Flanders Red 2.1.1

I recently placed an order with the Yeast Bay so I decided to give their sour blend (Mélange) a try.  This will give me a bit more biodiversity and hopefully provide some more range for blending my Flanders Reds.  As some point I'll probably mix this culture with Roeselare to see how the two interact.

I have also put together a new grain bill that I'll try on my next few Flanders Reds.  I have swapped out the Pilsner, Munich, and Vienna malts for 2 Row and some Victory malt to get a cheaper mash that will hopefully provide roughly equivalent levels of malt complexity.  I have also swapped the flaked oats for corn grits with the hopes of extracting a bit more starch.  My efficiency always seemed to suck with the old grain bill and I've suspected it was the fault of the oats.

Corn is apparently a fairly common ingredient in Flanders Reds so I feel justified in using it.  I will be using a cereal mash for the first time to extract the starches from the corn.  I plan on adding it to the mash right before the sparge to hopefully allow some unconverted starches to make their way into the kettle.  I will also be using rice hulls for the first time to try to avoid any sticking of the mash due to the corn.

Once again, no hops on this batch.  It will be very interesting to see how sour this blend will get on it's first pitch.  It's fairly new and I haven't been able to find much in the way of user reports on the blend yet.  It smelled great going into the fermentor.  I'm looking forward to seeing it develop.

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 8 lbs 2 Row
• 1 lb Victory
• 12 oz Caramunich III
• 12 oz Aromatic
• 12 oz Special B
• 2 oz Acid Malt
• Cereal Mash (Not factored into efficiency calculations):
• 1 lbs 8 oz Corn Grits
• 6 oz 2 row
• Hops:
• None
• Yeast:
• Yeast Bay Mélange Sour Blend
• Water:
• 10 gal spring water
• 5 gal tap water
• 1 tsp Calcium Chloride
• 1 tsp Gypsum
• Extras:
• 1 oz of Oak Cubes (in primary)
• 8 oz of Rice Hulls in Mash
• 1 oz of Oak Cubes from a clean batch of beer (in secondary)

Batch Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6 gal (Target 6 gal)
• Mash:
• 160 F for 60 min (Target 160 F for 60 min)
• Boil:
• 60 min (Target 60 min)
• Fermentation Temp:
• 60 F to 75 F (Ambient Basement Temps)
• Primary Duration:
• 3 months
• Secondary Duration:
• TBD (15 to 33 months)

Results:

• OG:
• 1.059 (Target 1.050)
• Efficiency:
• 87% (Target 74% - Does not factor in the Corn Grits which will not get a full mash)
• FG:
• TBD (Target 1.002)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• TBD (Target 96%)
• ABV:
• TBD (Target 6.30%)

Brewing Notes:

• 8/30/15 - Brewday - 4:40 AM to 9:30 AM - Including setup and cleanup
• Heated 10.5 gal of strike water to 165 F.  Cycled through mash tun and RIMS to get them up to the target temp - took 45 min
• Ended up with 4 gal above the false bottom and 6.5 gal in the system
• Added CaCl and Gypsum to the mash tun
• Added the grain and rice hulls and stirred it all in.  Ended up with 5 gal above the false bottom after dough in

• Cycled at about 2 qt per min with the RIMS set to 165 F
• Added 4 qt of spring water at ~165 F to a separate pot for the Cereal mash
• Added the corn grits - temp fell to 157 F.  Added the two row which brought the temp down to 152 F

• Let the Cereal mash sit for 15 min
• Main mash was at 161 F after 20 min.  Stirred the first time.  Lowered the RIMS to 160 F
• Brought the Cereal mash to a boil after 15 min rest on the kitchen range.  Stirred it periodically.  At one point I stepped away too long and had a big boil over which was a sticky mess.
• Added 5 gal of tap water to the HLT for a total of 8 gal and brought to a boil
• Stirred the main mash again at 40 min.  Temp was down to 156 F so I raised the RIMS back to 165 F
• Stirred the mash one final time at 60 min
• Drained all the wort from the grant back to the tun and stopped the cycle
• Poured the near-boiling Cereal mash (which was the consistency of watery oatmeal) into the main mash

