You gotta keep 'em Kegerated

My roommates and I just recently finished a rather large project. The construction of a 5 tap kegerator and fermentation fridge! This is a huge step for the increase in capability and quality for my beers. One of the best things you can do to improve the quality of your beers is having fine tuned temperature controls so you can keep your yeast from producing off flavors.

Anyway, onto the Kegerator (Oh, and please excuse the instagram pics, I was trying to share the construction process with my friends and use the filters to get better contrast):

My room mate said his co-worker had an old chest freezer in his cellar, and that it was ours if we could get it out. The thing was old ugly, and heavy as all hell, but we managed to get it out once we detached the lid/hinges. Here is the nasty old thing in our garage.

Our first task was to clean it up, which took a surprisingly  long time since the dirt and grime was so caked on there. With two of us giving it two solid go overs, we probably spent an hour or so scrubbing away.

Our second task was to put a few coats of paint on the thing so it wouldn't look like such a piece of shit. We used an enamel white paint so it ended up taking a second coat to really cover up the flaws, dings, and stains on the fridge. Fortunately, it was pretty easy and quick to paint, and we managed to do both coats in a single day since it dried so quickly. There was probably a 10 fold improvement in appearance once the thing got painted.

The biggest problems with converting a chest freezer to a kegerator is that it's usually a tight fit to get the kegs and the connectors to fit under the lid and the fact that the front and sides of the freezer are usually riddled with a lattice of pipes that are full of coolant, meaning you can't really drill through the freezer itself for the taps.
There are two solutions to this issue:
1. Build a tower for your taps, which is expensive, difficult, makes it hard to reach your lines, and does nothing about the height space issues.

2. Build a collar, which is cheap, easy, looks great, and increases the height of the freezer.

As you can see, we went with the collar.


Once we set the collar on top, we were really excited to check out our fridge capacity and to see if we would be able to fit either the CO2 or a keg on top of the "hump" in the back corner of the freezer. The hump is where the fridge's compressor is located, and cuts down on the internal area of the fridge.
As you can see, we ended up not putting anything on the hump, but this was because we realized that we can fit 8 kegs and a CO2 tank in there without even worrying about the hump space.
Since we were only planning on 5 taps, we decided that room for 3 extra kegs meant there was probably enough space for a fermenter or two when we need them in there.

Once we had our capacity issues sorted out and our collar built, we moved onto the issue of attaching everything to the freezer. As I said before, you can't really drill into a chest freezer without already knowing where  the pipes are located, so we ended up using a clear silicon caulk to attach the collar, then bolting the lid to the back of the collar and the existing top holes from the original hinge location. 

We tied the collar into place while it was drying and also used an expansion foam insulation around the inner edges of the collar to help reduce any temperature losses and fill any leaks. We also covered the crappy old lid gasket with weatherstripping to make a better seal.

At this point we moved the fridge inside since we were worried about fitting it through our door after we put on the outer decorative collar.







We used a few 8x1 boards and a miter saw to build the outer collar. The miter saw allowed us to make 45 degree cuts on the end so that the joints between the side and front would look better.

The outer-collar is offset slightly from the 6x2 inner collar so that the lid gasket is hidden inside a sort of lip (you can see this in the back of the next picture).

We have a carboy on top in this picture to help weigh down the lid in order to sort of train the weather stripping to be a little more compressed so the lid stays flat.

At this point in the process, we were just about ready to stain the outer collar, fortunately, someone remembered that we need to bore our tap-holes first. We used a 1-inch hole saw since our shanks are just slightly smaller, and we figured they would look best fairly equidistantly spaced across the front.

We ended up putting on three coats of a glossy chestnut stain, and that seemed to bring the wood to a fairly close match in color to the wood around our house.

You can't really see the gloss that well in this picture, but I have two beautiful shots coming up of the wood with the taps attached courtesy of a friend with a way better camera then my iPhone.

 This is our temperature regulator. They cost about $45, and basically consist of a dial to set your desired temp, a probe you put inside the freezer, and a cord you plug the freezer into.

