[petermmitchell]

Is there any need to have a separate mash tun for sour mashes?  Just wondering if there would be any sanitation issues with using my normal mash tun for sour mashes as well.  Thanks!


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[dkfick]

No. You're good to go.

[Stevie]

The smell might be hard to get out if you are using a cooler tun. I left some grains overnight once out of laziness. I yacked while dumping them out and had to let the cooler soak with oxyclean for a few days to get the smell down. That was an extreme case.

[ynotbrusum]

It may retain the smell, affecting the taste of subsequent batches, but it shouldn't "infect" a subsequent mash which would be quickly boiled following the mash...but another extended sour mash could be affected in theory.

[WhiteWolfBrewery]

Don't think I am getting this right.  Isn't the mash the same as any other beer?

[Stevie]

A sour mash uses lacto in the mash before boiling to sour a beer. Typically it is allowed to sour for a day or two, but maybe longer. It can leave some funky smells from the lacto and other bugs that were already on the grain.

[WhiteWolfBrewery]

Ok. Why do you sour the mash prior to boil and not in the fermenter?

[Stevie]

A sour mash in the kettle or mashtun helps to keep all your equipment downstream bug free. It also allows for greater control over how sour a beer will be in the end. A brewer can pour lacto into a warm (~100°) mashtun and taste daily to find the level of tartness they like.

All this talk is making me want to brew a berliner.

Souring in the kettle post sparge is a good option as well. A good fitting lid is required, but I have heard of others laying plastic wrap on the mash surface. From what I have heard, if you kettle is small enough, an oven with the light on is a good way to hold a warm mash over a day or two.

[ynotbrusum]

And with the lactobacillus on the grain husks as you mash, adding lactobacillus to the mash may be unnecessary.  It still can be added, of course.

[Jimmy K]

Grain is already covered in lacto and other bugs, so I wouldn't worry about contamination. But like others said you might not get the smell out. I doubt the smell alone would absorb enough to affect future batches but I might be wrong.

[dmtaylor]

In my experience the smell will be gone after your next batch.  No worries.  I have done that several times.