• Fly sparged with near-boiling water at a rate of approximately 1 gal per 5 min.  Had about 7 gal above the false bottom during the sparge which gave a good layer of water.  Drew lines in the top of the mash with my paddle to help ensure even draining.
• At the start of the mash the gravity at the grant was 11.2 brix (1.045)
• Started heating the kettle once I'd collected about 3 gal.  This will halt conversion of the corn's starches if the hot sparge water hasn't already.  Gravity at the grant was about 12 brix (1.048) after collecting 3 gal
• Gravity at the grant was 10.2 after collecting 6 gal
• Stopped the sparge at 8 gal - gravity at the grant was 3 brix (1.012) at that point
• Sparge took about 30 min
• Brought to a boil - took only about 5 min more thanks to the heat during the sparge.  Fly sparging is great.
• Boiled for 60 min
• Added the chiller at flameout to sanitize
• Chilled down to 70 F - Took 50 min
• Measured the gravity as 14.4 brix which is 1.059
• Collected 6 gal by letting the wort fall down to a couple feet to the fermentor.  
• Moved the fermentor down to the 70 F basement and pitched the yeast
• Added 1 oz of oak cubes
• 8/31/15 - The fermentor was bubbling by this afternoon
• 9/13/15 - The airlock is still bubbling a bit after two weeks.  This was also a pretty strong fermentation that had caused the airlock to fill with wort in the first several days.
• 12/5/15 - Transferred to a glass carboy to age with a 3 piece airlock.  The carboy had 1 oz of oak cubes that my English Barleywine had aged on.  Freed the cake for Flanders 2.2.1.  The beer was down to 1.001.  It has a very funky and slightly unpleasant band aid like aroma.  The flavor isn't offensive - quite a bit of brett funk and a slight fruitiness.  No sourness has developed so far.  I think the Roeselare was a bit nicer on the first batch.  We'll see how this one develops.

• 7/23/17 - Status Report:
• Bold earthy aroma mixed with dark fruit
• Dark red and clear - very nice looking beer
• No sourness has developed.  There is a bit of interesting fruitiness and some bready malt.  Also get a hint of alcohol.  Finish has a bit of funk
• Mild flavor with a fair bit of complexity.  I think this one is outshined by the Roeselare batches but it brings some different flavors

Lessons Learned:

1. My efficiency was much higher than normal.  My assumption about not getting any sugars from the Cereal mash is flawed.  If I factored that in my efficiency would have been about 74% which is much closer to my normal.  The role the rice hulls played is something I'd like to understand better.  I will keep using them going forward.
2. I still feel like my use of the system is improving.  I was able to cleanup efficiently in parallel with the boil.  This included a drain of the mash tun and a soak in Oxiclean.  The oxiclean then went into the boil kettle and then everything got a rinse with tap water.  This did add about 45 min to the end of the brew day but I think it is worth it to have a clean system for the next batch.  I still think there is room for improvement.

Belgian Dubbel - Tasting

I brewed this Belgian Dubbel about 6 months ago and gave it a 3 month secondary to bulk age and mellow.  The recipe was a lower OG version of a Westvleteren 12 clone.  I have never had that beer so I can't really say how close it got to the real thing.

The recipe was interesting in that it was all pale malt with the color mostly coming from Dark Candi sugar.  I attempted to do a reduction of the first gal of runnings as well but it didn't reduce quite as much as I would like and didn't really get very dark.  The beer seems to have gotten a lot of it's flavor from this sugar which is also pretty interesting - next time I try one of these beers I'm going to seriously consider making my own sugar.

