Flanders Red Unfermented Top Up Batch (2020)

This will be a top up batch for my Flanders Red beers.  I used about 21 gal of beer this year on 4 blends:  Plain, Cherry, Raspberry, and Tamarind & Raisin.  This top up batch will replace half of beer taken.  It will be unfermented so that the cultures still living in the fermenters will have something to munch on over the next year.

I'm using a malt bill very similar to what I had in the past.  The specialty malt are the critical piece for color.  I'll be mashing high like always (160 F) to give the slower microbes some more complex sugars to work with.

One significant change is that I'm hopping slightly more aggressively with this beer in the hopes of inhibiting Lactobacillus as the beers are getting increasingly sour over the years.

From past additions of Unfermented beer I expect the fermentation to be fairly slow an gentle.  I should be safe with using Vented silicon bugs on these beers rather than 3 piece airlock


Recipe Details:

• Grain/Adjunct
• 7 lb Pilsner Malt
• 7 lb Pale Ale Malt
• 4 lb Munich Malt
• 1.5 lb Aromatic Malt
• 1.5 lb Crystal 60L
• 1.5 lb Special B
• 1.5 lb Flaked Corn
• 3 oz Acid Malt 
• Hops:
• 1 oz Chinook (Leaf, 12.2% AA) at 60 min
• Yeast:
• NA
• Water:
• 12 gal spring water
• 5 gal tap water
• 1 tsp CaCl

Process Details:

• Volume:
• 11.25 gal (Target 12 gal)
• Mash:
• 160 F for 60 min
• Boil:
• 1 hr
• Fermentation Temperature:
• Ambient Basement Temperature (60-75F)
• Primary Duration:
• NA
• Secondary Duration:
• 1-3 years

Results:

• OG:
• 1.062 (Target 1.050)
• Efficiency:
• 79% (Target 68%)
• FG:
• NA
• Apparent Attenuation:
• NA
• ABV:
• NA

Brewing Notes:

• 8/16/20 - Brewday - 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM- Including setup and cleanup
• Heated 12 gal of strike water to 190 F
• Milled my grain.  Added CaCl into the grain
• Moved 6 gal of water to the mash tun and then cycled through the RIMS
• Stopped the RIMS and added my grain.  Added the flaked corn last.  Topped the mash up with 1 gal more of water

• Let the mash settle for 10 min.  The temperature was just about 160 F at that point
• Cycled the RIMS for 60 min
• Heated 11 gal of sparge water
• Did a fly sparge until 7 gal was collected.  Started heating this at 4 gal.  Had it at a boil 10 min later. 
• Left the mash tun full of water for a second batch sparge
• Added the hops to the boil kettle
• Slowly did the second batch sparge and fed into the boiling kettle
• Boiled for about 75 min to finish the batch sparge
• Added the wort chiller in the final 5 min to sanitize
• Added 1 gal of spring water to increase the volume (I checked the gravity near the end of the boil and found I was quite a bit higher than expected)
• Chilled to 85 F

• Collected 11.25 gal
• Measured the gravity as 1.062
• Transferred to wort into my Flanders Red Fermenters as follows:
• Fermenter #1 - 1 gal
• Fermenter #3 - 1 gal
• Fermenter #4 - 1 gal
• Fermenter #5 - 1 gal
• Fermenter #6 - 1 gal
• Fermenter #8 - 1 gal
• Fermenter #9 - 1 gal
• Fermenter #10 - 1.25 gal
• Fermenter #11 - 1 gal
• Fermenter #12 - 2 gal

Raisin & Tamarind Flanders Red

I currently have 12 Fermenters of Flanders Red beer aging.  This provides quite a few options for blending which makes for an interesting process and, hopefully, produces a more complex and bolder flavored beer than I could get otherwise.  The downside is that there is a lot of beer to maintain and, if left unfed, the batches will likely start to die out and cease to produce interesting beers going forward.  I'm trying to find a balance where all fermenters get used each year so that there is room to top each one up with fresh new beer.  I've decided that blending 4 batches of beer each year is good way to ensure that enough beer is pulled to make room for a reasonable amount of fresh beer.

