Forgive my ignorance, but I've heard a number of folks talk about traditional methods of souring beer. From what I can gather, they're not talking of sour mashing or kettle souring. So, does that mean traditional methods of souring beers rely on coolships and wild/natural fermentation? I'm specifically speaking about goses and berliner weiss styles...thanks for the info!
There are foeders made of wood and they create the right conditions, there are coolships and then pitching the bacteria right into the beer. Adding the bacteria is the fastest way to get results. I think?
Yes, the traditional method of souring was to conduct a fermentation which includes lactic acid producing bacteria (e.g., Lactobacillus). The introduction of the lactic acid bacteria could occur via a coolship (i.e., introduced via air exposure), by putting the wort into vessels that contain the bacteria (e.g., a wooden vessel), etc. The sour mash method achieves souring in a more 'controlled' manner and it permits commercial brewers to get product to sale in a more timely manner. Cheers!
A brewer that intentionally inoculates the wort with bacteria (e.g., lactobacillus) may get a quicker start to the sour fermentation but beers brewed the traditional way take a long time to achieve final product; the beer is contained in a secondary vessel for many months or even years. Cheers!
