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→Souring in the Boiler (Kettle Sour)
===Souring in the Boiler (Kettle Sour)===
Also known as '''kettle souring''', souring in the boil kettle is a simple process that is often used if the brewer wants to subsequently heat pasteurize the wort. Pasteurizing the wort has the advantage of allowing the brewer to rack the pasteurized wort into a fermenter and pitch brewer's yeast without fear of an ongoing ''Lactobacillus'' infection in their post-boil equipment. This process was originally invented by a German scientist named Otto Francke, and called the "Francke acidification process". It was designed by Francke as a way to shortcut the mixed culture fermentation of Berliner Weisse; however, this process was never really used in Berliner Weisse production because it did not produce a product that resembled Berliner Weisse that was fermented with a mixed culture of yeast and bacteria (including ''Brettanomyces''). See the [[Berliner_Weissbier|Berliner Weisse]] page for more information on the history of Berliner Weisse production methods <ref name="marshall">[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8CshC9nxYHdckhlbXFQN1hPbGc/view Kurt Marshall. CBC 2012 Presentation.]</ref><ref>[https://eurekabrewing.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/44-traditional-berliner-weisse/ Samuel Aeschlimann. Eureka Brewing Blog. "#44 Traditional Berliner Weisse". 03/10/2012. Retrieved 09/02/2017.]</ref><ref>[http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2020/09/kettle-souring.html Shut up about Barclay Perkins. "Kettle Souring". Ron Pattinson. 09/17/2020.]</ref>. Note that while kettle sours might technically fall under the category of "mixed fermentation", brewers generally accept the definition of "mixed fermentation " to not apply to kettle sours because the lactic acid bacteria does ia not left alive to co-ferment exist with yeast.
The brewing process is the same for any all-grain batch up until the first wort and sparge runnings are collected in the boil kettle. The temperatures that a typical mash out/sparge are not enough to completely pasteurize the wort <ref>[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/j.2050-0416.2005.tb00221.x Enhancing the Microbiological Stability of Malt and Beer – A Review. Anne Vaughan, Tadhg O’Sullivan and Douwe van Sinderen. 2005.]</ref><ref>[https://elifesciences.org/articles/04634 Mapping microbial ecosystems and spoilage-gene flow in breweries highlights patterns of contamination and resistance. Nicholas A Bokulich, Jordyn Bergsveinson, Barry Ziola, David A Mills. 2015.]</ref><ref>[http://mmbr.asm.org/content/77/2/157.full The Microbiology of Malting and Brewing. Nicholas A. Bokulich and Charles W. Bamforth. 2013. DOI: 10.1128/MMBR.00060-12.]</ref>. Therefore, the best approach is to heat the wort for a short boil (1-2 minutes) in order to kill a greater degree (2-3 logs more) of thermotolerant microbes <ref name="Heit_boiling">[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1180630378631841/?comment_id=1180634488631430&reply_comment_id=1180677581960454&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R2%22%7D Conversation with Bryan of Sui Generis Blog regarding boiling versus lower temperature pasteurization. 11/18/2015.]</ref><ref>[http://sourbeerblog.com/lactobacillus-2-0-advanced-techniques-for-fast-souring-beer/ ''Lactobacillus'' 2.0 – Advanced Techniques for Fast Souring Beer. 11/18/2015. Retrieved 11/19/2015.]</ref><ref name="pasteurization">[http://www.mbaa.com/meetings/districtpresentations/DistrictPresentations/2011_03_10PasteurizationTechnologies.pdf "District Michigan MBAA Technical Meeting Grand Ledge, MI". MBAA Presentation. 2011.]</ref>. Once all of the wort is collected in the boil kettle (and preferably brought to a boil), the wort is chilled to around 80-115°F (37-46°C), depending on the ''[[Lactobacillus]]'' culture that is being used (see the [[Lactobacillus#Culture_Charts|''Lactobacillus'' culture charts]]). Once chilled to the appropriate temperature, the wort in the kettle is inoculated with a culture of ''Lactobacillus''. Hops should not be added at any point before inoculating the wort with a culture of ''Lactobacillus'' as most species of ''Lactobacillus'' will be inhibited by the presence of even very small amounts hops (1-2 IBU or even just hop material from dry hopping). When using a pure culture of ''Lactobacillus'', it is generally a good idea to [[Lactobacillus#Starters_and_Pitching_Rate|create a 500 mL starter]] for ~5-6 gallons of wort.