I would consider a Plain blend and a cherry blend to be traditional (most based on the fact that Rodenbach makes both of these) and a raspberry blend to be a pretty natural fit.  I assume I'll always produce these three.  This leaves a fourth version in which to experiment with.  Last year, I made a Spiced Flanders Red which leveraged the flavorings of Coca cola (which has sort of a parallel flavor profile to Flanders Red - to my mind at least).  This made an interesting beer, that I enjoy drinking, but isn't something I'd want to have 2 batches worth of at the moment.

For this years Experimental Flanders Red I decided to try out and interesting ingredient found in Indian cuisine:  Tamarind.  I purchased a small container of concentrate which is used in sauces.  It has a sour and slightly bitter flavor which kind of resembles dark fruit.  These are flavors in the neighborhood of a Flanders Red but also distinctly different.  I have no idea how much to use so I've decided to go with an entire small canister which is 227 g (maybe a cup in terms of volume).  

The nearest fruit I could compare Tamarind to is Raisin.  To accentuate this relationship I decided to also add 5 lbs of Raisin to the mix.  I had previously used 15 oz of Raisin in my 2017 English Barleywine where they seemed to contribute a subtle wine-like character (also used 1.5 lb in a Dark Saison that I haven't bottled yet).  

To accentuate the wine character I'll also add a couple ounces of port soaked oak.

What impact will 227g of Tamarind concentrate and 5 lb of Raisin have on 6 gal of Flanders Red?  We'll find out.  This is an experiment after all - so there are no wrong answers.

For blending the base beer I've chosen to use mostly bold flavored beers that can handle being the star of the show if the Tamarind and Raisin turn out to be mild in character.  I also chose a couple based on the desire to use up more of the mild beer for Fermenter top up purposes.  Beers were chosen based on recent tasting notes.

 I have selected the following beers for this blend:

• Fermenter #2:
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Quite fruity with some earthy brett character as well as some mineral character
• Appearance:  Reddish brown and fairly clear
• Flavor:  Lightly sour.  Has a really nice fruity flavor up front that suggests a sweetness.  Earthy brett character comes in with the finish.  Some bready malt comes through as well
• Mouthfeel:  Medium light bodied and pretty dry. Has a prickliness that hits the tongue and back of the throat.
• Overall:  Pleasing fruit flavor is pretty bold.  Nice level of complexity
• Volume:
• 2 gal
• Fermenter #7:
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Over ripe fruit and a mineral character.  A bit musty as well
• Appearance:  Light reddish brown and a little murky
• Flavor:  Light sourness.  Has a lemon like character.  Some overripe fruit and a bit of earthy brett character comes through.  
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  A little prickling acidity
• Overall:  Flavors are pretty mild.  Not terribly complex range of flavors in this one
• Volume:
• 1 gal
• Fermenter #9:
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Overripe fruit and a bit of mineral character.  Also get earthy funk
• Appearance:  Reddish brown and a bit murky
• Flavor:  Medium sourness with a fruity character.  Some mineral flavor along with earthy and leathery flavor.
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and pretty dry.  Has a bit of prickling acidity that hits the back of the throat on the swallow.
• Overall:  Fairly mild beer with a bit of complexity
• Volume:
• 1 gal
• Fermenter #10:
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Strong overripe fruit and a bit of earthy and leathery funk.  Also has a sort of spiciness to it
• Appearance:  Reddish brown and fairly clear
• Flavor:  Medium sourness.  Has a fruity flavor fairly well balanced with earthy and leathery brett.  Has a fairly prominent bitter bite in the finish which is pleasant
• Mouthfeel:  Medium light bodied and dry.  Prickles the back of the throat slightly.
• Overall:  Boldly flavored and has a nice bit of complexity.  Quite a pleasant beer.
• Volume:
• 2 gal

I will let this beer age with the adjuncts for 3-6 months.  I plan to backsweeten and then bottle pasteurize this batch which ensures a bit of sweetness in the final product that helps a lot with drinkability and balance.

