Speciation Artisan Ales: Take a Sip on the Wild Side

By Max Spencer

Mitch and Whitney Ermatinger — after creating and rewriting multiple business plans over the course of years — decided to found a brewery in the Grand Rapids area that focuses on mixed-culture wild ales after seeing how popular they were in the rest of the country. The result of their hard work and planning is the new Speciation Artisan Ales in Comstock Park. The name Speciation is a reference to the evolutionary process by which new species emerge — an appropriate name for a brewery that uses wild microbes in its beers. “We wanted to create a cohesive brand,” Mitch explained to me during a visit to the brewery, “a theme with a large pool of names to draw from.” The theme of evolution is well suited for wild ales, as wild microbes tend to impart a wide range of characteristics to beer and exhibit variation from batch to batch — from microbe to microbe.

Mitch has a strong history of brewing. He cut his teeth as a homebrewer and employee at O’Connor’s Homebrew Supply before moving with Whitney to Colorado. Once there, Mitch joined the brewing team at Former Future Brewing Company — now known as Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales. Black Project — run by James Howat — specializes in spontaneously fermented beers. It was during this time that Mitch learned a great deal about wild and spontaneous fermentation. James, Mitch and the rest of the team at Black Project won two bronze medals for their wild ales at GABF in 2014 and 2015. Then, in 2016, Harmony Brewing Company hired Mitch to assist them in creating their sour program.

Speciation barrels

The beers released by Speciation so far were fermented using a mixture of lab cultures, wild microbes and a yeast Mitch harvested from a crab apple flower in Holland, Michigan. “We plan on shifting towards 100% wild fermentations as time goes on,” Mitch said, “once we have coolships and a collection of wild yeasts.” Many beer styles rely on malt or hops for their characteristic flavors — but wild and spontaneously fermented beers are all about the microbes. Not that malt and hops do not contribute, but the acidity — AKA sourness — and most of the complex flavors found in such beers are the result of microbial metabolism. A reliance on wild microbes promotes experimentation, as microbes from different sources (various fruits, flowers, etc.) bestow beer with distinct flavors and aromas.

Open fermentation

Mitch has some unique and exciting projects in the works. For the summer, they will be releasing a series of Berliner weisses aged with different fruits. There are also plans for a dark sour, an IPA, and an array of variants using base beers with different additions such as mangoes, honey or rhubarb and vanilla. The most exotic of Speciation’s upcoming ventures is a family of spontaneously fermented beers currently codenamed the Laurentian Spontaneous Series. What makes the Laurentian Series one-of-a-kind is the intended source of the microbes — the Great Lakes. Mitch plans to place coolships on the shores of each Great Lake to capture the terroir of the individual lakes, releasing each separately and together as a blend. Additionally, Mitch has several bourbon, red wine and maple syrup barrels to age beers in — with hopes of incorporating oak foeders soon. Keep in mind that wild microbes can be finicky, and any future releases are subject to change based on results.

Fermentation tank

A new batch of beer is released every second Saturday of every month. The first two batches released were Genetic Drift, an American Saison contained in a solera system and dry hopped with Mosaic and Saaz, and Incipient, a golden sour dry hopped with Belma, Cascade and Mosaic hops. The next slated release, on March 11, is a variation of the Incipient with Black Currants. Currently, releases are handled through a ticket-based system on Eventbrite and leftovers are sold at bottle shops like Siciliano's — so keep an eye out!

Tasting Notes for Genetic Drift

An American farmhouse Saison open-fermented with Brettanomyces bruxellensis var. Drie, Belle Saison, and Speciation’s house strain which was captured from a crabapple tree in Holland, MI. The malt build consists of Pilsner, Vienna, wheat, rye and oats. To top it off, this batch was dry hopped with Mosaic and Saaz. Mitch is utilizing solera techniques (adding fresh wort to containers with already fermented beer) to create future batches of Genetic Drift—which should result in similar beers that steadily change over time due to shifts in the microbial community of the solera.

Appearance: Pale gold, hazy, with a delicate seafoam white head.

Aroma: Rustic, earthy funk. Overripened fruit, mango, pineapple, light stone fruit. Peppery phenols.

Palate: Follows the nose well—rustic, earthy, funky and lightly acidic. Fruit smoothie with tropical and stone fruits. Lemon. A light, grainy malt character. High carbonation. Pillowy mouthfeel with a light-medium body.

Finish: Dry with lingering acidity and bitterness.

Homebrew Science: Sour Hour!

By Max Spencer

So, what in the hell makes something sour? The simple answer is organic acids. Acids are found in almost every food and drink we ingest, including the beer we love — even non-sour beer. Organic acids are present in malted grains and are created by yeast and other microbes during fermentation². This is why the pH of beer is relatively low (~4 for non-sour beer, down to ~3 for sour beer). It is beneficial to have acids in beer. Acidity augments flavor, affects viscosity, hinders microbial growth, stabilizes flavor and has an influence on perceived hop bitterness^2,4.

