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.
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