Blending Notes:

• 8/8/20:
• Added the 4 beers to a bucket fermenter
• Added the Raisin and Tamarind concentrate

• Added oak

• Set this up with a 3 piece airlock to ferment
• 3/12/22 - Bottled up this beer with 1 pack of rehydrated Red Star Premier Cuvee yeast and 2 lbs of Home made Invert #3.  Got 61 bottles of beer.  I'll plan to sample one of these ever week to check for carbonation levels before pasteurizing them.  The tamarind concentrate seems to have sunk to the bottom of the fermenter so I don't anticipate it will be a huge component in the flavor

Raspberry Flanders Red - 2020 Blend

This will be my third Flanders Red aged with Raspberry (read about the first and second).  I grow my own raspberries in a large patch which has been producing 100+ lbs of fruit a year for me.  I've been gradually increasing the amount of fruit used in these beers as I've gotten a better feel for how much I'll have.  First year I used 10 lbs, second year I used 15 lbs, and this year I'll use 20 lb.

The fruit is a very nice compliment to the beer and the beer is a very good base for a raspberry beer.  With 20 lbs of fruit I fully expect this to be a Raspberry beer first and foremost and a Flanders Red as a distant second - something like the New Glarus Raspberry Tart (that I've never had but which was the inspiration for a previous beer as well using black raspberry).

I'll be using multiple beers from my 12 fermenters of Flanders Red (based on my recent tasting notes) with the goal of making a fairly mild beer as the Raspberries themselves are pretty tart.

I'll let the beers work on the fruit for 3-6 months and then bottle with extra sugar for backsweetening followed by bottle pasteurization once they've carb'd up.  This is a beer that will be too intense if it gets too dry.

• Fermenter #6:
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Very fruity.  Also has a mineral aroma along with earthy and leathery brett
• Appearance:  Reddish brown and pretty clear
• Flavor:  Medium sourness.  Fruit comes through first followed by leather and earth from Brett.  Also get bready malt  
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  Some prickles the back of the throat on the swallow
• Overall:  Some nice bold flavors with enough going on to bring some complexity
• Volume:
• 2 gal
• Fermenter #7:
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Over ripe fruit and a mineral character.  A bit musty as well
• Appearance:  Light reddish brown and a little murky
• Flavor:  Light sourness.  Has a lemon like character.  Some overripe fruit and a bit of earthy brett character comes through.  
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  A little prickling acidity
• Overall:  Flavors are pretty mild.  Not terribly complex range of flavors in this one
• Volume:
• 1.5 gal
• Fermenter #9:
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Overripe fruit and a bit of mineral character.  Also get earthy funk
• Appearance:  Reddish brown and a bit murky
• Flavor:  Medium sourness with a fruity character.  Some mineral flavor along with earthy and leathery flavor.
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and pretty dry.  Has a bit of prickling acidity that hits the back of the throat on the swallow.
• Overall:  Fairly mild beer with a bit of complexity
• Volume:
• 1 gal

Brewing Notes:

• 8/7/20:
• Put the frozen fruit in a bucket fermenter to thaw for a couple hrs
• Blended the 3 beers in a separate bucket

• Transferred the beer onto the fruit

• Set it up with a 3 piece airlock
• 1/10/22 - Bottled today with 2 lbs of homemade invert #3 and a rehydrated packet of Red Star Premier Cuvee yeast.  Collected about 6 gal of beer (this was starting with 4.5 gal so 1.5 of that is from the fruit).  This got me 60 bottles.  I will sample this beer a couple times a week and pasteurize once it's reached a good level of carbonation.

• 6/21/22 - This beer took forever to carbonate.  Opened bottles every few weeks and found them to be flat until I tried one today and it was quite a bit over carbonated.  I'm pasteurizing today in a 160 F water bath for 30 min - it settles down to 140 F after a few minutes.  I have 45 bottles left after all the tastings.  I lost 4 bottles during the pasteurization so I'm down to 41.

