Flanders Red Top Up Batch (2018)

This batch is being made in preparation for my 2018 Flanders Red blending session.  I will use this 12 gal of beer to top up my 12 fermenters to get back to between 5-6 gal in each.  I'll do another 6 gal before the blending session to top up my four year old Roeselare Ale Blend yeast cake (will be 1.8.1).

The beer is very similar to many of my previous batches:

• Will use the blend of Belgian Abby yeast and Lacto Brevis for primary I've been re-pitching on for the last couple years
• Similar grainbill with Aromatic, CaraMunich III, and Special B which give the beer a nice dark red color
• Corn for some extra body (flaked corn this time rather than corn grits)

One difference this time is that I am using about 16 IBU of hops to bitter this batch.  I'm hoping this will somewhat slow the lacto in the blend as the beers are coming out a bit more acidic than is ideal

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 8 lb Pilsner
• 6 lb Munich
• 3 lb Flaked Corn
• 1.75 lb Aromatic Malt
• 1.75 lb CaraMunich III
• 1.75 lb Special B
• 4 oz Acid Malt
• Hops:
• Hallertau (Pellet, 3.8% AA) at 60 min
• Yeast:
• Blend of Belgian Abby yeast and Lacto Brevis (Re-pitch)
• Water:
• 9 gal spring water
• 6 gal tap water
• 2 oz CaCl
• 2 oz Gypsum
• 1 oz Irish Moss

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 12 gal
• Mash:
• 158 F for 60 min
• Boil:
• 60 min
• Fermentation Temperature:
• 75 F
• Primary Duration:
• 4 weeks
• Secondary Duration:
• 1-3 years

Results:

• OG:
• 1.050 (Target 1.045)
• Efficiency:
• 75% (Target 68%)
• FG:
• TBD (Target 1.000)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• TBD (Target 100%)
• ABV:
• TBD (Target 5.91%)

Brewing Notes:

• 10/21/18 - Brewday - From 11:45 AM to 4:15 PM - Including Setup and Cleanup
• Moved two jars of my yeast/lacto blend out of the fridge to warm up
• Heated 6 gal of spring water up to 180 F
• Milled my grain - added brewing salts to the grain so I wouldn't forget
• Moved 7 gal of water to the mash tun.  Cycled through the grant and RIMs until the system was at 170 F.
• Added the grain and stirred in well to eliminate doughballs
• Cycled the RIMS at 160 F.  The temperature at the bottom of the mash tun fell to 150 F but slowly rose up to the target 158 F over the course of the mash

Recirculation Device

• Mashed for 60 min
• Heated 10 gal of sparge water up to 180 F
• Fly sparged until I'd collected 12 gal
• Started heating to wort after collecting 4 gal.  Had it to a boil by the end of the sparge

• Added hops as soon as the hot break cleared
• Had to change the propane tank half way through the boil
• Added Irish Moss with 15 min left
• Added the wort chiller at the end of the boil and let the wort get back to a boil
• Chilled down to 100 F
• Mixed my two jars of yeast
• Transferred the beer into two bucket fermenters.  Got about 6 gal in each.  Pitched half the yeast into each during the transfer
• Measured the gravity as 1.050
• Moved the beer to the chest freezer to chill down to 75 F
• 10/22/18 - The beer was bubbling aggressively by the next morning
• 1/1/19 - Measured the gravity as 1.002.  The beer is lightly sour and pretty mild in flavor.  Used this to top off 6 of the Flanders red fermenters today.

• 1/19/19 - Used the remaining half to top up some other Flanders Red fermenters.  This beer had also fermented down to near 1.000 and was pretty mild in flavor.

Lesson Learned:

1. The yeast didn't seem too strong coming out of the fridge after probably close to a year but they really hit the ground running as evidenced by the quick start to fermentation.  I had started to wonder if I was making a mistake not building a started for these but it seems that I needn't fret much about this yeast cake (Had about 5 cups of slurry between the two batches).
2. 12 gal of beer produced in 4.5 hrs is pretty darn good.