This still doesn’t explain what makes something sour. Is there really such a huge difference between a pH of 4 and a pH of 3? Yep, but it’s more complicated than that. pH is a measurement of free protons (H+; hence the H in pH) in a solution. Acids lower the pH of a solution by releasing protons when dissolved. The pH scale is logarithmic, so each number represents a 10x increase in the concentration relative to the number before it. The last thing we need to know about pH is that the scale works in the opposite direction you expect it to — the lower the number, the higher the concentration. So, a pH of 3 is 10x more acidic than a pH of 4, meaning it has 10x the concentration of H+. Despite this, two different beers that share a pH can be vastly different in their sour character and intensity. pH plays a role, but this tells us that there is more to it^1,3,4.

Organic acids are comprised of at one least carboxyl group (-COOH) attached to an endless variety of structures. The carboxyl group is where our free protons come from, as the hydrogen on the carboxyl group gladly gives up its electron in exchange for a life of free lovin’ in solution (-COO- and H+). Studies have found that solutions of different acids at the same pH do not result in the same intensity of sourness^1,3. The sour character is also distinct between different acids. For example, acetic acid — the main component of vinegar — has an unmistakable vinegar character to our taste buds, while lactic acid tends to be described as “clean” and “tart”¹. This reveals to us that it is not only the pH of a beer that causes sourness, but the identity of the acid. The structure attached to the carboxyl group clearly influences beer in a way that is detected by us through our sense of taste — specifically, our taste for sour^1.3,4. Despite knowing that different organic acids result in various sour flavors and intensity, the mechanism behind why and how is still unclear⁴. Ph.D. project, anyone?

Now that we have a better understanding of sourness, how do we get to sour beer? There’s an easy way, and a complex way. The easy way is to add an organic acid to beer until it tastes the way you want. Homebrew shops — including little ol’ us — carry lactic acid solutions that can be used to lower the pH of any beer and add that “tart” flavor common to most sour beers. The traditional way is to use microbes. Brewers, including homebrewers, have access to non-yeast microbes that are used alongside yeast to create sour beers. The two most popular microbes used are Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. They are closely related genera of bacteria that create lactic acid and other byproducts during fermentation, creating a sour character that yeast is incapable of developing on its own. Microbes add a layer of complexity to the flavor of sour beers that pure acid solutions don’t provide. A Belgian lambic or Flanders red would not be the same without the massive diversity of microbes that perform their collective metabolic magic. Microbes create a smörgåsbord of organic acids that can accentuate fruit and malt characters already present in beer and provide a swathe of flavors ranging from funky to fruity^5,6.

The major disadvantage of using microbes is the length of time it takes for their character to develop. It can take months or even years for a sour beer to fully develop, but techniques such as kettle souring can drastically shorten the length of time required to achieve sourness via microbes. A kettle soured beer merely takes hours to days for souring to occur. Another disadvantage is the potential for cross contamination. Breweries and homebrewers alike fear occasional infected batches. Using microbes intentionally increases that chance by bringing them into the same space as clean beers. Despite this, if you practice solid sanitation technique or maintain a second set of plastic equipment the chance of infection stays at the same level it would be if you only fermented clean beers.

Whether you’re a homebrewer or someone who just enjoys drinking beer I hope you can go forth with a new appreciation for all things sour. Maybe take a crack at making your first sour, or buy yourself a nice Belgian masterpiece crafted by tradition and dedication. Either way, let us enjoy the spoils of — intentionally — sour beer together. Cheers!

"I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in fourteen days I lost two weeks." –Joe E. Lewis

Literature cited

1. Hartwig, P. and M.R. McDaniel. 1995. Flavor characteristics of lactic, malic, citric, and acetic acids at various pH levels. Journal of Food Science 60(2):384-388. 
2. Li, H. and F. Liu. 2015. Changes in organic acids during fermentation. J. Am. Soc. Brew. Chem. 73(3):275-279.
3. Makhlouf, G.M. and A.L. Blum. 1972. Kinetics of the taste response to chemical stimulation: a theory of acid taste in man. Gastroenterology 63:67-75. 
4. Neta, E.R.C., S.D. Johanningsmeier, and R.F. McFeeters. 2007. The chemistry and physiology of sour taste—a review. Journal of Food Science 72(2):R33-R38.
5. Snauwaert, I, S.P. Roels, F.V. Nieuwerburg, A.V. Landschoot, L.D. Vuyst and P. Vandamme. 2016. Microbial diversity and metabolite composition of Beligan red-brown acidic ales. International Journal of Food Microbiology 221:1-11.
6. Spitaels, F. A.D. Wieme, M. Janssens, M. Aerts, H. Daniel, A.V. Landschoot, L.D. Vuyst and P. Vandamme. 2014. The microbial diversity of traditional spontaneously fermented lambic beer. PLOS ONE 9(4):1-13.