Catharina Sour
Ordem e Progresso (Order and Progress) is the national motto of Brazil, and is the text on their famous green, yellow, and blue flag. I think that phrase also applies to how Brazil’s internationally recognized beer style, Catharina sour, has evolved over the last several years. I’ve been a witness to this history since 2017 and would like to report on what I’ve seen and how it’s currently made.
At its essence, Catharina sour is a fruited sour beer. It has a simple grist containing Pilsner malt and wheat malt, with a clean lactic sourness and a vibrant fresh fruit character. Light in body, high in carbonation, restrained in alcohol, and dry in the finish, the beer is super refreshing in the warm tropical climate of Brazil. The fruit itself is often tropical, but is really just that which is fresh, seasonal, and local in their country. I like to compare it to making fruit meads in the U.S. — when the good fruit is in season, back up the truck and load it up, because you’re going to use a lot of it.
Catharina sours can have herbs and spices too, but only in support of the fruit that is always the primary sensory experience. The bitterness is kept purposefully low, below sensory thresholds, and late hops are not used. The sourness is clean, without funky or vinegary notes, and is mostly used to balance the fruit and malt flavors. The beer should not be heavy, sweet, or strong, as these would hurt its drinkability. The acidity should be pleasantly tart, not a strong, biting note – certainly less sour than most lambics and gueuzes.
The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Style Guidelines has Catharina sour in the local styles appendix as Style X4. It could be judged with Category 29 Fruit Beers, or with the 28C Wild Specialty Beer using the new 28D Straight Sour Beer as a base style. It should not be judged as a variation of Berliner weisse since those beers are lower in gravity and could contain Brettanomyces.
A Brief History
Catharina sour is an intentional style, in that it was purposefully created as a beer to showcase a national identity. Similar fruited sour beers from several Brazilian regions existed before the style was defined, but those beers were generally treated as unique examples. In 2015, craft brewers and homebrewers held a workshop to formally define the style in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, which is what gives the style its name. I encountered the style during a trip in 2017 where it was already gaining a foothold commercially and in competitions. A locally produced style description was being used at the time, before it was published by the BJCP as a provisional style.
In the 2021 BJCP Guidelines, I rewrote the style description based on my own research and tasting notes from several trips, as well as discussions with brewers producing the style. While the name is associated with one Brazilian state, the beer is made throughout the country. At multiple commercial and homebrew competitions I’ve attended in the last few years, Catharina sour is consistently one of the top 3 styles entered, right up there with IPA. So, this is not a curiosity, it is a mainstream style.
Producing Catharina Sour
For this article, I took a deep dive on production methods by interviewing and sampling beers from several experts. I spoke with Brazil’s only gold medal winner in the American Homebrewers Association’s National Homebrew Competition (NHC), Chico Milani from Florianópolis. I chatted with André Piol, a homebrewer from the state of Espírito Santo who won the gold medal at the Brazilian national homebrew championship this year. I brewed a collaboration batch with one of the best-known producers, Cervejeria UNIKA in Rancho Queimado, and had extensive discussions with their Head Production Brewer, Rudy Fávero. My thanks to all for their assistance.
Brewing Catharina sour is a multi-step process. First, there is the wort production and lactic souring. Second, there is the fermentation. And finally, the fruit is added and fermentation completes. Attention to detail is needed at each step, and the conditions for moving from step-to-step are more based on pH and attenuation than a strict timeline.
Wort production is very simple. Target between 40 and 50% wheat malt, with the rest of the grist being European Pilsner malt. Chico, the NHC gold medal winner, also adds about 5% flaked oats. A single infusion mash from 150–154 °F (66–68 °C) is used for 50–60 minutes, with UNIKA preferring the higher temperature for a little extra body. The higher mash temperature and the use of oats are both techniques to reach the same objective of adding a little extra mouthfeel. The water used is relatively soft with light additions of gypsum and calcium chloride.