The beer fermented in the low to mid 60s which has left a fairly restrained yeast character.  I would try to increase this a bit (maybe to ~70 F) next time to see how much fruitier it would get.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• It has a malty sweet smell.  I get caramel and honey from it.  There is also a bit of fruity yeast character.  No alcohol smell and nothing I can pick up as hops.  It has very nice aroma.
• Appearance:
• Dark brown with a red tint.  Clear in the edges when held to the light.  Pours with a pretty think tan head which fades down to a thin layer quickly.
• Flavor:
• The beer has a nice backbone of sweet caramel flavor with some restrained fruity yeast character.  There is also a hint of alcohol but it doesn't taste like it's an 8.5% beer.  The finish is a balance of sweet malt and a bit of hop bitterness.
• Mouthfeel:
• It has a fairly light body.  It drinks very smooth and finishes dry.  Carbonation is low and the alcohol is very well hidden - this does not drink like the big beer that it is.
• Overall:
• This is pretty tasty beer.  It has a nice malt complexity and is a pretty easy drinking beer.  I think a bit more fruity ester character would have been nice.  It's obviously the product of a Belgian yeast but it's a little more restrained than I would like next time.

Pale Mild

My first all grain batch was a Dark English Mild.  It turned out well and the last bottle was consumed over a year ago now.

 I've been brewing quite a few hoppy beers here recently so I decided to try another malty mild ale.  I wanted a paler beer this time so I developed a recipe that should yield a copper colored beer with a good bit of complex malt flavor

I will be brewing with the famous Conan Yeast used by the Alchemist for Heady Topper.  This beer will serve as a big starter for a clone of that beer that I will be attempting for my next batch.  I'm hoping that the yeast character will play an interesting role in this mild.  The yeast is reputed to be a bit finicky so hopefully I'll also get a feel for how to coax it to completion on this cheap batch before trying it on the very expensive double IPA.

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 6 lbs Vienna
• 8 oz Crystal 10 L
• 8 oz Crystal 20 L
• 4 oz CaraBrown
• 4 oz Biscuit
• 2 oz Honey Malt
• 2 oz Acid Malt
• Hops:
• 1 oz Fuggle (Pellet, 4.2% AA) at 60 min
• Yeast:
• Yeast Bay Vermont Ale Yeast
• Water:
• 10 gal spring water
• 5 gal tap water
• 1 tsp Calcium Chloride
• 1 tsp Gypsum
• 1 tsp Irish Moss at 20 min

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6 gal(Target 6 gal)
• Mash:
• 156 F for 60 min(Target 156 F for 60 min)
• Boil:
• 60 min(Target 60 min)
• Fermentation Temp:
• 65 F for 1.5 days
• Allowed to raise to Ambient basement temps (70 F) to finish
• Primary Duration:
• 2 weeks
• Secondary Duration:
• NA

Results:

• OG:
• 1.032 (Target 1.032)
• Efficiency:
• 72% (Target 72%)
• FG:
• 1.010 (Target 1.010)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 68% (Target 68%)
• ABV:
• 2.89% (Target 2.89%)

Brew Notes:

• 8/21/15 - Created a starter with 6 oz of DME in 1.5 liters of water along with 1/8 tsp of yeast nutrient.  Chilled down to ~70 F, pitched the yeast, and set it up on a stirplate down in the 70 F basement.  The yeast didn't stay cool during shipping so I want to make sure I have a good cell count even though the beer will be about at a starter's gravity.
• 8/23/15 - Brewday - 6:45 AM to 10 45 AM - Including setup and cleanup
• Heated 10 gal of water in my HLT and cycled through Mash tun and RIMS trying to get to 161 F.  Ended up overshooting at 170 F.  Had 3 gal of water above the false bottom and a total of 5.5 gal in the system.  It took about 45 min to do this
• Turned off the cycle and added the grain.  This got the volume up to 3.5 gal above the false bottom.
• Restarted the cycle with the RIMS set to 158.  Cycled at around 2qt per min

• The temperature settled at 158 F after 10 min
• Stirred the mash at 30 min.  Temp was down to 154 F.  Raised the RIMS temp to 160 F
• Heated 9.5 gal of sparge water up to 190 F (this included 5 gal of tap water)
• Temp was at 156 F at 45 min.  Stirred the mash one last time
• Gravity was 8.5 brix (1.033) after 55 min of mashing - right on target
• At the end of the mash I drained the grant to the mash tun.  Added sparge water until the mash volume got to 4.5 gal above the false bottom.  Sparged at about 1 gal per 5 min.
• Started heating the kettle once I'd collected a couple gal