Russian Imperial Stout with Bourbon Soaked Oak (2019 Version) - Tasting Notes

This was my second attempt to brew a Russian Imperial Stout based on Goose Island's amazing Bourbon County Brand Stout.  This is a beer aged in bourbon barrels - it has a really amazing whiskey character.  I based my recipe almost exactly off the real beer (they have made their recipe public) and ended up just a bit high on my FG (1.055 vs 1.040).

Brewing the beer itself is actually the easy part (in theory, as I messed that up even).  Getting the whiskey and oak character right is the real challenge.  I used 6 inch sticks of white oak which I cut, then toasted at ~400 F and then charred.  These were soaked in Everclear that I'd watered down to 60% ABV (which is barrel strength for whiskey) for several months up in my hot attic.  I used 2 (0.5x0.5x6) small sticks and one large one (1x1x6) in the beer for 7 months.

At bottling I added a bit more of the barrel aged spirit when I found the beer was lacking in much barrel character (even after the aging).

It has been in bottles for 8 months now.  I've been drinking it quite a bit.  It definitely makes a nice substitute for BCBS (which I'm just about out of now).  I wish I could say it's spot on the mark as a clone and that I wont be buying any more BCBS this year at $13 a bottle.  Not the case sadly.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Dark chocolate with a bit of coffee are the most dominant components.  Get a bit of whiskey and oak - the beer has a boozy character.  There are mild fruit notes mixed in as well (raisin maybe).  Maybe get some caramel faintly in the background too and something that reminds me of honey
• Appearance:
• Very dark brown.  Can't say if it's clear.  Pours with a very think layer of brown foam which is gone in seconds
• Flavor:
• Sweet up front.  Then a bit of booze hits once that clears.  The next wave of flavor is a firm toastyness with bitter dark chocolate.  This lingers into the finish and lasts for some time after the swallow.  A fair amount of booze/barrel character make it to the finish as well but i's definitely balanced more towards the malt.  No hop flavor comes through but I get a fair amount of hop bitterness in the finish.
• Mouthfeel:
• Full bodied and sticky on the palate.  There is a warming alcohol presence
• Overall:
• A really rich and boldly flavored beer with a broad array of flavors which bring a nice complexity.  Really nice sipping beer.  Judged on its own merits, it's a really nice beer.  I believe the whiskey character is a bit too far in the background to bare much resemblance to BCBS (will explore that further in a direct vertical tasting soon).  Still happy to drink this beer and not unhappy that I may have missed the mark a bit.

Cherry Flanders Red - 2020 Blend

Cherries and Flanders Red Style beer go together excellently.  The base beer already has a cherry like character so the fruit just continues it in a direction it was already heading in.  I've made three of these so far (read about 2016, 2017 and 2018) and have beer very satisfied with them.  

From my recent Vertical tasting, performed on the beers along the big daddy of the sub-style (Redenbach Alexander), I would say the cherry character I've been getting (*using combos of Sour Cherries and Black Cherry juice) have produced strong cherry flavors which are superior to the commercial beer.  I started out with 10 lbs of Sour Cherry in 2016, went up to 12 lbs along with a quart of Black Cherry Juice in 2017, and then up to 14 lbs of sour Cherries and 2 quarts of Black Cherry Juice in 2018.  This year I'm going to increase up to 14 lbs of Sour Cherry (Montmorency variety like previous years) and 7 lbs of actual Black Cherry.  It will be interesting to see how this compares to the others.  I wasn't able to pick my own Cherries this year (mostly due to restricted picking schedules associated with COVID-19) so I'll be trying a different fruiting approach next time.

