Posted: 11/13/2009 3:45:19 PM EDT
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I am brand new to the brewing club. I am very interested in open fermentation, I would like if you guys would give me simple recipes to start off with.
Thanks Michael |
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Good luck with that! Seriously.
I've had some open-fermented rice beer in Eastern India, right on the border with Myanmar. They call it "Chang", and it was delicious! It ranged anywhere from sweet to sour, and was probably around 12% alcohol. Great stuff! That being said, I have made my own sourdough starter from scratch, and I know there is a ton of lacto-bascillus in my environment. You have a high probability of getting something extremely funky. |
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Quoted:
It's my opinion that you should start with a controlled brew before you venture into the wild open top stuff. There's so much more easy stuff to focus on and do correctly before you try to purposely make a sour beer. +1 too much to go wrong with open fermentation. I have a 6gallon true brew kit, it yields about five gallons of beer (50 bottles) Its a fun hobby, the hardest part is waiting. |
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Quoted:
It's my opinion that you should start with a controlled brew before you venture into the wild open top stuff. There's so much more easy stuff to focus on and do correctly before you try to purposely make a sour beer. +1000. I decided that I'd try my hand at an open brew. NASTY was the result. I have a strong stomach, and I nearly puked when I was dumping it out. I do however brew "funky" beers w/ known cultures and have had GREAT results. Apparently the local micro-flora in my house aren't so great for making palatable beer! K |
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I just realized that by "open" fermentation, you may mean the fermenter is open vs. sealed w/ an airlock. Assuming you innoculate w/ a healthy amount of a known culture, you'll be alright. Just make sure you bottle or rack into a closed fermenter before the main ferment is complete.
However, I wouldn't recommend it unless you've got a few batches under your belt and you're comfortable w/ your brewery and feel like playing around. To many things can go wrong and kill the batch. I did one batch (12 gal) open in a half barrel keg w/ the top cut out. I figured I'd try to skim some yeast for another batch and play around w/ that. Great plans until I crashed my motorcycle and couldn't get into the basement and lift the keg to transfer it (broken foot.) Two weeks later I remembered, and there was a nasty, thick, leathery pellicle/growth on top. That was the last time I tried using an open fermenter! K |