The device is basically a temperature controlled switch that cuts off power to the freezer when you hit your desired temperature. When the temp rises back up again beyond a certain threshold, the "stitch" turns back on and allows the freezer to run again bringing you back to your serving temperature.

 This is just a shot of the internals, right now we have three kegs set up, a blonde, an IPA, and a cider. We have a Belgian Triple in primary right now, and will have a Hefeweizen brewed hopefully by the end of the week. I'll be doing an entry on the triple later this week, including some history on the style and probably a few commercial examples, so look forward to that.
For the hefeweizen, we will be doing a double decoction which is a difficult German brewing style that isn't used that often anymore, so definitely look forward to that!



This pic is just a piece of advice for other kegerator owners who have to use a temp regulator like ours. If you leave your probe just sitting in the air, it's going to cause your fridge/freezer to turn on and off way more frequently. Due to whatever thermodynamic heat capacity voodoo, beer and water change temperatures way slower then air. By putting your probe into a small container of water, it will get a better gist of the actual temperatures of your kegs. Since volume has an effect on heat capacity, this probe water should still change temperature quicker then your kegs, but it will be significantly slower then the air, which will save you money on your energy bills with very little impact on your beers.

Picture courtesy of Cara from www.everydayintrigue.blogspot.com
Check out her blog as a thank you for this great picture.

We used Perlick Chrome taps since we are on a budget and stainless steel is hella expensive. If you do a project like this, make sure to get forward sealing taps like these. Forward sealing taps reduce the amount of open space between the sealing point of the tap and the end of the spout, making them easier to keep clean and prevent mold. You can also see the nice glossy sheen of the stain in this picture.

Picture courtesy of Cara from www.everydayintrigue.blogspot.com
Check out her blog as a thank you for this great picture.

So, there it is. The final product. A beautiful 5 tap homebrew kegerator. After last Sunday, it looks like we'll be quite the popular location for football this season.

If you have an questions about construction, tools, or parts that we used, feel free to comment below and I'll try and help you out. I'm probably a little more handy then the average person, but I'm by no means skilled at painting/staining/woodworking/plumbing/etc so don't be intimidated by a project like this.

Happy Fourth

Happy Fourth Beer Friends.

Sour Bugs

In a continuation from yesterdays post talking about what makes a beer a sour and the traditional sour styles, today I'll be covering what actually turns a beer into a sour. There are several bacteria and wild yeast that are generally used to cultivate sours which are colloquially referred to as "bugs" by many brewers. So what are these magical microorganisms that can turn a regular old base into a delectably tart treat? Lets start with the big four fermenters:

Saccharomyces fermenting a beer.

Saccharomyces: The classic brewers yeast, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, literally known as "sugar fungus" is the same yeast as bakers yeast. Though they share species, this yeast varies wildly in strains, containing both top-fermenting, bottom-fermenting yeasts, and yeasts with varying alcohol tolerance, attenuation, and flavor profiles. Though this yeast isn't a sour yeast, it often plays an important role in sours either doing to the bulk of alcohol production or providing competition for the other bugs to increase stress in the environment which maximizes the production of desired "off-flavors."

A Lactobacillus infection on beer.

Lactobacillus: Cheese and yogurt makers should recognize this bacteria responsible for the production of lactic acid which aids in the production of yogurt and cheese curds. In beer, lactic acid contributes are tart tangy flavor. L. Delbrueckii is the most available strain to brewers and produces only lactic acid and carbon dioxide from the consumption of glucose. Lactobacillus growth is generally retarded by the presence of hop acids in a wort and will die in the presence of too much alcohol or lactic acid. They will generally stop reproducing when the wort reaches a pH of 3.8. Lactobacillus is generally active in the production of flanders sours but fairly limited in lambics.

Pediococcus's ropey and hazy
coating on a beer.