For the base beer, I will use my recent tasting of the 12 fermenters of Flanders Red I've brewed over the last 5 years, as a guide for building a blend.  Given that the cherries are such a dominant piece of these beers you can get away with using more mildly flavored beers.  I'll be using 4.5 gal of beer for this blend to make sure there is room for the cherries. This will be the following beers:

• Fermenter #1:
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Fruity with and earthy and leathery character.  Also has a kind of mineral aroma
• Appearance:  Light reddish brown and a little murky
• Flavor:  Lightly sour with a bit of fruity flavor.  Slight earthy character.  Get a bit of bready malt.  Maybe a bit of mineral flavor as well
• Mouthfeel:  Medium light bodied and pretty dry.  Has a bit of prickliness on the back of the throat on a big swallow
• Overall:  Flavors are pretty mild but nice.  Has a fair amount of complexity
• Volume:
• 1 gal
• Fermenter #3:
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Overripe fruit and earthy & leathery brett character
• Appearance:  Brownish red and pretty clear
• Flavor:  Light sourness.  Has a bready malt character which hits in the beginning.  Some fruit character comes next and earthy brett comes in the finish.  Something like a bitterness in the finish although this couldn't be hops at this point.  Also has a somewhat chocolate like character to it.
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and pretty dry.  A bit of acidity prickling but in way harsh
• Overall:  It has some nice bold flavors and is an interesting and complex beer.
• Volume:
• 1 gal
• Fermenter #5:
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Very musty with brett character of earth and leather dominating.  Overripe fruit comes in in the background 
• Appearance:  Reddish brown and a little murky
• Flavor:  Lightly sour  Overripe fruit flavor hits up front followed by some bready malt.  There is then a mild earthiness which rolls into the finish
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  Pretty smooth as far as these beers go - not much prickling
• Overall:  This beer has some nice bold flavors and a fair amount of complexity
• Volume:
• 1 gal
• Fermenter #8:
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Overripe fruit.  I think I pick up some oak and wine in this one - vanilla.  Get a bit of earthy character as well
• Appearance:  Light brownish red.  A little murky
• Flavor:  Medium sourness.  Has a bit of overripe fruit and a fairly substantial funky flavor which is a bit different than the others - not entirely pleasant
• Mouthfeel:  Medium light bodied and pretty dry.  Fairly smooth for one of these beers - not noticing much in the way of prickle
• Overall:  Fairly boldly flavored.  Has an interesting flavor profile but not super complex.
• Volume:
• 1 gal
• Fermenter #11:
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Has a fruity and wine-like aroma.  Smells pretty boozy as well.
• Appearance:  Light brownish red and pretty clear
• Flavor:  Medium sourness.  Has a really unusual, funky, fruity flavor and a pretty firm bite in the finish - maybe the same as the boozy character in the aroma (it may be I've picked up some Acetone which would be a first for me).  Get a sort of aged cheese character from it as well. 
• Mouthfeel:Light bodied and dry.  Has some prickles on the back of the throat.
• Overall:  Very boldly flavored but a bit too rough around the edges on it's own.  I think a little of this blended into a more mild beer could be a benefit
• Volume:
• 0.5 gal

Brewing Notes:

• 8/1/20:
• Poured the cherries into a bucket fermenter to thaw a bit a couple hrs before blending

• Blended the 5 beers in the volumes listed above in a separate bucket
• Added the beer into the fermenter with the cherries
• Found I'd pulled about a half gal more than I could fit in the bucket so I added this back to fermenter #11

• Setup the fermenter with a 3 piece airlock
• 8/15/20 - Lots of fermentation activity.  Beer and foam has been forced out the airlock (which seems to happen every year).

• 6/21/21 - Finally bottled today.  Added 2 lbs of Invert #3 and a pack of rehydrated wine yeast.  Got 58 bottles.  I'll monitor the carbonation of the bottles and bottle pasteurize to maintain some sweetness.

• 7/9/21 - The batch is nicely carbonated now.  Bottle pasteurized in a hot water bath.  I put the first round in at 180 F and heated for 30 min.  The second batch I heated the water to 200 F and had quite a few bottles explode due to the heat.  I ended the bottle pasteurization session with 45 bottles of beer - lesson learned for next time (hopefully it will be a while before I need to re-learn it).

Flanders Red - 2020 Blend

This will be my fourth Flanders Red blend (read about my vertical tasting a couple months ago as well as each beer individually:  2016, 2017, and 2018.  I choose beers to include in the blend with the goal of having a very boldly flavored final product with great depth of flavor and complexity.  This is where having 12 fermenters of beer to choose from is a very helpful thing.  I'll shoot for a light to medium level of sourness to the beer based on my recent Status Assessment.

