Update: Laminated Envelope - Blackberry Version

Awhile back I brewed up an American Blonde Ale to test my fermenters that had housed infected batches.  The resulting beers were mixed and soured with different dregs and such.  After some time had passed I split the batches into 2 5 gallon carboys and added mangoes and mango juice to one, leaving the other one plain for a later addition of fruit.  Just a few weeks ago we returned from a long trip to California to find an abundance of blackberries on the large bush that has overtaken an entire fence in our back yard.  We were able to pick nearly 6# in one evening, and still had tons left that we were unable to get to that day.  Seeing that we didn't need that many berries, I decided to split off 4.33# of blackberries into the plain sour batch.  After dropping some in, one-by-one, I tried pulverizing them in my hand, and this too caused too much splashing, so I blended them up in the blender and poured it through my funnel with a tube on the end that was under the surface, cutting down on aeration.  The beer is a deep purple with chunks of blackberry floating around and a very broken pellicle on top.  Honestly, it looks like a giant version of the starter I did about this time last year from the same blackberry bush to make the Lambic I am going to bottle soon.  Between the two carboys I should have about 4+ gallons of Sour Blackberry Blonde and nearly 5 gallons of Sour Mango Blonde come next summer.

Sour Blonde Update: Tropicana!

The Blonde Ale has made some advances since I last updated on it.  What started as a test batch to ensure my fermenters were free of the infections that hit my other brews, morphed into a sour project when the experiment revealed that my conical was indeed still infected (and much new information leads to the conclusion that it is actually the source of it all).  The batch was being housed in 4 glass jugs, and the conical, the former containing Lacto, Pedio, Brett, and oak, the latter containing Brett only.  I recently added some 5 gallon glass carboys to the brewhouse, scored at a garage sale for $12 each, couldn't pass it up.  I decided to take the just under 3 gallons of oaked and soured version, the 1 gallon of Lacto from yogurt and honey, and the 6 gallons of Brett Blonde and mix them together split into 2 carboys.  One remains blended and aging for now (will receive some fruit later), the second received fruit now.

I did some chatting with fellow homebrewers and sour lovers Mike Tonsmeire (and his friend Seth) and Ryan about possibilities for adding tropical fruits.  Both recommended staying away from pineapple unless I was going to back sweeten as they are highly acidic.  After looking at the options of guava, papaya, mango, passionfruit, and dragon fruit, I decided on mango (passion and dragon are too expensive).  I added one papaya and remembered that I don't much care for it, and one won't impact the flavor enough to worry about it.  I also added 3 mangoes skinned and de-seeded.  According to a few sources, I would need between 8-10# of mango, and i only added about 3.  The cost factor does weigh in, so when I found some Mango Nectar (high fructose corns syrup free) on sale for $3.50 1/2 gallon, I jumped on it.  Bought 2 jugs.  The juice weighs in at 1.057 OG.  I added one jug to the carboy and almost overflowed the vessel.  The other I put into one of my glass gallon jugs and then siphoned some of the sour beer in with it to ferment it like a sour/wild Mango cider.  Once they are done souring, I will blend them back together before bottling.  Who knows what else will happen between now and then though.