Pediococcus: This bacteria produces the bulk of lactic acid in lambics, though it shares the task with lactobacillus in Flanders style beers. Unlike Lactobacillus, Pediococcus doesn't produce carbon dioxide in the production of lactic acid. This bacteria tends to lose it's viability around 3.4 but is rarely present in high quantities since it's a slow grower compared to other souring bugs. Pedio produces a lot diacetyl (a compound responsible for a slick mouth-feel and buttery taste) which tends to be broken down by yeasts. The ropy hazy slime that this bacteria leaves on the top of beer is usually broken down by Brettanomyces.

A forming pellicle of Acetobacter

Acetobacter: Acetobacter is responsible for the production of vinegar. It works by turning ethanol into acetic acid and can absolutely destroy a beer or wine. This bacteria produces a sharp sour taste and is only palatable in low to moderate quantities in a sour beer. In classic styles, Acetobacter is really only present in significant numbers in the Flanders Red family. Acetobacter requires oxygen to convert alcohol to acetic acid  so as long as its introduction is late in fermentation, it's pretty limited in how much of an effect it will have.

Enterobacter: Enterobacter is a genus of bacteria that produce flavor compounds present in young lambics. Most enterobacter will convert glucose into acetic and lactic acids and produce lots of traditional flaw flavors like dimethyl sulfide (which gives beer a cooked vegetable/corn flavor), smoky moldy, and "baby diaper" flavors. In a successful sour with these present, ther flavors of these byproducts are generally not evident, and most sour producers try to prevent their presence. Enterobacter generally cease their activity around a pH of 4.3. Despite their undesirable qualities, they were historically acceptable in sour beers. Enterobacter presence in beer is important to be aware of since the genus includes E. Coli and Salmonela, fortunately, none of the pathogenic bacteria from this genus can survive all the way to the finished beer. For safety, sours should generally be tasted only after they reach the end of fermentation so the alcohol kills off anything pathogenic. These pathogens aren't the only ones that can't survive finished beer, in fact, no known pathogens can survive in beer, a major reason why beer was consumed instead of water until sanitary practices became common. Nothing in beer can kill you or make you sick, except alcohol of course.

And last, but certainly not least are the strains of Brettanomyces. Though this yeast might have been more appropriately introduced to you along side Saccharomyces, it has several strains used in brewing which each deserve their own entry. Brettanomyces apparently means "British brewing industry fungus," showing it's traditional view as an unwanted presence in classic brewing. There are five recognized species, though generally only three are readily available to brewers.

Brett C. Pellicle

Brettanomyces Anomalus (B. Claussenii): Colloquially referred to as Brett. C. , this strain was originally isolate from British old ales and contribute winelike character. It has a fairly rapid fermentation compared to the other strains and has a fairly large ester profile. Brett C. is often attributed with a pineapple aroma.

Brettanomyces Bruxellensis: Brett B. was isolated from Brussles and is usually used in conjunction with Brett L. and Saccharomyces. Brett B. is responsible for the classic wild characteristics of sour beers, especially lambics, and is generally desired for its "horsy" and cherry characteristics.

A bubbly pellicle on a
100% Brett L. Beer

Brettanomyces Lambicus: Isolated from Belgian Lambics, Brett L. has a cherry-like sour flavor. It also has that distinct "Brett" taste when used in conjunction with Brett B., Saccharomyces, and lactobacillus.


So these are all the major players in sour beer. They may look gross, but hopefully understand the role they play will help people look past their appearances and judge the beers on their delightful aromas and tart refreshing tastes. Though I've only brewed with Brett. B so far, I'm looking forward to doing some experimental batches with each of the bretts and starting my own blended cultures, though this will probably have to wait until after I do some beer with my Jolly Pumpkin starter that I talked about a few posts back.

What makes a beer a sour?

When brewers get to talking about the processes of making sour beers and start saying things like, "I'm going to be introducing bacteria into a turbid mash," there is just something kind of unappetizing about the terminology. Even without getting into the nitty-gritty the idea of a sour beer might just be enough for people to turn their nose up at the style. I think it's unfortunate that the style of beer requires people to get over some preconceptions of the word sour, after all, when most Americans think of sour, their first thought is probably a lemon or soured milk.

