Sour Blonde 4.1.1

After my recent tasting of my Sour Blonde ales I've decided that I'm not happy with the flavors being achieved using the Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend.  I think using some other blends should help me get better blending options over the next couple years.

For this Sour Blonde I will be using a couple blends from Omega Yeast Labs.  First, I'll be using their Brett Blend #3 (Bring on Da Funk) which will hopefully provide a complex set of flavors.  Additionally, I'll be trying to assure myself at least a bit of sourness for this one by using their Lacto blend on 1 gal of the beer which I'll add back.  I'll be fermenting both portions of the beer at 75 F using a heating pad which I'm hoping will ensure some bold flavors initially. 

I'll blend these together after a couple weeks and then let them sit on the cake at ambient basement temps for a few months before sampling.  If I like what I'm getting out of it I'll do another beer on the cake.  I'm not sure at this point where this beer will do it's long term aging (1-3 years).

I plan to save off the lacto dregs, split them into two jugs, and feed them a couple more gal of fresh wort once they are done with this beer to give me some extra acid beer to help with the blending I'm planning.

The grainbill is basically the same on this one as the last couple (60% malted barley to 40% unmalted wheat).  I'll execute a proper cereal mash for this beer.  One new experiment will be to added a cup of whole wheat flour at the end of mash which I'm hoping might simulate the effects (high levels of unconverted starches) of the turbid mash approach the Lambic producers use.

No hops in this batch to avoid impacting the lacto.

Finally, I'll be using a new Mash Tun for this Brew - SS Brewtech 10 gal mash tun.  It is a very nice looking product with a bottom drain and a very nicely fitting false bottom with a gasket.  One look at it and a I immediately threw my cooler mash tun in the garbage.  Sometimes DIY works great and saves you some money and sometimes it takes you off into the weeds and wastes money.  I think my previous false bottom mash tun was the later.  Wish I'd just bought this thing a couple years ago.  I had to re-work my stand slightly  as part of the setup for the new mash tun so I'm still figuring out how I'm going to use my RIMS going forward.  As a result, I'll be doing a batch sparge on this beer and will be moving the water and wort by hand.  Hopefully will have everything setup better for my next batch.

Recipe Details:

• Grain/Adjunct:
• 4 lb Pilsner
• 1 lb Munich
• 3 oz Acid Malt
• 12 oz Maltodextrine
• 1 cup Whole wheat flour
• Cereal Mash
• 4 lb Unmalted Wheat
• 1 lb Pilsner
• Hops:
• None
• Yeast:
• Omega Yeast OYL-212 Brett Blend #3:  Bring on Da Funk
• Omega Yeast OYL-605 Lactobacillus Blend (L. Plantarum and L. Brevis)
• Water:
• ~9 gal spring water
• 2 gal tap water
• 1 tsp CaCl

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6 gal
• Mash:
• Main Mash:
• 162 F - 154 F (Target 158 F)
• Cereal Mash:
• Step 1:  115 for 15 min
• Step 2:  155 for 15 min
• Step 3.  Boil for 15 min
• Boil:
• 60 min (Target 60 min)
• Fermentation Temp:
• Primary: 
• First 2 weeks:  75 F
• Secondary:  Ambient Basement Temp
• Primary Duration:
• 3 months
• Secondary Duration:
• 1-3 years

Results:

• OG:
• 1.048 (Target 1.045)
• Efficiency:
• 71% (Target 66%) - Doesn't include Maltodextrine or flour
• FG:
• TBD (Target 1.004)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• TBD (Target 91%)
• ABV:
• TBD (Target 5.78%)

Brewing Notes:

• 11/5/17 - Brewday - 12:45 PM to 5:45 PM - Including setup and cleanup
• Performed Cereal Mash on raw wheat:
• Double milled my cereal mash grain into my 5 gal pot
• Added 2 gal of hot tap water and stirred well.  This settled to about 110 F.  Let this rehydrate for 15 min
• Heated to 155 F, stirring frequently to avoid scorching.  Let this sit for 15 more min
• Brought to a boil.  Let boil for 15 min.  The boil kept all the grain in movement so no stirring was necessary
• Killed the heat after 15 min and let sit until I was ready to add to the main mash

• Heated 10 gal of spring water to 185 F
• Milled the grain for the main mash.  Added the CaCl to the grain
• Transferred 3 gal of spring water to the mash tun using a measuring cup
• Added the grain and stirred in.  Temperatures of the main mash settled to 161 F after 10 min

• Added the cereal mash to the main mash.  This spiked the mash temp to 170 F.  Stirred vigorously and added half a gal of cool water to get it down to 162 F
• Mashed for 60 min.  Stirred every 15 min.  The mash temp had dropped down to 154 F by the end with all my stirring
• With 10 min left I added the wheat flour
• Prior to the first sparge I ran off a few quarts of liquid until it ran fairly clear.

• Ran off the first running which got me about 3-4 gal.  Did this via gravity.
• Added 3 gal of 170 F sparge water, stirred, let settle for a few min, vorlaufed, and then drained.  Had about 7 gal of wort after this
• Added another 1.5 gal of sparge water and did a second batch sparge.  This got me between 8 and 9 gal.
• Boiled for 60 min
• Added the Maltodextrine a bit at a time after it got to a boil
• With 5 min left I added my wort chiller to sanitize
• Chilled the beer to 90 F and pulled off a gal into a glass jug to sour with the lacto
• Chilled the remainder to 80 F and then drained off into the fermenter.  Added the Brett blend during this transfer.  Let it fall a couple feet to aerate.

• Moved the beer into the fermentation chamber with a heating pad.  Temp was set to 75 F.  Wrapped the lacto in a towel to allow it to stay a bit warmer
• Got 6 gal of beer.  Measured the gravity as 1.048 F
• 11/6/17 - Airlock activity was observed by the next afternoon.  No activity on the lacto
• 11/11/17 - Airlock no longer bubbling but the lacto portion is bubbling quite a bit
• 11/19/17 - Added the lacto soured portion and moved the beer out of the fermentation chamber.  I'll be feeding the lacto 2 gal of beer from a Top Up batch.

• 5/25/18 - Status Report:
• Slightly fruity and a little musty smelling beer.  Also a bit cheesy.
• Light gold with a slight haze
• A bit of fruity flavor with a slight bit of earthy funk.  Very slightly tart.  Has kind of a mineral flavor as well.  A bit of bready malt comes through in the finish.
• Medium-light bodied and pretty dry.  Drinks smooth.
• Pretty mild in flavor and not much complexity
• 8/24/19 - Status Report:
• Aroma:  Fruity with a bit of cheesy funk.  Has a sort of wine like aroma.
• Appearance:  Light gold and a bit cloudy
• Flavor:  Fairly firm sourness.  Citrus fruit fairly bold followed by a bit of earthy brett.
• Mouthfeel:  Light and dry.  Slight prickling
• Overall:  This one is pretty boldly flavored but not really that complex

Lessons Learned:

1. I used some bread flour for this batch.  It didn't complicate the mash in any noticeable way.  Also seemed like I got a more turbid wort than usual which, I think, could be a good thing.  I'm going to repeat this for my next few beers
2. The cleaning process for the new mash tun was a lot nicer than with my previous cooler mash tun.  Being about to remove that from the stand to drain out the water by gravity was very nice.
3. Not having the RIMS to adjust the temperature was quite annoying.  I did a poor job in determining how the cereal mash would impact the mash temperature as well.  Need to get the system setup to use the RIMS again for next time.