• 15 min into the sparge, after collecting 3 gal, the gravity at the grant was 8.8 brix which is 1.035
• Brought the kettle to a boil once I'd collected 4 gal
• Stopped the sparge once the gravity at the grant was down to 3 brix (1.011) - I had only collected 6 gal at this point so I topped up the kettle with 2 gal of sparge water.  Sparge took about 35 min.
• Added the hops after the hot break cleared
• Added irish moss with about 20 min to go
• Added the chiller to sanitize at flameout
• Chilled to 80 F which seemed to be what ground water temps were at
• Measured the gravity with my hydrometer as 8.2 brix or 1.032 and collected 6 gal.  Wort dropped a couple feet to aerate
• Moved to the fermentation fridge to chill down to 65 F
• Pitched the entire starter once it got down to the fermentation temperature
• 8/25/15 - The airlock was bubbling vigorously the night after pitching and for most of yesterday.  It has slowed down a lot this morning.  I moved it out of the fermentation chamber into the 70 F basement to finish up.
• 9/2/15 - Measured the gravity as 1.010.  The sample was clear and light copper.  The aroma and the flavor to some extent had a bit of an odd grainy and slightly buttery flavor (movie theatre variety) that I'm thinking may be Diacetyl.  This beer has only been going for about a week and half which is on the very young side for me.  I will try it in four or five more days.
• 9/6/15 - The odd aroma is still present in the beer after a few more days.  I've started to doubt that it is Diacetyl that I'm getting and that this might be some of the expressive yeast character people report with Conan.  I will need the yeast cake tomorrow so I have chosen to bottle.  Primed with 3.5 oz of corn sugar.  Collected about 6 gal which got me 59 12 oz bottles.
• 10/15/15 - Tasting Notes - An easy drinking malt forward beer.   The beer has very similar flavors to Honey Nut Cheerios which I like.  It's not exciting but I wasn't really going for an exciting beer.
• 7/21/17 - Still have quite a few of these left.  They're so bland that I rarely feel compelled to reach for one given other options.  I tried mixing one with a about a tablespoon of honey with good results.  This gave it a very slight sweetness and added some depth to the flavor profile.  I think I'll drink the remainder this way most likely.  This discovery would almost make the recipe worth brewing again (but not quite).

Lessons Learned:

1. This was a very smooth brewday as a result of my better grasp on how to use my system.  I have gotten much better and quicker at setting up the cycle with the RIMS which really helped with heating the mash tun up prior to doughing in as well as with the fly sparge.  I added another bulkhead and valve to the front of the my kettle to allow for the kettle to be heated while fly sparging wort into it which was a good time saver.
2. I did my cleanup of the mash tun and RIMS in parallel with the boil this time.  I drained it, then heated some water with Oxyclean and cycled that.  I then rinsed with cool water and then finally captured some of the hot water from the wort chiller to do a final rinse.  I'd gotten some bad smells in my mash tun and grant from the last batch - hopefully this extra cycling got everything clean enough.

Munich Helles

I enjoyed the process of brewing the Dark Lager I made last year and I've really liked drinking the beer.  I have decided to try another one - a Munich Helles this time.  It is a pale German lager with a balance a bit towards Malt.  Victory Brewing and Stoudts here in PA both make very good versions.

The recipe is roughly based on one on the Mad Fermentationist blog.  I'll be following basically the same fermentation schedule as the previous lager with two minor exceptions.  I'll be reducing the primary to 1.5 weeks from two to try to keep the yeast going a bit better.  I'll also be reducing the lagering period to 4 weeks from 6 weeks - I'm skeptical that the extra 2 weeks had any positive impacts.

This is the second beer of the weekend which will hopefully not be too much brewing for me.

