Flanders Oud

[white.grant]

I have my first Flanders oud brown on the go at the moment. I added the wyeast Flanders oud ale yeast a few weeks ago after initially fermenting with S05 and it's been trucking away nicely.

Have sampled the beast today and like where the sourness is at, but the sg is only 1010. Am wondering if I should let it go on longer and maybe risk overdoing the sourness a touch, or should I put Brett to sleep soon as I'm pretty happy with the flavor as it stands now?

Any suggestions?

Cheers

Grant

 

[manticle]

Don't know that specific yeast well but most of the brett yeast I've used (and there are a few, all with different results) don't give a lot of sour. If there's other bugs in there, they may be providing sourness and may continue to do so. Have used orval dregs, Wyeast Old ale and Wyeast Roeselare (which has other souring bugs).

I bottle all my beers including brett beers so I wait until they are finished and bottle in strong bottles.

If you don't get a worthwhile answer here try asking at the babblebelt forum or emailing the mad fermentationist (who is MikeT on babblebelt and is helpful and responsive).

 

[neonmeate]

if it's 1010 and it's only been in there a few weeks i would expect the brett - and/or pedio if there is any (dont know that yeast strain? is it a PC? how could i have missed that!!?) - to keep going for a few months - bottling may be hazardous at this stage, and putting brett to sleep is easier said than done! i have tried before! i usually leave brett beers at least three months before bottling. unless the FG is really low like 1002 and the brett can't go far enough to cause explosives.

if you have got to 1010 from 1095 or something you might be all right though. how strong is your beer?

manticle's right brett won't make your beer sour. if it's a liefmans type yeast as the name suggests you would think the sourness comes from lacto, which happens right at the start of the fermentation and can't survive above 5% abv or something, check wild brews out for the proper data if you can find out exactly what bugs are in it.

 

[white.grant]

Thanks for the advice Manticle and Neonmate,


Rereading my post and checking my notes on the beer, the yeast is actually Old Ale Blend 9097 which was a private collection batch last year, though I wasn't aware of that when I purchased it from CB. I just saw "old" and thought perfect.

Its clear now that I've used it by mistake for an flanders oud. Wyeast describe 9097 as an english ale blend with brett and recommend it for barley wines and such. Might have to go back to the drawing board for the flanders oud, but I've got an interesting beer now and I won't worry about sourness developing.

The Original gravity was 1075, so I will let it run on and see how she goes. In the meantime I'll be checking out the sources you mentioned.

cheers

grant

 

[manticle]

I have some kind of an old ale in my back shed using that yeast, although I was concerned that the yeast hadn't fired after a few days so it has a wonderful concoction in there - British cask ale, old ale, some other forgotten brit ale, and some orval (from memory). First go of recultured cask ale didn't seem to fire - hence the concoction of others.

It's also got some citrus zest and flesh in a minimash bag slowly infusing. Had a taste last night - definite brett, no sour.

 

[neonmeate]

aha the 9097. no problem with that for a flanders oud, i made a flanders brown base for my liefmans kriek clone with it in fact, and yes this particular brett did give a bit of sourness, but only a bit.

well if you got down to 1010 from 1075 that is getting close to 9% abv, the brett will probably be slowing down, but should still get to 1006, 1005 i would say - FWIW my notes say my brown ale with it went from 1055 to 1009 in about a week, after two months it had an enormous pellicle and was 1006, then after four months it was 1004 and noticeably tarter although nowhere near lambic level acidity. it never got below 1004, i added some cherries, it took three months to eat them, and went back down to 1004.

so... i would expect it to really only start firing in another month, and it should drop 4-5 grav points or so. you could bottle without any sugar and see how you go, but then you run the risk of perhaps not getting any further grav drop. and you won't be able to control your level of carbonation. i would leave it another coupler months and then bottle. it won't hurt it. once it's down closer to 1000 than 1010 you can safely bottle.

 

[white.grant]

Awesome, thanks guys.

It's a whole new world of fun with these yeasts!

Cheers

Grant