Flanders Red 1.2.1

I have decided to brew a new Flanders Red every 3 months for the near term in order to build up a nice pipeline of souring beer.

For this second batch I will use the Roeselare yeast cake from my previous batch of Flanders Red that is being transferred off the cake into a secondary fermentor.  I will be using the same grain bill and hop scheduling for this batch.  I will not be repeating the effort to adjust the water profile to hit any specific pH as I did (in vain) with my last batch.

I have decided on the following number scheme for these beers - 1.2.1 which denotes 1st yeast cake, 2nd pitch, 1 beer in this generation of pitch.  For the third pitch I may try a couple beers with different grain bills and potentially doing a clean primary first on one of them.

I am also planning on mashing a bit higher for this batch to try to get an even higher gravity after the primary yeast have done their thing (previous batch was at 1.018 after a month which is good but I'd like to see what happens if it's higher).

I have been working on a new brewstand over the last couple weeks.  It's not complete but I now have a second pot to use as a HLT and a couple banjo burners.  These should make the brew day go a bit smoother and quicker.  I'm excited to give it a try.

I've been reading that the Roeselare blend is more funky and sour on the second batch.  I think this should give me some good blending options if the first one doesn't end up as sour as I'd like.  I'm not pitching any regular yeast into this batch so hopefully there is still enough after 3 months to get the beer off to a good start.

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 4 lbs Pilsner
• 4 lbs Munich
• 3 lbs 8 oz Vienna
• 1 lb 8 oz Flaked Wheat
• 12 oz CaraMunich
• 12 oz Aromatic
• 12 oz Special B
• Hops:
• 1 oz Fuggle (Pellet, 3.8% AA) at 90 min
• Yeast:
• Wyeast 3763 Roeselare Ale Blend (Second pitch)
• Water:
• 13 gal Spring Water
• 1 tsp Calcium Chloride
• 1 tsp Gypsum
• 1 tsp Irish Moss at 20 min

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6.25 gal
• Mash:
• 150 F for 30 min (Target 162 F for 60 min)
• Boil:
• 120 min
• Fermentation Temp:
• 60 F - 75 F
• Primary Duration:
• 3 months
• Secondary Duration:
• TBD (15 to 33 months)

Results:

• OG:
• 1.050 (Target 1.062)
• Efficiency:
• 57% (Target 70%)
• FG:
• 1.004 (Target 1.012)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 92% (Target 80%)
• ABV:
• 6.04% (Target 6.83%)

Brewing Notes:

• 1/11/15 - Brew day - 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM Including Setup and Cleanup
• Brought 5 gal of 40 F spring water up 210 F (was planning for 200 F but the new burner was a bit quicker than I expected) - took 23 min
• Added CaCl and Gypsum to boil kettle
• Added 12 qt of 210 F water to mash tun and let stabilize for 10 min
• Turned burner down to try to maintain that temp

• Mash tun settled out at 188 F
• Added grain and stirred the (very thick) mash vigorously - ended up in high 160 F to low 170 F range

• Added 3 qt of 40 F spring water to bring down the temp (way too much in retrospect).  Stirred until the mash temp had evened out - ended up at 140 F
• Added remaining 2 gal of (now) boiling water to increase the temperature - stirred in and ended up at 150 F (really sucked as I wanted it to end up at 162 F).
• Brought 8 gal of 40 F water up to a boil in the kettle - took 30 min
• Drained the mash tun after 30 min to try to preserve some of the complex sugars and starches - knew my efficiency was going to suffer due to this decision.  Drained quickly this time with no vorlauf step to get a starchy wort
• Heated first runnings (3 gal) up to a boil to stop conversion - took 10 min
• Added 10 qt more to mash tun once the kettle got to 175 F.  Ended up mashing with this for about 10 min.  Temp ended up in the mid 150s
• Added remaining boiling water to the mash tun - ended up at 180 F
• Drained quickly without a vorlauf again - collected 10 gal of wort
• Brought it to a boil - took 15 min
• Added hops once I got down to 9 gal (roughly 90 min)
• Added Irish Moss at 6.5 gal
• Added the wort chiller at flameout
• Chilled down to 60 F which took 15 min - saved the hottest water in my boil kettle for cleanup
• Transfered the beer onto the yeast cake.  Used the same fermentor the previous batch was in with minimal cleanup - just cleaned up the ring of krausen around the top and swirrled the yeast a bit to get it into suspension in the last inch of the previous batch left at the bottom.
• Moved the fermentor down to the basement at the low 60s.
• Measured the OG as 1.050 which was way off the target gravity - I'm hoping that it will be a rich enough wort to give the wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria something to much on after the remaining domestic yeast have their fill.
• 1/12/15 - Added the bottle dregs from a Russian River Supplication.  The bottle was a bit over a year old.  No airlock activity or foam on the top of the beer yet.
• 1/14/15 - Airlock started bubbling this evening
• 1/17/15 - Still bubbling pretty vigorously - giving off a nice aroma
• 1/18/15 - Bubbling had stopped by this morning
• 2/12/15 - This beer has been in primary for about a month now.  No pellicle has formed yet but there are some floating bubbly spots of film.   Took a gravity sample and was surprised to find that it was down to 1.006.  The sample has a strong brett aroma and flavor at this point - no sourness yet.  It's quite a bit different than the previous batch that had a lot of Rodenbach character - this is similar to the Russian River Supplication flavor profile.  It's nice but I think I prefer the Rodenbach.  It's going to be interesting to see if this one can get sour with the current low gravity (I suspect it will).  I will check on it again in 2 months when I transfer to secondary.