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 10 lbs Pilsner
• 1 lb Munich
• 8 oz Melanoidin
• 2 oz acid
• Hops:
• 1.5 oz Tettnang (Pellet, 3.8% AA) at 50 min
• Yeast:
• WLP 833 German Bock Lager Yeast
• Water:
• 10 gal Spring Water
• 5 gal Tap Water
• 1 oz Calcium Chloride
• 1 oz Irish Moss at 20 min

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 5.75 gal (Target 6 gal)
• Mash:
• 148 F for 60 min (Target 152 F for 60 min)
• Boil:
• 60 min (Target 60 min)
• Fermentation Temp:
• Primary at 48 F
• Diacetyl Cleanup - ramp up to 65 F
• Lager at 36 F
• Primary Duration:
• 1.5 Weeks
• Diacetyl Cleanup Duration:
• 5 days
• Secondary/Lager Duration:
• 4 weeks

Results:

• OG:
• 1.053 (Target 1.050)
• Efficiency:
• 68% (Target 71%)
• FG:
• 1.008 (Target 1.010)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 84% (Target 79%)
• ABV:
• 5.91% (Target 5.25%)

Brewing Notes:

• 8/4/15 - Made a 1.5 liter starter with 7 oz of DME and 1/8 tsp of yeast nutrient and cultured up the yeast on a stirplate at basement temps (70s)
• 8/6/15 - The starter had settled down so I put it into the fridge to crash
• 8/7/15 - Decanted off the spent wort and made another 1.5 liter of starter with 5 oz of DME which I added to the cake.  Put the starter back on the stir plate to build up a bit more.
• 8/8/15 - Fermentation had settled down so I moved the starter to fridge to crash
• 8/9/15 - Brewday 7:30 AM to 12:30 PM Including setup and cleanup
• Brought 10 gal of spring water and 1 gal of tap water up to 155 F - cycled through the mash tun and RIMS until the whole system was at 155 F - took 45 min
• Added the grain in with 4 gal above the false bottom (7 gal total in the system).  Temp settled at 150 F.  This raised the volume to 5 gal above the false bottom.
• Set the RIMS on a slow cycle at 150 F

• Stirred the mash after 30 min - the mash is sitting at about 148 F which is close enough.  Gravity was 8.6 brix at the grant which is 1.034
• Added 4 gal of tap water to the 4 gal of water in the HLT and brought it up to 185 F for the sparge
• Stirred one final time 45 min into the mash
• At the end of the 60 min mash the gravity was 10.2 brix which is 1.041
• Drained all the wort from the grant to the tun at the start of the sparge.  Set the drain level to ~6 gal above the false bottom to create an inch of water above the grain bed during the sparge
• Sparged at about 3 min per qt
• A couple gal into the sparge the gravity was 10.6 brix which is 1.043
• After collecting 5 gal, which took about an hour, gravity was 11.5 brix which is 1.046
• Stopped collecting once I got 8 gal of wort - took 1.75 hrs.  Gravity was down to 4 brix at this point which is 1.016
• Brought to a boil - took 25 min
• Very little hot break on this batch - I wonder if this was due to the re circulation filtering off proteins
• Added the hops at 50 min
• Added the Irish moss at 20 min
• Added the wort chiller at flameout to sanitize
• Chilled down to 70 F which is ground water temp right now
• Measured the gravity as 13 brix which is 1.053.  Collected 5.75 gal