The mash pH is about 5.2–5.3, measured at room temperature, and the initial gravity of the wort is 1.048–1.050. Mash out at 172 °F (78 °C) and collect the wort. Boil for 10–15 minutes without adding any hops. Chill to 100–104 °F (38–40 °C). Lower the pH of the wort to 4.5 using lactic acid (this is a precaution against other bacteria taking root before the Lacto gets going, not part of the souring process). At this point, the Lactobacillus of choice is added and the temperature is maintained until the target pH is reached. UNIKA used a mix of Lactobacillus casei and L. plantarum, while Chico and André used L. helveticus. The temperature might need to be adjusted based on the strain of Lacto used. A good reference for various strains and sources of Lacto is the Milk the Funk wiki, milkthefunk.com.
I found it interesting that UNIKA pumped the wort back to the mash tun for the souring phase. They said their mash tun has more precise controls for maintaining a temperature than their kettle. The first phase ends when the target pH is reached, which is typically around 3.1. At the brewery, this takes about three days, which should be similar at home if the conditions are the same.
Phase 2 involves boiling and fermentation. UNIKA used about 6 IBUs of Hallertau Magnum as first wort hops, and Chico used about 7 IBUs of Hallertau Mittelfrüh at 20 minutes. Both used a 60-minute boil, and both chilled to 64 °F (18 °C) and pitched an American ale yeast strain (SafAle US-05 or a comparable yeast). So, this step can be summarized as a light touch of German hops followed by a cool fermentation with a neutral ale yeast. Time spent in this phase can vary, but is usually around four days.
Phase 3 starts when the gravity has dropped and the beer is nearing completion (but is not yet at terminal gravity). UNIKA waits until the beer is around 1.020 and Chico waits until fermentation is 75% complete (a gravity of 1.018). At this time, the fruit of choice is added and fermentation is completed at 68–70 °F (20–21 °C). The time spent in this phase is between 4–6 days, typically, with a final gravity between 1.008–1.012 and a final pH of around 3.0–3.2, although the pH can depend on the fruit used. At the brewery, they cold crashed the beer to improve clarity by setting the tanks to 32 °F (0 °C).
When packaging, carbonate to around 3.5 volumes of CO2 to give high carbonation. Commercial beer is typically kegged or canned, while Brazilian homebrew is usually bottled. Be sure to use heavy bottles that can handle higher carbonation. The beer is best enjoyed fresh.
The basic process before fruit is added is a fairly typical kettle sour procedure. I’ve described the common way that Brazilians make the beer, but it should be recognizable to Americans. The difference in this style is how the fruit is selected and used.
Selecting the Fruit
Since fruit is the dominant character in the beer, choosing the right fruit and processing it is the creative part of the operation. When I did the collaboration with UNIKA, they wanted to use a Brazilian fruit called araçá that they grew at the brewery. They used nets to collect the ripe fruit as it fell from the small trees; it looked a little like a cherry and had a single pit, but the flavor was like a cross between guava and apple to me, plus it was tart and astringent. They had used this fruit in past years, but weren’t satisfied with the results (the beer lacked complexity, and it seemed too tart).
I worked with them to consider alternatives and we settled on adding maracujá (passion fruit). My thought was that we could play on the guava-like flavor in the fruit by adding another fruit that also had a related flavor, plus more sweetness. I had also suggested playing on the apple flavors by adding cinnamon, or by using honey. The brewery had a good local source of fresh passion fruit, so that made the decision easier.
When Rudy tasted the finished beer, he said it tasted like “wild guava” (like guava, but with a more complex note) — this was exactly what I was hoping for. And I thought he came up with a great name for the beer, so I suggested we call it that. The final gravity was a bit high but it was definitely not sweet. The acidity tends to cut through that higher gravity.
Most commercial Catharina sours tend to have either one or two fruits, and may sometimes have a secondary flavor from a spice or herb (or even something more unusual, like coffee). One thing I have observed is that the fruit is selected in season when it is fresh and ripe. It might be frozen after picking if trying to capture a sufficient quantity for brewing, but it is never a canned or processed product. The brewery typically washes and sorts the fruit, and uses a juicer or commercial de-pulping machine (despulpadeira, in Portuguese) to extract the fruit pulp while getting rid of skins, seeds, stems, and other waste. Homebrewers would follow this step manually, possibly using homemade machines or hand tools.
