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'''Wort Souring''' is the process of "acidifying wort by inoculating with lactic acid bacteria to ferment and produce lactic acid for some time before inoculating with yeast to perform the main alcoholic fermentation. While non-sour beer falls in the range of 3.8-4.6 pH, a final pH between 3.0 and 3.7 is the general target range for the soured wort and also the finished sour beer (note that [[Titratable Acidity]] is more accurate for measuring perceived sourness). This is a broadly defined technique and there are many variations on souring wort. These include [[Mixed Fermentation|mixed fermentation]]" (methods such as souring in the case of lactic acid bacteria being left alive to co-exist with primary fermenter for a short time period before adding yeast) , or pre-boil acidification (such as souring in the case boil kettle itself with a pure culture of kettle sours) where lactic acid bacteria pre-ferment and acidify then boiling to pasteurize the sour wort before yeast is pitched to complete added (kettle souring). There are also various methods of inoculating the main alcoholic fermentation wort with ''Lactobacillus'' <ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341353855_The_power_of_sour_-_A_review_Old_traditions_new_opportunities Bossaert, Sofie & Crauwels, Sam & De Rouck, Gert & Lievens, Bart. (2019). The power of sour - A review: Old traditions, new opportunities. BrewingScience. 72. 78-88. 10.23763/BrSc19-10bossaert.]</ref><ref>[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jib.569 Dysvik, A., Liland, K. H., Myhrer, K. S., Westereng, B., Rukke, E.-O., de Rouck, G., and Wicklund, T. (2019) Pre-fermentation with lactic acid bacteria in sour beer production. J. Inst. Brew., 125: 342– 356. https://doi.org/10.1002/jib.569.]</ref>. While non-sour beer falls in the range of 3.8-4.6 pH, a final pH between 3.0 and 3.7 is the general target range for the soured wort and also the finished sour beer ([[Titratable Acidity]] is more accurate for measuring perceived sourness). This is a broadly defined technique and there are many variations on souring wort. These include mixed fermentation methods such as souring in the primary fermenter for a short time period before adding yeast, or sequential fermentation such as souring in the boil kettle itself with a pure culture of lactic acid bacteria and then boiling to pasteurize the sour wort before yeast is added ('''kettle souring'''). There are also various methods of inoculating the wort with ''Lactobacillus''.
Although this process generally does not include the use of ''Brettanomyces'', some creative brewers have applied wort souring techniques to longer aged [[Mixed Fermentation]] beers and barrel aged beers that do contain ''Brettanomyces''.