or defect in a beer. Artistic blending is a method used to create synergy and elevate a beer to its highest quality.

#BEERSMITH 3 WINE ACIDITY FREE#

In fact, while there are definitely challenges to overcome, it is certainly possible through planning, training, and most importantly, maintaining a dedication to only use beers that are free of defects in the blending process. To the homebrewer or startup craft brewer, the blending of delicious and complex sours which rival world class examples may seem to be an impossible feat. However, over the past two decades, a number of craft breweries in the United States have developed substantial barrel programs and utilize artistic blending to craft a wide variety of world class sour beers. The true art of blending has traditionally been exemplified by the master lambic blenders of Belgium. Whether these beers are spontaneously inoculated or more scientifically fermented, the act of aging in relatively small individual vessels will inevitably create differences and varying qualities in each batch of beer. Artistic blending marries perfectly with, and indeed developed historically from, the practice of aging beer in wooden barrels. On the other end of the spectrum, the goal of artistic blending is to use a number of individual batches of beer like building blocks to create a final blend that embodies a complexity of aroma and flavor unattainable by a single fermentation. Through blending, these two batches could be combined to create an IPA with the body and dryness originally intended by the brewer. Let’s say that a brewer accidentally mashes a west coast style IPA too high and the resulting beer doesn’t attenuate to the desired level… This brewer could create a second batch that is both mashed lower and utilizes a higher percentage of simple sugar resulting in a very dry and light bodied version of the same beer. Another example of practical blending would be the use of one beer to adjust a desired characteristic in another. For example, If a brewer wants to add a specialty flavor to a beer, such as vanilla to a porter, one way to achieve the desired level of this flavor would be to divide the batch in half, add vanilla to only one of the batches, then experiment with blending to find the proportion of each that creates the optimum level of vanilla flavor for that beer. Of the two, practical blending is typically more straightforward with a functional goal in mind. Broadly speaking, I would divide the blending of beers into two general categories: practical and artistic. Let’s get started with a discussion of why blending is such a versatile tool, looking at both what it can and cannot do for us as brewers.Īs a craft brewing tool, blending can serve a number of purposes. My goal is to make this information equally useful to both homebrewers and commercial craft brewers starting their own sour beer programs. I will also include real world examples using the tasting and blending notes from my own blending program.

#BEERSMITH 3 WINE ACIDITY HOW TO#

We will cover blending theory and the chemistry behind many common sour beer flavors, how to plan a blending session, ways to evaluate the beers being blended, and key goals for the blending of a variety of sour beer styles. Through this article, I will discuss blending from both a conceptual and practical standpoint. This article will focus specifically on blending, which is undoubtedly one of the most powerful and versatile tools within the sour brewer’s toolkit. In my opinion, many of the best sour beers in the world are crafted by brewers with aging and blending programs. Feeling that I have achieved my goal of providing thorough guidance regarding these beers, I would like to turn my attention throughout 2016 toward my first passion: aged and blended sours. The fact that a high percentage of these have been of the fast / kettle soured variety has led me to write quite a bit geared toward the quality production of fast soured beers.

Over the past two years, the popularity of craft brewed American sour beers has skyrocketed and a plethora of new sours have been introduced to the market.

Beersmith 3 wine acidity