Flanders Red Blend #2

It has been about a year since I blended and bottled my first batch of Flanders Red beer from my large stockpile.  After assessing the 15 beers I have at my disposal I found that they were all good but that some were more complex and flavorful than others (read about this tasting here).  For this straight blend (will produce a second blend this year that will age on Cherries) I am going to try for the most flavorful and complex beer I can produce.

So far, in my brewing, I have used the Wyeast Roeselare blend for 9 of the 15 batches I currently have available.  These beers vary quite a bit in terms of intensity of flavor but are all have similar flavor achieved - all have basically the same fruity and musty Brett flavors.  From my tastings, I felt that Flanders Red 1.5.2 (a 23 month old beer) was one of the most pleasant batches.  I have decided to use this as half the blend.  I should note, there were quite a few others that were just as good - my choice was partially influenced by there being a second beer (1.5.1) of the same age that will continue to mature for use in a future batch.

Here are my tasting notes:

• Earthy and fruity aroma.  Pretty rich.  Get a bit of leather as well.
• Orange/red and clear
• Light sourness.  Bold fruity character.  A bit of Brett funk in the finish that is earthy and leathery.  Some malt comes through on the finish
• Good bold flavors with nice complexity

My first blend was all Roeselare aged beer. I'd really like to mix in a beer made with some other culture to bring something new to the table with this blend. So far, I have brewed beers with Yeast Bay Mélange, a culture built up from Rodenbach Foederbier, some Russian River and Jolly Pumpkin bugs, as well as East Coast Yeast's Flemish Ale Blend.  Many of these are youngish beers and haven't developed a whole lot of flavor yet. The Yeast Bay Mélange beers are getting close to a couple years old now and the second pitch has developed some fairly bold flavors.  I have to decided to use Flanders Red 2.2.1 as the second half of the blend as a result.

Here are my tasting notes:

• Bright fruity aroma mixed with earthy leather from the Brett.  Very rich
• Orangish red and a bit cloudy
• Light sourness.  Has a nice fruity character.  Also a smooth bit of bready malt in the finish.
• Pretty good set of flavors that pop nicely

I think these two beers should produce an interesting Flanders Red.  Both were definitely sour but they are restrained in their sourness levels.  It's enough sourness to give it a good balance but not so much that it becomes overwhelming.  I imagine this blend will be less sour than my first attempt - which I don't believe would detract from the beer.

I am going to mix the beers 50/50 and let them age together in a bucket fermenter for a month or so to stabilize (if it happens that there's something left in one that the microbes in the other are capable of eating).  The remaining half of the 1.5.2 batch will be added to the 2.2.1 glass carboy for further aging.

Blending Notes:

• 9/4/17:
• Transferred half of 2.2.1 into a bucket fermenter (about 3 gal)

• Transferred half of 1.5.2 into the same bucket fermenter (about 3 gal)
• Racked the remaining beer from 1.5.2 into 2.2.1
• Set this batch up with a lid with a Vented Silicon Bung for aging.  Letting it age at ambient basement temps
• 3/3/18:
• This beer conditioning for just about 6 months now.  I am going to bottle today.
• I did a side by side comparison with my previous Flanders Red blend and a Rodenbach Grand Cru.  My beer seemed much dryer than the Rodenbach and had a more pronounced Brett character.  The sweetness of the Rodenbach definitely makes for a more pleasant drinking experience.
• I measured the gravity of the Rodenbach Grand Cru at 1.010.  My beers finish between 1.000 and 1.004 in most cases.
• Rodenbach Grand Cru is a blend of 2/3 old beer that has aged 2 years in foeders with their resident microbes and 1/3 "young" beer that has been soured by lacto.  The beer is then pasteurized for bottle stability.  Here is a nice process chart:

• Per The Oxford Companion to Beer Rodenbach adds some sugar to sweeten the beer:
• "The 6% Grand Cru is mostly aged beer, with a little young beer added, then slightly sweetened with sugar."
• I decided to play around with back-sweetening some of my own beer.  I made some Invert Syrup #3 and blended 1/2 an ounce into 1 12 oz bottle of beer.  This raised the gravity of the beer from 1.004 to 1.012.  I found this added a nice bit of sweetness and body to the beer that balances the acidity a bit and makes it bit easier to drink.
• I've decided to bottle this beer with Invert Syrup #3 to raise the gravity up to 1.010.  I will let this carbonate for some time and then pasteurize the bottles with a hot water bath (150 F for 10 min - previously done with a hard apple cider).
• First I made Invert Syrup #3 (2 lb based on my 6 gal of beer) using 2 lb of Demerara Sugar, 2 cup of water, and 1/4 tsp of Citric acid.  Heated this at medium low until it got to 290 F and got to be a rich amber color.  Added a cup of boiling water after it had cooled down a bit to get a syrup like consistency.  The syrup has nice caramel flavor with a bit of dark fruit and some toasted marshmallow.
• Transferred the beer to the bottling bucket and added the syrup during the transfer.  Stirred well at the end to mix the sugar in.

• I got 61 12 oz bottles out of ~6 gal of beer.  Sacrificed one of the first and one of the last bottles to measure gravity.  They were both around 1.014.  I'd expect them to take it down a couple points carbonating
• The beer has a lovely red color, a rich aroma, and complex range of flavor with pretty restrained sourness.  I think the extra sweetness softens the flavor nicely and rounds out the edges.
• These will carb at normal basement temps (low 60s).  I'll crack one open every couple days to evaluate carbonation levels.
• 3/17/`8 - I have been opening one of these every 2-3 days to check on carbonation levels.  None have had more than a slight hiss.  I decided to open them all to add some fresh Champagne yeast (Premier Cuvee).  Rehydrated the yeast in a cup of water and used my bottling wand to suction it out.  Put in a tsp or so for each bottle.  Will give this a few days to work before I check the first one.

• 3/28/18 - These beers finally have a good level of carbonation.  Pasteurized them by putting them into a 150 F water bath.  Found that the temperature fell to 140 F when I added 2 dozen bottles so I had to heat it back to 150 F.  Had a bottle of water in the kettle to allow temperature measurement.  Heated for 10 min at 150 F.  I used my boil kettle to do this.  Had one bottle pop during this process.  Moved the hot bottles back to their cases to cool down naturally.

• 7/26/18 - Tasting Notes - The beer has really bold aroma and flavor and has a very pleasing complexity.  Compared with my last batch (2016 Flanders Red) this beer is softer and smoother around the edges which makes it a more pleasant beverage.  I think the slight sweetness from the back sweetening is responsible.  Maybe lose a bit of Brett complexity using this method but overall I'd say it is an improvement.
• 6/26/20 - 2020 Vertical Tasting:
• Aroma:  Fruity character dominates along with a slight bit of vinegar.  Also has a bit of caramel character.  Maybe get a bit of vanilla oak and wine character.  A bit of Brett earthiness kind of rounds things out but it is in the back ground
• Appearance:  Brownish red and quite clear.  Poured with a thin bit of foam that lingered for maybe 30 s
• Flavor:  Very fruity flavor up front which is cherry like.  The sourness (medium level) hits next.  It is balanced by a sweet, malty, and caramel character - the finish is a nice mix of the sweet and sour with a hint of vinegar.  A bit of Brett character in the finish as well.  Maybe a bit of chocolate mixed in too.
• Mouthfeel:  Medium-light bodied and slightly sweet.  A bit of pricking acidity.  Pretty easy drinking.
• Overall:  Very complex beer with lovely bold fruit flavors.  The balance between sweet and sour flavors is very nice.