Now what most elementary schools don't tell you when you're learning about the sense of taste is that sour doesn't just mean that it puckers your tongue, sour taste is actually the detection of acidity. Even sweet fruits have some measure of sour taste to them: oranges, grapes, some melons, and every citrus fruit. These fruits all contain citric acid, a natural preservative and a source of sour flavor. In beer, sour means the same thing: beers with high acid contents.

New Belgium Brewing Company's sour barrel aging area

Though sour is basically an umbrella term, and any beer can be soured, there are a few traditional styles of sour and about 8 or so "bugs" responsible for souring. Normally considered a flaw, a controlled introduction of sour flavor into an appropriate style can yield a delicious beer once it's had time to mature. Instead of thinking of milk gone bad or biting into a lemon before drinking a sour beer, you should think of a glass of lemonade or a rich wine tart taste. This should help you get the right mindset and realize what to expect when you take that first sip of soured beer.

Classic Styles:

Lambic: Lambics are produced in breweries near Brussels where the wort, produced from a simple grist bill and aged hops, is left in a coolship (a short wide open air tub) that allows for the natural yeasts and bacteria in the air to get a foothold in the beer. Though this is traditional method of preparing a lambic, it has been discovered that the barrels traditionally used for lambics contain more bugs then any amount of air exposure would introduce. Straight lambic is usually difficult to come by, it is extremely sour with very little carbonation and rarely sold outside belgium.
Much more common then the straight lambic is the Framboise, a lambic aged on raspberries, or the Kriek, lambic aged on cherries. Lambics are aged on a variety of fruits. There is also the Gueuze, which is a blend of one to three year old lambics creating a dry cidery or champaigny taste.

Technically Lambics can only be produced in this area, but lambic styled beers tend to be growing in popularity and are produced all around the world by brewers and homebrewers.

Flanders: Another major style traditional sour is the Flanders Red Ale and Oud Bruin.
Flanders Red Ale is commonly considered one of the most wine-like beers produced. It is an interesting brew with a porter-like grist, though use of Vienna malts dominate the bill and impart the red to burgundy color. A flanders red is innoculated with souring bugs in an open air method like the lambic. A Flanders Red Ale usually ends up with a plum, cherry, or currant taste.

An Oud Bruin, or Flanders Old Brown is a beer of rich history. For a long period this beer was probably synonymous with the term beer, as whatever caused fermenation was still unknown and uncontrolled, not to mention the use of pale malts was limited to the local of their origin. The Oud Bruin grist is mostly pilsner and munich malts with some adjuncts. The beer generally ages for a year or longer in order to mature the sour flavors and allow them to mellow. The beer has a bright aroma and a sweet fruity taste, though there is certainly a sour acidic element to the style.

These are the two traditional Belgian sour styles that have survived through the ages. It's important to note that any style can be soured, and often can come out tasting quite well. This is one of the reasons I've been so into Jolly Pumpkin, since they have Ambers, Goldens, and several other styles that they have soured.

This entry is getting kind of long, so I'll post about the souring "bugs" in an entry tomorrow.

Some brewing history, Prohibition to Present

President Carter signed a law
legalizing homebrew in 1978.

American homebrewing has an interesting history. You have to remember that beer brewing, while an ancient art that stretches back to the dawning of civilization, it has only been re-legalized in the US since 1978. Though the 21st amendment to the constitution was passed in 1933 bringing an end to the 18th amendments prohibition of alcohol, there was an oversight in the accompanying legislation that, while legalizing home production of wine, left the act of homebrewing beer illegal. It was President Jimmy Carter that signed Public Law 95-458, which legalized homebrewing and went into effect in February of 1978. The only PDF I could find of the law can be found here. Section two of the bill covers the exemption of taxation on beer or wine produced for individual and family use to the volume of 100 gallons per adult, or 200 gallons per household of two or more adults.