• 4/11/15 - Measured the gravity as 1.004.  Transferred the beer to a glass carboy for aging.  This yeast cake will now get split between my next two batches (1.3.1 and 1.3.2).  It's a beautiful red color.  A nice fruity aroma has become more prominent than the Brett funk from the sample a couple months ago.  It has started to develop some acidity - pretty mild but it's definitely sour (more sour than 1.1.1 was at this point).  I will check on it again after 3 months of aging.

• 5/9/15 - Took a look at the beer after a month in secondary.  A good pellicle has formed:

• 1/9/16 - It has been just about a year since brewing this so it is time to take another sample.  The beer has a speckled film rather than the solid pellicle it had in the previous photo.  Measured the gravity as about 1.005 this time.  So, the beer hasn't come down in gravity over the last 8 months.  It has a really nice pronounced fruity character (cherries I'd say) along with a strong mustiness.  There is also a bit of alcohol on the nose.  It is a beautiful red color and it has cleared up very nicely.  It has developed a pretty firm level of sourness - pretty much at the levels you'd get from Rodenbach Grand Cru or Duchesse de Bourgogne.  Not really getting any strong vinegar flavors at this point (there were many days where I found the airlock dry which I was thinking might give acetobacter a foothold).  Also get quite a bit of the fruit flavor implied by the nose and a strong dose of earthy Brett funk.  Through all those strong flavors there is also still a good bit of malt backbone coming through in the flavor.  It is light bodied and pretty easy drinking for a 6% beer.  All in all I'm really happy how this beer is progressing.  I could bottle this one right now by itself and be plenty happy with it.  I think this is a data point consistent with the claims that the second pitch of Roeselare is more interesting.

• 7/23/16 - I am going to be using this beer as the older component in my first attempt at blending.  Took a sample with this in mind and measured the gravity as 1.004.  The beer has developed a very strong brett funk but in the aroma and flavor.  I would definitely credit the age of the beer for this character.  It will be a nice "old" component to the blend.  It has also developed a pretty firm level of sourness which is at about the levels that I enjoy (about the level of a commercial Flanders Red).
• 7/28/16 - Blended the beer with half of the Flanders Red 1.4.2 batch along with 10 lb of pitted sour cherries.  Will let this batch ferment out for the next three months or so.
• 7/30/16 - Blended the other half with half of Flanders Red 1.4.1 and bottled with 4 oz of priming sugar and some re-hydrated wine yeast.  Got 58 bottles of beer.  Will start drinking this one as soon as it's carb'd up (~3 weeks).

Lessons Learned:

1. The boil kettle and new burners did save me time and improved the process.
2. Having the new stand helped for setup and cleanup quite a bit.
3. Mashing in was a disaster I didn't think I was capable of at this point.  Somehow I didn't think that adding an additional 25% of very cold water was going to have a significant impact on my mash temp - just way too stupid but lesson learned hopefully.
4. Stopping the mash after 30 min was really bad for my efficiency but it may have had the desired effect of keeping some unconverted starches - we shall see after the first measurement after a month.
5. Looking forward to getting a RIMS setup which will add an additional level of complexity but also much better control
6. Second pitch Roeselare definitely has a more aggressive sourness than the first pitch after a year of again.