sours, stopping the acidification with iso alpha acid extract

[John Sutton]

Howdy,

The subject says it all, problem is I can't find any at the retail level in the US, I can only find CO2 alpha acid extracts (I don;t believe they are the same).

Background there is Berliner Weisse recipe in the March/April '23 issue of BYO (its behinds a paywall, otherwise I;d link it) and it calls for using isomerized alpha acid extract to stop the acidification of the Lacto.

I like this idea, because my fermentation chamber is in the house, and my propane burning is in the garage. If I can use the iso alpha acid extract to stop the souring, I won;t have to carry 5 gallons of wort back out to the garage and heat the wort to 180 to stop the souring.

I could use some hop pellets as well but I have no idea how much I would need to do it this way

Unless some one can tell me it would be ok to the leave the wort in the boil kettle in the garage (this weekend will be over 105) until the pH drops to 3.3.

Any thoughts?

thanks John,

[Jimmy Orkin]

Wow, I lots of comments on this one.

You can buy un-isomerized alpha acid as in this example at morebeer: https://www.morebeer.com/products/artis ... 10-ml.html

Does it have to be isomerized? The isomerization is needed to create bitterness. I am guessing you just want the antiseptic nature of the alpha acid which might not need to be isomerized.

The hop oil extracts are simply the alpha acid containing oils from hops. In my quick search I did not find homebrew sized isomerized hop extracts.

I think adding pellets to the fermentation would be difficult to get them into solution. Are you thinking to not boil if you add pellets or extract?

105F in the garage would fine for your souring step. Don't get hung up on the Ph. Give it about 24 hours at around 100F then boil. You risk cheesy flavor/aroma if you go too long in the souring step. If you get under 3.5 and most importantly tastes sour enough for you, go ahead and boil it for a few minutes.

Lastly, it is very important to keep oxygen out of the souring wort. Cover the top of your wort with plastic wrap to minimize O2 contact.

[Jimmy Orkin]

In the isomerized paragraphs in this article sounds like the isomerized hop products do not have the antiseptic properties.

https://byo.com/article/hop-extracts-advanced-brewing/

[John Sutton]

Thanks Jimmy,

The article was a bit confusing by saying to use isomerized hop extract, but then later saying hop's antiseptic properties were needed and the aroma/flavor were not needed (or wanted).

I'll give your suggestions a try, thanks