Prior to prohibition, there were a ton of breweries in the US, peaking at over 3000 breweries in 1870. The year after prohibition ended, the number of breweries in the US was something around 700. These breweries made it through that rough 13 year prohibition by adapting their factories to produce other products. One of the major flaws of prohibition was that it couldn't make the products used to brew illegal; tubing, jugs, jars, and pots all have plenty of legitimate uses. Since the tools were there, many of these breweries adapted their lines and started selling malt extract for "baking." During prohibition brewers brewed from scratch, extract, or supplementing the alcohol content of the still legal "near beer," producing somewhere near the tune of 700 million gallons of homebrewed beer, about 60% of the volume of beer produced by breweries the year after prohibition's repeal.

While this is an intentional and controlled
infection of Brett. L. it gives you a
decent idea of what prohibition hombrew
might have looked like.

While I wish I could say that this era of bootlegging beer gives homebrewers a secret cache of protected knowledge to look back on, the truth is that the hobby, unlike wine making, just wasn't that huge prior to prohibition. Homebrew in this era was an easy and low effort way of getting drunk compared to distilling, and saved the brewer the risk of having a homemade still explode in their face. These people didn't have homebrew manuals, there were no published books, and any trading of techniques we limited to your closest friends and neighbors. As to be expected poor yeast quality, insufficient sanitation, and a general lack of knowledge turned most of this beer into foul and brackish brew.

With such a toxic collection of suds, it's no wonder that homebrewing didn't stay quite so popular after prohibition ended. American's flocked to breweries, and with the expansion of freight shipping systems, larger breweries began crowding out the smaller guys and becoming a staple all across the nation. Brewers like Bud, Pabst, Schlitz, and Schafer began crowding out the small guys and then each other. By 1980, the United States was down to 101 breweries. That's over 2900 breweries lost in 110 years of US history.

Fortunately for us, with the legalization of homebrewing the hobby began to pick up again. People experimented and talked about the hobby, they shared their tips and tricks, and eventually a decent body of knowledge was gained. Homebrewing manuals began getting published and enthusiasts began traveling throughout the world to learn from breweries that had been operating for hundreds of years. Microbreweries began to emerge around the country and the guys who knew what they were doing managed to carve out a niche for quality beer. American favorites like Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, Rouge, New Belgium, Dogfish Head, Brooklyn Brewery, and Boulder Beer Company are just a few examples of homebrewers going professional and helping the steady march of breweries being opened in the US. In 2011, there were 1940 breweries operating in the US, producing beer of unparalleled quality. The modern beer geek no longer looks to Europe for quality beers as the explosion of craft brewing the US has created enough beers of both unique and classic tastes to keep anyone from getting bored. Today, homebrewers, like many hobbyists, enjoy and unprecedented amount of information about brewing. The internet has enabled so many amateur brewers around the world to connect and trade ideas and practices that even professionals will get in on the action. Information you could have only learned by visiting a brewing monastery in Belgium or the entirety of the German Reinheitsgebot is a mere click away. It is a far cry from the dark ages of prohibition, and for that, I am a very thankful homebrewer.

Doing your own research

My kettle, wort chiller,
and siphon in action.

One cool thing about brewing is that every brewer does it differently. There are so many different products and methods available, not to mention DIY solutions, that it's nearly impossible to have unified "best practices" for all brewers to follow. I brew with a huge 15 gallon false bottomed pot, a propane turkey fryer for heat, and an igloo 10 gallon cooler with a false bottom that I use for both mashing and lautering. Almost every technique I use will be different from the guy who is doing a partial-volume extract boil on his electrical stove beyond the fact that we are both going to end up with a sugary water that we pitch some yeast into.

Every brewer has his own goals and tastes that also drive what they find to be important in their beers. I for one give zero attention to a big brewing bugaboo that drives many people to near insanity: Clarity. Since I have a wort chiller, a lot of the proteins and hop particles present in young wort will precipitate out leaving my beer fairly clear with maybe a little bit of haze. I personally find that this has zero effect on flavor, and many other brewers feel the same way telling new brewers to stop worrying about the cloudiness of their first batch. Many other people find clarity so important, however, that they are willing to use fining agents like PVPP plastics, collagen derive from fish bladders, extracts from dried seaweed, and unflavored gelatin, the only one I'd really consider using.