Sourcing seasonal fruit and processing it requires some effort, which is why I likened it to making fruit mead in North America. It’s hard work, but it’s what separates the best examples from the also-rans. Enthusiasts in Brazil reject any kind of cooked fruit character or over-ripe fruit flavor. Heating the fruit during canning or pasteurizing finished commercial beers can create a jammy fruit flavor that seems oxidized to consumers. If you can’t get fresh seasonal fruit, try fresh frozen or aseptic processed fruit.
Balancing the fruit flavors while extracting the freshest flavor is what separates the absolute best examples from the great. I remember judging beers with cajú (cashew), cupuaçu (a type of cocoa), and pitaya (dragon fruit), and with strawberry and guava at events in the last year. The best examples are memorable and often have strong flavors. However, these winners also had the qualities of tasting like a super fresh, complex example of those fruits. I think finding the fruit at its peak of freshness and processing it right away is the key to capturing these flavors.
Chico and André both made beers with cupuaçu and dragon fruit. Cupuaçu is an interesting fruit. It’s big like a coconut, but kind of elongated. It has a soft, custardy interior around large seeds, and has a tart, tropical flavor with hints of banana, pear, chocolate, and pineapple. You use the fleshy pulp around the seeds, but it has a texture like a cross between banana and packing peanuts. You have to use scissors to cut it off the seeds (Chico) or use a homemade mechanical device (André). The device was definitely a homebrew invention, since it almost looked like a chicken plucker.
Don’t be put off if these fruits without English translations are unavailable to you. Brazilians also use berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries), citrus fruit (tangerines), and more common tropical fruit like mango, guava, and passion fruit. Dragon fruit shows up in recipes frequently to add a bright purple-red color. If you look through ethnic markets, or search the internet, you may be able to find more of these tropical or unusual fruits.
Selecting the Lacto
In the early days of the style, many brewers were using probiotic drinks that contained Lactobacillus for their souring potential. Since Lactobacillus is used in making yogurt, cheese, sourdough bread, and many other food products, it can be found in many forms. Probiotic supplements (pills) are another source of Lactobacillus. Recently, yeast suppliers are making pitchable Lacto for breweries. There are many different strains of Lacto available, and they can have different flavor profiles and brewing requirements (desired temperature and tolerance for hops). The main point is that the Lacto species aren’t all the same (no surprise, just like strains of Saccharomyces) and you should be careful when substituting. You may need to do some tests to see what you prefer, and what works the best in your brewhouse. UNIKA blends their Lacto, so keep that in mind as an option. One thing that seems consistent, however, is that people pitch about 0.1 g of Lacto per liter of wort. So, scale your usage accordingly.
Final Thoughts
There are parts of making Catharina sour that seem fairly simple, such as the mashing and the fermenting. The critical control points to me are the handling of the Lacto, and the selection and timing of the fruit additions. Once you find a process you like, I think you can just change the fruit and optional spice additions from batch-to-batch. The grain, hops, yeast, water, and bacteria all remain constant, which should help you focus your attention on the primary flavor drivers of the style.
If you are new to kettle souring, just be sure you understand what measurements you will need to take so you have the proper equipment. Homebrewers often like to “fire and forget” their batches, but that really won’t work with this style. You can’t let processes run to completion and expect them to hold for extended times. You need to move on to the next steps, so be ready. It may be inconvenient to delay the next phases, but the conditions need to be right to move from one step to the next.
If you are curious, my tasting notes for Wild Guava were that it was a bright yellow color, wheat head, effervescent. Smells great, with a fresh, tropical, guava character but with an added great, wild, vegetal note. Light acidity on the nose, clean lactic. Tasted of a clean sourness, no bitterness or hops. Light grainy malt, but all about the fresh fruit and sourness. The fruit has a guava flavor but is more tart than the guava fruit. A light lemony sharpness accents the beer. Highly drinkable and refreshing.
I hope you give the style a try once you find suitable fruit and a good source of Lactobacillus. You may want to wait until you have a lot of fresh fruit in season, which is what the Brazilians do. We had to delay our collaboration brew until the fruit was ready, but that was a trade off I was happy to make. As a brewer, you want to put your beer first.