• Moved the fermentor to the fermentation chamber to chill down to 48 F
• Decanted off 1 liter of spent beer from the chilled starter
• Once the beer got down to temps I added the starter
• 8/11/15 - This beer was bubbling vigorously this morning after started last night.
• 8/18/15 - The beer is bubbling slowly now - allowed the temperature to raise to 65 F to finish out.
• 8/20/15 - The beer is up to 65 F.  It has petty much stopped bubbling at this point.  I will give it a few days at this temp.
• 8/25/15 - I left this at D-rest temps a bit longer than I was planning in order to get another beer (Pale Mild) started fermenting at a controlled temp.  The lager's airlock stopped bubbling a couple days ago and the other beer is out of the chamber now so I will start ramping down to lager temps.  Lowered the chamber temperature to 60 F.
• 8/26/15 - Lowered the chamber temperature to 55 F
• 8/27/15 - Lowered the chamber temperature to 50 F
• 8/28/15 - Lowered the chamber temperature to 45 F
• 8/29/15 - Lowered the chamber temperature to 40 F
• 8/30/15 - Lowered the chamber temperature to 35 F.  It is now down to lagering temps.
• 9/4/15 - Measured the gravity as 1.008.  The beer has a nice malt profile along with a slight hop finish.  Also has the muted yeast character you'd expect from a lager.  It is straw gold and perfectly clear.  It may still be a bit rough around the edges so I'm going to give it the full 4 week lagering period as planned.
• 9/8/15 - Paused the lager for a week or so to ferment an ale.  Allowing the chamber to get back up to 65 F.
• 9/12/25 - Chilled back down to 35 F
• 10/1/15 - Bottled ~6 gal of beer with 4 oz of priming sugar.  I didn't fine with gelatin and it was plenty clear at lager temps.  I ended up collecting 54 12 oz bottles of the beer.  It is still at 1.008.  It's a nice, clean tasting, mild beer.  The sample even tasted good after it had warmed up - couldn't drink a macro lager at this temperature.  It absolutely doesn't taste like it's almost 6% ABV.
• 10/8/15 - Tried a bottle a bit earlier than I normally would.  A low level of carbonation has developed so far.  The beer has developed a buttery smell and flavor that I didn't detect before.  I think this must be diacetyl.  Hoping it will clear with a bit more time in the bottle.
• 10/25/15 - I have had a few more bottles this week.  I no longer get the butter flavor I detected in the first bottle.  It was a product of bottle conditioning and bottle conditioning has resolved the issue.
• 12/20/15 - Tasting Notes - A smooth and easy drinking beer with really nice flavor.  I think this compares very favorably to the commercial examples of the style.

Lessons Learned:

1. I've had some messy brew days with my new RIMS setup but I'm starting to understand how to run it in a way that gives me the control I wanted.  Control of liquid levels is critical.  I'm thinking a sight glass on the grant would be helpful for getting even better control.  I also haven't been using my auto-sparge to it's full capacity.  Using this could allow me to comfortably walk away from the setup without worrying about the Grant and then RIMS tube running dry
2. The 3 min per qt sparge rate was too slow.  I would like to sparge 8 gal through the system in 45 min which would be a rate of ~1.5 qt per min.
3. Efficiency wasn't too good.  I'm thinking my pH must be a little off.  I'm thinking a pH meter would be a good purchase.

Sour Blonde 1.4.1

It's been 3 months since brewing Sour Blonde 1.3.1 so it's time to brew another one to keep the yeast cake going.

I decided to go back to a normal mash schedule (160 F for 60 min) for this batch after the experiment sort of failed on the last batch.  I also scaled down on the hopping a little bit with a lower AA% hop.

Other than that, this is the same grain bill as the others.  I may try something different next time - maybe use unmalted wheat rather than flaked.

The yeast cake smells fantastic with a combination of fruit, funk, and maybe a bit of vinegar - I am going to keep using it until it starts to smell bad to me.

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 9 lbs Pilsner Malt
• 4 lbs 8 oz Flaked Wheat
• 5 oz Acid Malt
• Hops:
• 0.5 oz Tettnang (Pellet, 3.8% AA)
• Yeast:
• Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend (Fourth Pitch)
• Water:
• 10 gal Spring Water
• 6 gal Tap Water
• 1 tsp Calcium Chloride

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 5.5 gal (Target 6 gal)
• Mash:
• 160 F for 60 min (Target 160 F for 60 min)
• Boil:
• 120 min (Target 60 min)
• Fermentation Temp:
• Ambient Basement Temps (60 F to 75 F)
• Primary Duration
• 3 months
• Secondary Duration:
• TBD (15 to 33 months)