Where am I going with all this? Well, basically, I think it's really important that all brewers spend some time to sit down and decide their goals with brewing. Thinking about what is important to you and your finished beer provides an effective framework and point of view for doing research on not just special techniques for certain styles, but also on general practices. When you have already decided what is important to your beer, everything you research and read gets screened through your own goals instead of the authors. It enables you to take a look at an authors techniques and say, "Ok, this guy thinks this is a really important step, but what effect does it have on beer in general? how will it affect my brewing goals? and is the effect great enough that it's worth either the time or cost of implementing it?"

As I've mentioned before, the blog The Mad Fermentationist has been a wealth of information for me in doing research into sours. I've also picked up a copy of Jeff Sparrow's Wild Brews, which I haven't gotten around to reading yet, and Stan Hieronymus's Brew Like a Monk which I have. Though Brew like a Monk has little in the way of sours, it does give information about traditional lambics and Orval's use of souring due to the influence of their brewmaster's Flemish assistant. Orval being one of the ever so famous Trappist breweries, it's influence in brewing can't be understated with the fresh leathery taste of certain brett strains being nicknamed Goút d'Orval. Another plus to Brew Like a Monk is it has a very in-depth exploration of Belgian styled beers and the techniques that they use, which are often counter to what traditional wisdom says is best for brewing 


Outside of sours and getting more into general or practical brewing information, my first instructional read in homebrewing came from John Palmer's How to Brew. The first edition is what I read, since Palmer offers it free online and it's a highly comprehensive piece. If you have never brewed before, I recommend skipping the sections on water chemistry, all-grain brewing, and only skimming the section on yeast. His water chemistry section goes into too much detail for novice brewers, he makes all-grain brewing sound a thousand times more complicated then it needs to be, and a lot of his information on yeast doesn't really reflect the modern yeasts available from Wyeast and White Labs in terms of their health and viability. Other then that, it's a fantastic resource for learning about the techniques of extract brewing, steeping grains, what hops do to beer, equipment, and other basic info. 


The second real book on brewing I read was Charles Papazian's The Complete Art of Homebrewing: Third Edition which, though kind of dated, does a fantastic job of reminding the reader that brewing something that tastes good is pretty easy. I also feel that it has a much more clear explanation of what is actually happening when you do an all-grain batch, and his instructions are much more straightforward. Additionally, he offers a healthy section of recipes and several appendixes on other items of homebrew interest like kegging, mead, souring, growing hops, judging/tasting beer, and a really simple explanation of the science behind siphoning. 


Also in my library is Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing, which I have yet to read cover to cover, but has certainly been an excellent resource while working on my own recipes. Radical Brewing has a ton of recipes and at a whopping 22 chapters, it covers everything from brewing history to critical tasting to recipe formulation and more. The last book currently on my shelf, which also has unfortunately been waiting in line to be read is Ray Daniels's Designing Great Beers. A detail oriented technical manual divided into two sections. The first half is a collection of tools and equations for calculating things like grain bill, hop bill, hitting the OG, and so on. Part two takes a scientific analysis of beers that made it to the second round of the National Homebrew Competition and pairs that information with the traditional and historical ingredients of their particular styles. It gives a solid basis for the formulation of your own recipes, but doesn't actually provide any recipes itself. It is a book for the brewer who wants to learn the the hows and whys of a particular style.


And even though I'm behind in my printed reading, (I still read homebrewing forums and websites nearly every day) I still have my amazon wishlist ready to add any new books to for when I get around to buying more. Currently in my planned purchases several books:
Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher
Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation by Jamil Zainasheff
Brew Chem 101 by Lee Jansen
The Complete Mead Maker by Ken Schramm
Brewing Better Beer by Gordon Strong

Hopefully I've provided enough links in here to fairly highly rated brewing material that anyone will be able to start critically thinking about their brewing process, habits, and goals. If you have any suggestions of must read resources on brewing, please leave a comment so I can check it out.