Catharina Sour Recipes:
Catharina Sour with Cupuaçu and Pitaya
Recipe courtesy of Chico Milani, ACervA Catarinense
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.050 FG = 1.008
IBU = 7 SRM = 3 ABV = 5.5%
Cupuaçu (Theobroma grandilorum) is a Brazilian fruit with a flavor like banana, pear, pineapple, and chocolate that you may be able to source online. There is no direct substitute, but a blend of tropical fruit may be used. Pitaya is dragon fruit, and is used to provide color. The recipe uses the pulp of the fruit only.
Ingredients
5.25 lbs. (2.4 kg) Pilsner malt
4.25 lbs. (1.9 kg) wheat malt
8 oz. (227 g) flaked oats
4 oz. (113 g) acid malt
2.9 AAU Hallertauer hops (20 min.) (0.7 oz./20 g at 4.1% alpha acids)
3.5 lbs. (1.6 kg) cupuaçu pulp
1.75 lbs. (0.79 kg) dragon fruit pulp
200 billion cells Lactobacillus helveticus
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), White Labs WLP001 (California Ale), or SafAle US-05 yeast
7⁄8 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
This recipe uses reverse osmosis (RO) water. Add 0.5 tsp. calcium chloride and 0.5 tsp. calcium sulfate to the mash.
This recipe uses a kettle souring method. In 15 quarts (14 L) water, mash the grain at 150 °F (66 °C) for 60 minutes. Raise the mash to 172 °F (78 °C) and mash out for 10 minutes. Sparge slowly and collect 6.5 gallons (24.5 L) of wort. Boil for 10 minutes without hops. Cool to 100 °F (38 °C). Adjust the pH of the wort to 4.5 measured at room temperature using lactic acid. Pitch the Lactobacillus. Let it sour until a pH of 3.1–3.2 is reached (usually 2–3 days).
Bring to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops with 20 minutes remaining in the boil. Cool to 61 °F (16 °C) and pitch the ale yeast. Ferment at 64 °F (18 °C).
Add the fruit when the gravity reaches 1.018, usually after 3 to 5 days. Do not wait for fermentation to slow down; fruit must be added at high kräusen. The fermentation temperature can rise as high as 70 °F (21 °C), allow to ferment to completion, about four days. Cold crash the beer and then rack off the fruit.
Prime and bottle condition, or keg and force carbonate to 2.6 v/v.
Catharina Sour with Cupuaçu and Pitaya
(5 gallons/19 L, extract only)
OG = 1.050 FG = 1.008
IBU = 7 SRM = 3 ABV = 5.5%
Ingredients
5.8 lbs. (2.6 kg) dried wheat malt extract (this is a blend of wheat and base malt)
2.9 AAU Hallertauer hops (20 min.) (0.7 oz./20 g at 4.1% alpha acids)
3.5 lbs. (1.6 kg) cupuaçu pulp
1.75 lbs. (0.79 kg) dragon fruit pulp
200 billion cells Lactobacillus helveticus
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), White Labs WLP001 (California Ale), or SafAle US-05 yeast
7⁄8 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Use 6.5 gallons (24.5 L) of water in the brew kettle; heat to 158 °F (70 °C). Turn off the heat. Add the malt extract and stir thoroughly to dissolve completely. You do not want to feel liquid extract at the bottom of the kettle when stirring with your spoon. Turn the heat back on and bring to a boil.
Boil for 10 minutes without hops. Cool to 100 °F (38 °C). Adjust the pH of the wort to 4.5 measured at room temperature using lactic acid. Pitch the Lactobacillus. Let it sour until a pH of 3.1–3.2 is reached (usually 2–3 days).
Bring to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops with 20 minutes remaining in the boil. Cool to 61 °F (16 °C) and pitch the ale yeast. Ferment at 64 °F (18 °C).
Add the fruit when the gravity reaches 1.018, usually 3–5 days. Do not wait for fermentation to slow; fruit must be added at high kräusen. The fermentation temperature can rise as high as 70 °F (21 °C), allow to ferment to completion, about four days. Cold crash the beer and rack off the fruit.