Results:

• OG:
• 1.055 (Target 1.055)
• Efficiency:
• 62% (Target 68%)
• FG:
• 1.004 (Target 1.006)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 92% (Target 89%)
• ABV:
• 6.69% (Target 6.43%)

Brewing Notes:

• 8/8/15 - Brewday - 3:15 PM to 8:15 PM including setup and cleanup:
• Brought 10 gal of spring water up to 170 F.  Started cycling the water through the Mash Tun and RIMS once it hit 150 F.  Ended up taking about 45 min to get everything settled out to 170 F
• Added the grain with 6 gal above the false bottom (and about 8 in the system as a whole) - mash settled to about 165 F
• Added the CaCl to the mash tun
• Set the RIMS to 160 F
• Cycled for 60 min - stirred the grain a few times during the mash to help conversion
• Mash was down to 160 F after 30 min
• Brought 6 gal of tap water and remaining 2 gal of spring water up to 190 F for the sparge
• Measured gravity from the grant after 45 min as 10 brix which is 1.034
• Started the fly sparge after 60 min of mashing - gravity at the start was 10.4 brix which is 1.041
• After 15 min sparging the gravity was 8.6 brix which is 1.034
• Collected until gravity was 1.010 - sparged for 30 min
• Ended up collecting about 10 gal of 7.2 brix wort which is 1.027
• Brought to a boil
• Added the hops with roughly 60 min left in the boil
• Added the chiller to sanitize at flamout
• Chilled down to 70 F
• Collected 5.5 gal - measured gravity as 13.6 brix which is 1.055
• 8/30/15 - Checked the gravity which was down to 1.004.  The beer is very cloudy still.  It has a pretty strong alcohol burn at this point.  No sourness, fruitiness or funk has developed so far.
• 1/2/16 - Transferred to a glass carboy for long term aging and to free up the yeast cake for Sour Blonde 1.5.1.  A pellicle has formed and it, like the other batches, has a really nice fruity aroma.  The flavor is slightly fruity with a bit of alcohol still prevalent (although this doesn't taste like it's 7%).   No sourness and no real funk present.  It is a pale straw yellow and fairly cloudy.  Measured the gravity as 1.000.  Not giving the souring microbes much to work with here.  Should be interesting to see how this ages over time.  Took quite a bit of the yeast cake during the transfer so this could help it develop some funk.  Setup the glass carboy with a vented silicone bung to allow a bit more oxygen exposure which might help things along.

• 10/20/17 - Status Report:
• Cider Aroma with a bit of sulphur.  Also get a bit of spicy yeast ester
• Clear and light gold
• Strong funk with fruity yeast character.  No sourness.  Has a bit of alcohol burn.  A bit of bread in the finish with a sort of mineral character
• Strong flavor but not all together pleasant.  Pretty much one note
• 12/2/17 - Added 1.25 gal of lacto soured beer at 1.020 to add to the complexity and help the bugs along.
• 5/25/18 - Status Report:
• Cider and a bit of earthness in the aroma
• Light gold and a bit hazy
• Light sourness with a bit of sulfur.  Also has a mineral sort of flavor to it.  Also has a bit of a cider like character
• Light bodied and pretty dry.  Smooth drinking
• Mild flavors with not a whole lot of complexity
• 6/3/18 - Used 1 gal of this beer in a Raspberry Sour Blonde
• 8/24/19 - Status Report:
• Aroma:  Funky with a bit of fruit and an almost solvent like smell
• Appearance:  Straw colored and little murky
• Flavor:  Very slight sourness with a bit of fruit flavor.  Slight funk along with a bit of mineral
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied.  Has a slight bit of sweetness.  Prickles the back of the throat
• Overall:  Mild in flavor without all that much complexity.  Rough drinking with the astringency.

Lessons Learned:

1. Happy I hit my gravity but my efficiency still isn't very good.  I suspect that I'm just not getting the starches and sugars into suspension from the flaked wheat.  I'm going to try to mash the flaked wheat separately in some near boiling water next time I use it.