Ommegang Aphrodite, Jolly Pumpkin, and cultivating a sour starter

I suppose it was Ommegang brewery that first managed to convince me that I needed to hunt down sour brews. Last winter, my favorite local watering hole had Ommegang's "Aphrodite" on tap, and though I managed to get my hands on a few bottles of it, I found a definite distinction in taste between bottled and tap. For anyone who hasn't tasted Aphrodite, it's a delectable balance of the classic sour barnyard flavor, crisp and tart raspberry, and a slight sweetness I assume comes more from the pears it is brewed with then the raspberries. Kegs of Aphrodite received two months of fermentation with brettanomyces yeast (unfortunately I don't know which strain) as opposed to the bottles which received fermentation from Ommegang's regular saccharomyces yeast then innoculated with brettanomyces during the bottle conditioning. I've currently got my last two bottles of Aphrodite cellared in hopes that time will allow the brett to really do it's thing and chomp away at some of the longer chain sugars that would be left alone by the sacc yeast. Apparently Ommegang released it around August last year, meaning the stuff I was getting off tap was nice and old with some extra months of funk to it, so it's my hope that by the time it rolls around again I can taste the aged bottle against a fresh bottle, and also against the tap.


I've recently gotten my hands on some Jolly Pumpkin. After hearing a lot about this brewery on forums and through word of mouth, I was pleasantly surprised to find beers from Jolly Pumpkin at my favorite local bottle shop. Unfortunately, I guess JP beers get marked up quite a bit in New York State, so my consumption has been fairly limited, but so far I've tried two of their flagship beers and found them quite impressive. I'd say La Roja was the better of the two beers I picked up, it is an Amber Ale soured in a traditional Flanders style. One of the cool things about Jolly Pumpkin is their method of producing beer, according to JP's brewmaster Ron Jeffries, all their beers are aged in oak casks which overtime become inoculated with their own unique blend of souring bugs. Since each barrel will produce it's own slightly different version of the same beer, Jeffries and his crew has to taste each barrel and select which ones to use for blending.
Jeffries tries to taste current batches side by side with the test blends to keep the overall taste and profile, but each bottle has a natural variation, because of this, every bottle of beer out of Jolly Pumpkin comes with a sticker with the blend and bottling date. Eventually these blends are supposed to be searchable online so you can see what went into them. My La Roja blend was #7 and I'm curious as to what information will be available on their site when they make them searchable. I suppose barrel numbers and the length of time each beer was in each barrel, as La Roja, for example, is made from beers aged anywhere from two to ten months in barrel. The second beer I had was the Bam Bièr, a farmhouse styled ale which I feel pales in comparison to La Roja. It had a crisp sourness reminding me of a gueuze. The label is a little messed up in the pic, but I had a blend from batch 943 and 944 in my bottle of Bam.

Anyway, onto the point of this post. A few days ago I made a quick starter from water and a bottle of Malta Goya, essentially unfermented beer sold as a soda-like drink, in a 2-1 ratio. It's got an OG of about 1.060 which I thought might be a little high for a yeast starter when you using bottle dregs, hence the water addition. I have yet to cultivate my own house sour strain, so I used the dregs from the two bottles of Jolly Pumpkin and it seems to be fermenting away. Unfortunately for me, the temperature has been up  in the 80s and 90s all week, so the starter smells a little bready which I think indicates that the saccharomyces has taken a strong foothold in the blend. Fortunately, I think there is enough long chain sugar in the malta goya that the brett and other bugs will still have something to munch on. I intend to blend some dregs from a blackberry-cardamom sour I brewed with 100% brett with the product of the starter when I get around to bottling it. Hopefully that will add a nice large dose of brett to make up for the explosion in sacc that the weather is causing. I'll throw the blend in one more starter and that should leave me with an extremely large slurry that I'll split up into directly pitch-able quantities.