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.