Time to get funky......

Tomorrow is the day....what day?, you ask.

The day I start my adventure into creating my own funky brews.

Yes, tomorrow will be day 1 of Little John's Sour Melon Weisse.

This beer has been in the planning since early summer. After purchasing some online beer packs from one of those special deal joints; and a couple of cans when out of town around the same time, I have discovered the world of Berlinner Weisse, Gose...sour beers. Wheat driven beers with fruit additions and souring achieved by the use of 'bugs', namely Lactobacillus, Brettanomyces, and Pediococcus.

The process is as involved as it is varied. Traditionally soured beers used open fermentation and wild yeasts. Modern brewers have isolated the particular yeast strains involved and they are readily available to the eager brewer, either professional of home based.

It seems that sour beers are taking over from IPA as the beer of the moment, the current hot thing and it is where there is lots of action. Almost every craft brewery now has a sour beer in its line up.

SO...............time for me to get my funk on and churn out my own version.

After reading, searching, watching, reading some more....I have come up with my plan of attack.

I will start with a light grain bill, most sour beers sit in the low 3% ABV range, with a mix of wheat and pilsner malt. So almost a low alcohol wheat beer.

So straight away I have my variance on the style...I have no Pils malt but do have a whack of Marris Otter available....so MO it is, 50/50 with some German Wheat malt.

I will mash this at 65° for 40 minutes, using a simple BIAB setup. After 40 minutes I will do a short 15 minute boil to kill off any nasties on the grain(so I have a blank starting point) and then allow that to cool to around 36°.

Once cooled I will add a vial of White Labs Sour Mix 1. A blend of the bugs listed above, I will leave this for a week to sour.

Then the wort will be reboiled for 15 minutes, with a small hop addition to achieve around 8 IBU and a big bag of watermelon will be added for 5 minutes of the boil. This will add extra sugar, so will pick up the ABV, by how much I don't know, I am hoping it won't add a lot. Then I will cool and ferment with WLP011 European Ale.

It should ferment out as normal at this point, leaving a sour tang and hopefully some nice watermelon notes. I hope this will result in a light bodied, pink, sour and funky wheat ale. for next summer.