Flanders Red 1.6.1

With this batch of Flanders Red I will be trying a few new changes:

1. Brewing a 12 gal batch.  This will be pushing my 15 gal kettles to their limits but I think they should be able to fit it if I can boil off a good bit of the hot break during the sparge and if I'm not too aggressive with the boil.  As I progress with getting some beers completed, and starting to blend, being able to do some larger batches in one brewday to have a new batch and also top up other batches will come in handy.
2. Long term aging in bucket fermenters.  The Belgian Flanders Red brewers age their beer in large wooden barrels (Foeders).  These, like all barrels, allow some exposure of the beer to oxygen.  This small amount of oxygen that is allowed to get to the beer seems like it could have significant impact on the microbes in the beer which could drive them to produce different flavors.  It would stand to reason that these flavor impact are likely part of the signature of the classic Flanders Red (seems like a reasonable theory to me at the time of this brewing).  I have been aging my beer in glass carboys which, to their credit, keep oxygen exposure to a minimum.  Fermentation buckets, on the other hand, allow small amounts of oxygen to permeate into the beer over time.  Some on the internet have calculated that the amount of oxygen exposure in bucket fermenters is quite similar to the levels the Belgain's barrels experience with their Foeders (not sure I've ever seen more than second hand claims of this so I don't have a real reference link).  I am interested to see if fermentation in a bucket could allow me to achieve some of the classic Flanders Red flavors that I'm not getting from the glass carboy batches.  Of course, oxygen exposure can also lead to excessive vinegar formation or even acetate flavors developing so this experiment could end badly.  The bucket lid seems like a potentially major liability as removing it could allow for a lot of oxygen exposure.  To avoid this I plan on drilling out the airlock hole in the lid and using a silicone bung.  This will give me a nice big hole to sample through so I don't have to take off the lid.  I really like the idea.  We will see how it goes.
3. Long term aging on the yeast cake.  With this batch I will be using the yeast cakes from Flanders 1.5.1 and 1.5.2.  I will give half the batch (Version A) the normal 3 months on the Roeselare yeast cake before transferring it to a new bucket.  The other half (Version B) will stay on the yeast cake for the entire aging period.  The Belgian Lambic producers allow their beers to age on the yeast cake which, in theory, gives the Brett a bit more food and, in turn, creates a funkier product.  It will be interesting to see if this is how it works out for me.  This will lock up this yeast cake and end my 1.X.2 versions of these beers for the near term.

The remainder of the batch is pretty much the same as my last couple of these (Primary first with clean yeast, separate souring with lacto, corn grits and Maltodextrine in the mash).  I have made one maltbill change to go with CaraMunich II rather than III in the hopes of getting the beer to be a bit redder.  From a process perspective I will be using a stand to hold up the false bottom rather than the bottles I'd used previously.  The bottles were just more trouble than they are likely worth.  This stand will eat up less deadspace under the false bottom so I'll have to use more water.  I kind of doubt that this will have much (if any) impact but we will see.

Recipe Details:

• Grain/Adjunct:
• 8 lbs Maris Otter
• 6 lbs Munich
• 1 lb 8 oz CaraMunich II
• 1 lb 8 oz Aromatic
• 1 lb 8 oz Special B
• 4 oz Acid Malt
• 1 lb 8 oz Maltodextrine (Not factored into efficiency calculations)
• 3 lb Corn Grits (Cereal Mashed - Not factored into efficiency calculations)
• Hops:
• None
• Yeast:
• Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II (Third Pitch)
• WLP 672 Lactobacillus Brevis (Sixth Pitch)
• Wyeast 3763 Roeselare Ale Blend (Sixth Pitch)
• Water:
• 13 gal spring water
• 9 gal tap water
• 2 tsp Calcium Chloride
• 2 tsp Gypsum
• Extras:
• 1 oz fresh medium toast oak cubes
• TBD oz of oak cubes from previous batches

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 12 gal (Target 12 gal)
• Mash:
• Step 1:  160 F for 45 min (Target 160 F for 45 min)
• Step 2:  Ramped up to 175 F in 30 min (Target Ramp up to 175 F in 45 min)
• Boil:
• 60 min (Target 60 min)
• Fermentation Temp:
• Primary:  70 F
• Secondary:  60 to 70 F (Ambient Basement Temps)
• Primary Duration:
• With Yeast:  4 weeks
• Lacto Portion:  1 week
• Secondary Duration:
• Version A:
• 3 months with Roeselare
• 18-36 months long term aging
• Version B:
• 18-36 months with Roeselare

Results:

• OG:
• 1.045 (Target 1.045) - with 5 points from Maltodextrine
• Efficiency:
• 73% (Target 73%)
• FG:
• TBD (Target 1.004)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• TBD (Target 91%)
• ABV:
• TBD (Target 5.38%)

Brewing Notes:

• 1/15/16 - Brewday - 9:00 AM to 3:15 PM Including setup and cleanup
• Heated 13 gal of spring water in my HLT and cycled through the Mash Tun, Grant, and RIMS until the system was at 165 F
• Ended up with 5.5 gal above the false bottom and 9 gal in the system total
• Set to cycle at ~ 2 qt per min at 165 F
• Added CaCl and Gypsum
• Added grain and stirred well to eliminate dough balls
• Checked the mash temp after 10 min - temp was 160 F
• Added the corn grits to ~2 gal of hot water in another pot for a cereal mash
• Heated the cereal mash to a boil and then stopped the flame - let it sit
• The corn absorbed all the free water and took on the consistency of very thick oatmeal.  Added another gal of water to thin it up a bit.  Brought back to a boil and then let sit again.