Prime and bottle condition, or keg and force carbonate to 2.6 v/v.
Cervejaria UNIKA’s Wild Guava clone
Recipe courtesy of Rudy Fávero, Cervejaria UNIKA
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.050 FG = 1.012
IBU = 6 SRM = 3 ABV = 5%
Araçá is a Brazilian fruit with a flavor like guava and apple; guava is an acceptable substitute. Maracujá is passion fruit. The recipe uses the pulp of the fruit, with seeds, skins, and stems removed. The brewery uses Lactobacillus from an Italian pharmaceutical supplier, www.probiotical.com.
Ingredients
5.7 lbs. (2.6 kg) Pilsner malt
4.5 lbs. (2 kg) wheat malt
1.75 AAU Magnum hops (first wort hop) (0.125 oz./3.5 g at 14% alpha acids)
10.1 lbs. (4.6 kg) araçá or guava pulp
1.8 lbs. (0.82 kg) passion fruit pulp
1.33 g Lactobacillus plantarum
0.66 g Lactobacillus casei
SafAle US-05, Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) yeast
7⁄8 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
This recipe uses reverse osmosis (RO) water. Adjust all brewing water to a pH of 5.5 using phosphoric acid. Add 0.5 tsp. calcium chloride and 0.5 tsp. calcium sulfate to the mash.
This recipe uses a kettle souring method. In 15 quarts (14 L) water, mash the grain at 154 °F (68 °C) for 50 min-utes. Raise the mash to 172 °F (78 °C) and mash out for 10 minutes. Sparge slowly and collect 6.5 gallons (24.5 L) of wort. Boil for 15 minutes without hops. Cool to 104 °F (40 °C). Adjust the pH of the wort to 4.5 measured at room temperature using lactic acid. Pitch the Lactobacillus. Let it sour until a pH of 3.1 or a stable pH is reached (usually 2–3 days).
Add the hops and bring to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes. Cool to 64 °F (18 °C) and pitch the ale yeast.
Add the fruit when the gravity reaches 1.020, usually 3–5 days. Do not wait for fermentation to slow down; fruit must be added at high kräusen. The fermentation temperature can rise as high as 68 °F (20 °C), allow to ferment to completion. Cold crash the beer and then rack off the fruit.
Prime and bottle condition, or keg and force carbonate to 2.6 v/v.
Cervejaria UNIKA’s Wild Guava clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract only)
OG = 1.050 FG = 1.012
IBU = 6 SRM = 3 ABV = 5%
Ingredients
5.8 lbs. (2.6 kg) dried wheat malt extract (this is a blend of wheat and base malt)
1.75 AAU Magnum hops (first wort hop) (0.125 oz./3.5 g at 14% alpha acids)
10.1 lbs. (4.6 kg) araçá or guava pulp
1.8 lbs. (0.82 kg) passion fruit pulp
1.33 g Lactobacillus plantarum
0.66 g Lactobacillus casei
SafAle US-05, Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) yeast
7⁄8 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Use 6.5 gallons (24.5 L) of water in the brew kettle and heat to 158 °F (70 °C).
Turn off the heat. Add the malt extract and stir thoroughly to dissolve completely. You do not want to feel liquid extract at the bottom of the kettle when stirring with your spoon. Turn the heat back on and bring to a boil.
Boil for 15 minutes without hops. Cool to 104 °F (40 °C). Adjust the pH of the wort to 4.5 measured at room temperature using lactic acid. Pitch the Lactobacillus. Let it sour until a pH of 3.1 or a stable pH is reached (usually 2 or 3 days).
Add the hops and bring to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes. Cool to 64 °F (18 °C) and pitch the ale yeast.
Add the fruit when the gravity reaches 1.020, usually 3–5 days. Do not wait for fermentation to slow down; fruit must be added at high kräusen. The fermentation temperature can rise as high as 68 °F (20 °C), allow to ferment to completion. Cold crash the beer, rack off the fruit.
Prime and bottle condition, or keg and force carbonate to 2.6 v/v.