I will let these beers sit together for 3-6 months to allow any gravity differences to even out and for the flavors to meld a bit.  I'll be adding a couple sticks of toasted and port soaked oak for this aging period.

As with the last couple of beers, I'll be back-sweetening and then bottle pasteurizing the batch.  The beers are completely dry otherwise and the acidity tends to overwhelm - having a bit of sweetness balances things out.  Additionally, as I noticed in the vertical tasting with the 2016 (which wasn't pasteurized), the brett becomes more and more prominent in the bottle if not pasteurized which takes the beer quite a bit away from the style.  Also noted in the Vertical, my back-sweetened beers have a bit more sweetness than Rodenbach Grand Cru - I may reduce from 2 lbs to 1.5 lbs of invert syrup for back-sweetening this time.

I'm shooting for 6 gal of beer in this blend.  I've decided on the following:

• Fermenter #2
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Quite fruity with some earthy brett character as well as some mineral character
• Appearance:  Reddish brown and fairly clear
• Flavor:  Lightly sour.  Has a really nice fruity flavor up front that suggests a sweetness.  Earthy brett character comes in with the finish.  Some bready malt comes through as well
• Mouthfeel:  Medium light bodied and pretty dry. Has a prickliness that hits the tongue and back of the throat.
• Overall:  Pleasing fruit flavor is pretty bold.  Nice level of complexity
• Volume:
• 2 gal
• Fermenter #4
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Fruity with a earthy and leathery brett character.  Also get some mineral character from it
• Appearance:  Brownish red and a little murky
• Flavor:  Light sourness.  Has a strong fruity flavor that lingers into the finish and lingers.  Also get some earthy brett character that lasts - although it is quite a bit less prominent than the fruit.  Maybe get a bit of chocolate from this one.
• Mouthfeel:  Medium light bodied and dry.  A bit prickly on the back of the throat
• Overall:  Richly flavored and delicious.  Has a fair amount going on to bring complexity.
• Volume:
• 1 gal
• Fermenter #10
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Strong overripe fruit and a bit of earthy and leathery funk.  Also has a sort of spiciness to it
• Appearance:  Reddish brown and fairly clear
• Flavor:  Medium sourness.  Has a fruity flavor fairly well balanced with earthy and leathery brett.  Has a fairly prominent bitter bite in the finish which is pleasant
• Mouthfeel:  Medium light bodied and dry.  Prickles the back of the throat slightly.
• Overall:  Boldly flavored and has a nice bit of complexity.  Quite a pleasant beer.
• Volume:
• 1 gal
• Fermenter #12
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Overripe fruit and leathery funk.  Get a bit of mineral character as well
• Appearance:  Brownish Red and pretty murky
• Flavor:  Light sourness.  Has a really bold fruit flavor with the leathery and earthy brett character coming in a close second
• Mouthfeel:  Medium light bodied and dry.  Smooth drinking as far as these beers go
• Overall:  Boldly flavored and very lovely taste.  Pretty complex beer.  I'd say this is the best of the bunch this year.
• Volume:
• 2 gal

Blending Notes:

• 8/1/20:
•  Blended all 4 beers into a bucket fermenter

• Added the port soaked oak

• Set it up with a 3 piece airlock for aging
• 5/8/21 - Finally got around to bottling this batch - can't believe it's been 9 months.  The airlock had run dry multiple times.  I don't think the beer suffered from this although there is a bit of acetic acid characteristic sharp acidity.  Used 1.5 lb of sugar for priming/back-sweeting (1 lb Invert #3 and 0.5 lb table sugar).  Pitch a pack of Red Star Premier Cuvee to bottle carbonate.  I stirred the beer well to mix these in  Collected 61 12 oz bottles.  I'll monitor carbonation levels by sampling bottles and bottle pasteurize when ready.
• 5/30/21 - I've been sampling this beer every couple of days.  It is finally carbonated (and still slightly sweet).  Bottle pasteurized at 140 F for 30 min.  No broken bottles during this process.  I have 52 bottles of this beer.