• After mashing the main mash for 45 min I upped the RIMS temp to 185 F to ramp the mash up to 175 F - ended up taking 30 min to hit that target
• Added 5 gal of tap water to the remaining 4 gal in the HLT and brought up to 185 F for the sparge
• Brought the cereal mash up to a boil again
• Added the cereal mash to the main mash once it had hit a boil.  Cycled the mash for 5 more min
• Fly sparged - sparged very slowly in the hopes of limiting the amount of hot break I'd have once the kettle got close to full.  Started heating the kettle after collecting a couple gal.  It was at a boil once I'd collected 5 gal.  Sparge ended up taking 1 hr.  It was a very sticky mash with the corn grits - started to clog the false bottom several times.  I had to stir the mash multiple times to keep things flowing.
• Ended up collecting 14 gal of wort.  Gravity at the grant was at 3.8 brix (1.015)
• Boiled down to 12 gal which took about 60 min (probably boiled close to 2 hrs if you count the time in parallel with the sparge).
• Removed two jars of the yeast from the fridge to warm to room temperature.  Decanted off the spent beer and swirled the yeast back into suspension.

• Added the wort chiller at flameout and then chilled
• Once the beer got down to 90 F I pulled off two gal into jugs to sour with lacto

•  Once the beer was down to 70 F I transferred into two bucket fermenters.  Drained off a gal at a time to try to get even mixing between the two fermenters.
• Ended up collecting 12 gal of wort.  Measured the gravity as 1.040.
• Realized after chilling that I'd forgotten to add the Maltodextrine.  Dissolved it in a separate pot on the kitchen stove and then added that to the kettle prior to draining to the fermenters.
• Pitched the yeast into the fermenters and then moved them down to the 70 F fermentation chamber for primary
• 1/16/16 - Both the main batches and lacto portions were bubbling vigorously the next morning.  Storing that yeast for 3 months in the fridge doesn't seem to have had much impact on it's health - good news for my continued use of the culture.
• 1/24/16 - Pulled off yeast to add to three new starters in mason jars half filled with DME based wort.  Also pulled off some yeast for my next Flanders Batch (Flanders 3.1.1).  Tasted a sample of the beer - it was fruity and had developed quite a bit of sourness.  Some bacteria must have crept into my pure culture (or it's managing to survive in the bucket fermenters).  Very surprising but not unpleasant.  None of the cultures had displayed any signs of infection prior to this as far as I can recall.  Also needed the lacto for the next batch so I transferred the contents of the two gal jugs to the main batch (had planned on giving them 2 weeks but one was enough time to let them get very sour it turned out).

• 2/19/16 - Transferred half the batch (portion "A") onto the yeast cake from Flanders Red 1.5.1.  Measured the gravity as 1.018.  It is a muddy brown color - may be reddish brown if it clears during aging.  It is very sour.  It is a citrusy kind of sourness which is very nice.  I will let this age on the cake for 3 months before transferring into a separate bucket fermenter.

• 2/20/16 - Transferred the other half of the batch (portion "B") onto the yeast cake from Flanders Red 1.5.2.  Sampled the beer as about 1.020.  It's very similar in flavor and appearance to portion "A" - muddy brown, cloudy, and very sour.  This half will sit on the yeast cake for it's entire aging period.  This will initially be aged with a 3 piece airlock.  After 3 months I will check the gravity and flavor and switch to a lid with a vented silicone stopper.
• 7/23/17 - Status Report:
• Part A:
• Fruity aroma up front - reminds me of lemon.  Some Brett funk in the background
• Orange/red and a bit cloudy
• Medium sourness.  There is a citrus fruitiness to it.  Finish has a bit of earthy funk
• Bold flavors and an interesting fruit component (from lacto?).  Not terribly complex
• Part B:
• Earthy funk and a bit of fruit in the aroma.  Rich.
• Orange/red and a bit cloudy
• Light sourness.  Earthy funk with a little fruitiness.  Finish has some bready malt.
• Nice full flavor with a fair bit of complexity
• 12/17/17 - Blended 2.5 gal of Part B with 2.5 gal of Flanders Red 3.1.1.A along with 10 lbs of raspberries to make a Raspberry Flanders Red.  I moved the remainder of 3.1.1.A into the 1.6.1.B fermenter.  I added a stick (~1 oz) of oak that I had toasted myself at 360 degrees in the oven and then soaked for a month in Cabernet Sauvignon.

Lessons Learned:

1. 12 gal of beer in 6 hr saves quite a few hours compared with my normal 6 gal brewdays but it seemed like a lot more work than normal.  I was exhausted by the end.  Was really happy when it was over.  Not sure if I'll ever try that again
2. Was very annoyed to still be getting sticky mash without the BIAB.  I guess I'm going to have to use rice hulls next time (and probably a lot of them).
3. Between the false bottom, grant, and RIMS the system had about 3.5 gal of "deadspace".  With such a big grainbill this wasn't that big of a deal.  I wonder how this will work with a smaller recipe.  Probably not much different than a full volume mash.  I'm going to give it a try for my next batch.