RECIPE: BANGARANG: Neverland (American Sour Collabo with Falling Sky)

Back in February I was able to watch the Best of Show unfold at a competition I had judged, and also entered.  It was completely humbling and shocking to see my 2.5 year old Gueuze advance to the top 6, top 5, top 4, top 3, top 2, Best of Show.  I still find myself at times wondering if it really happened.  The prize was to brew the beer on a full system at Falling Sky Brewing.  Issue is that they don't do sours, it would take 2+ years for the beer to be done, and I didn't have the exact yeast pitch used for primary as I had cultured it from Blackberries and Peaches almost 3 years ago.

After some collaboration we decided on using my grist, souring the wort in the kettle for a few days, using bold American hops to throw off the tropical and peach notes from my beer (Brett derived), and use a Tej yeast that they had for some fun.  Of course this beer is nothing like my Gueuze, and I am okay with that, since it is amazing in its own right.  I was able to get 6 gallons of the unfermented wort on brewday that I pitched with a starter built from dregs of the original beer which tastes great, and I also got a keg full for my fridge and a keg to play with.

It truly was an experience to brew on a full-size system with digital equipment, and big boy cleaners and sanitizers.  My hope is this isn't my only time brewing full scale batches.

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Stats:

Gallons:    5.25

OG:          1.055

FG:           1.012

ABV:         5.60%

IBUs:        16

SRM:         6

Efficiency: 85%

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Fermentables:
Weyermann Pilsner

Vienna Malt

White Wheat Malt

Wheat, Flaked

MFB Caravienne

Mash 1 hours @ 154*F

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Boil 10 mins

MASH Citra       11.00%AA

WP 45 Galaxy   13.00%AA

WP 45 Simcoe  13.00%AA

WP 45 Equinox 11.40%AA

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Fermentation:

Cooled to: 64*F

Tej Yeast - 4L slurry from Wyeast

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Notes:

7/26 Showed up at Falling Sky on Saturday morning and enjoying some coffee extract from a keg.  Mashed in a ton of grains to 154*F.  Added whole leaf Citra hops to the mash.  Mashed for 1 hour, then moved over 1/3 for a decoction for 10 minutes.  Added rice hulls and sparged to 13 hectoliters.  The sparge seemed stuck, and they had not used that much flaked product ever on their system.  Turns out that the sight glass was clogged.  After the sparge was finished the wort was chilled to 115*F and pitched at midnight that night with 10 gallons of Lacto starter.  

Hops in the Whirlpool

7/29 Wort soured to 3.6pH.  Went back into Falling Sky around 10am and kicked up the boil.  We smelled some different hops and came up with a blend I liked.  Weighed the hops out and added to the whirlpool.  After a 10 minute boil the wort was transferred to the whirlpool for knockout.  The aroma coming from the tubes was amazing.  Chilled to pitching temps and pumped into the fermentor.  Pitched Tej yeast around 2pm.  

Fermented for 4 weeks ramping from 64 up to 70*F.

8/14 Went by for a sample off the tanks, Kern's Apricot Nectar, Pineapple Juice, Lipton Iced Tea Bag.

8/28 Moved to Bright Tanks

9/9 Got a couple kegs pulled for myself

9/23 Release Party at Falling Sky