Flanders Red

[Stuster]

Not sure about that, Muggus. Sounds like it's more likely to be just infected to me. Time will tell I guess.

ausdb, as I you can see from a few posts up I bottled mine a month ago. I tried one a couple of weeks ago (patience was never my strong point ) and it was already pretty much carbed up. From my subsequent squeezes of a PET tester bottle, it's really fully carbed up by now. Just have to hope it doesn't keep munching until there are bombs. I did prime on the light side so hoping it's ok.

The taste was still pretty dominated by the brett at the moment. Beautiful clear red. Smells fairly urinal based. Nice mix of malts and funk in flavour, lightish body with a bit of acid. Hoping that'll develop a bit more with time.

The 5L on the raspberries hasn't developed another pellicle but I'm going to leave it for a couple more months and then have a taste of it and probably bottle it up. Not sure if I'll add any more yeast, but judging from how quickly this one carbed up, it won't be necessary.

 

[warrenlw63]

To keep this thread motoring along. I've made up my mind and decided to salvage my 45 litres of Irish Red stuck at 1.040 from 1.054 by pitching an 18 month old pack of Roselare blend.

Couple of questions to the blokes already kicking goals here.

Firstly will the Roselare pack still be viable?

Secondly I've got 45 litres sitting in a plastic fermenter, my plan is either to.

1) Rack to one glass carboy and just add the smack pack
2) Make a starter with said Roselare and add it to the whole 45 litres divided by 2 glass carboys.

Is it OK to make a starter with Roselare, will it effect the ratio of bugs?

Funny how you can turn tragedy into something good. I'm quite pumped about this. :beer:

Warren -

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Not sure about that, Muggus. Sounds like it's more likely to be just infected to me. Time will tell I guess.

ausdb, as I you can see from a few posts up I bottled mine a month ago. I tried one a couple of weeks ago (patience was never my strong point ) and it was already pretty much carbed up. From my subsequent squeezes of a PET tester bottle, it's really fully carbed up by now. Just have to hope it doesn't keep munching until there are bombs. I did prime on the light side so hoping it's ok.

The taste was still pretty dominated by the brett at the moment. Beautiful clear red. Smells fairly urinal based. Nice mix of malts and funk in flavour, lightish body with a bit of acid. Hoping that'll develop a bit more with time.

The 5L on the raspberries hasn't developed another pellicle but I'm going to leave it for a couple more months and then have a taste of it and probably bottle it up. Not sure if I'll add any more yeast, but judging from how quickly this one carbed up, it won't be necessary.

OMG Stuster, that sounds soooooo appealing :icon_vomit:

How does a Flanders Red differ from an Oud Bruin and has anyone had any experience with brewing said style of beer?

C&B
TDA

 

[Stuster]

OMG Stuster, that sounds soooooo appealing :icon_vomit:

Where is Trough Lolly these days anyway?

 

[warrenlw63]

OMG Stuster, that sounds soooooo appealing :icon_vomit:

How does a Flanders Red differ from an Oud Bruin and has anyone had any experience with brewing said style of beer?

C&B
TDA

Hey Mr. Arab

Flanders Red is well... Red with Brett and lacto. Very winey

Oud Bruin is usually stronger, brown, maltier with Brett and lacto. Very Porty/Sherry like and sour.

If you ever come across Liefman's Goudenband prepare to have your mind blown. :wub:

Rodenbach and particularly Rodenbach Grand Cru are only half a :wub: behind.

Warren -

 

[ausdb]

Firstly will the Roselare pack still be viable?

Secondly I've got 45 litres sitting in a plastic fermenter, my plan is either to.
1) Rack to one glass carboy and just add the smack pack
2) Make a starter with said Roselare and add it to the whole 45 litres divided by 2 glass carboys.

Is it OK to make a starter with Roselare, will it effect the ratio of bugs?

From the reading I did I would not make a starter as it can affect the ratio of bugs and once they are going then they will multiply anyway, starter size is apparently less important for lambic and non saccharomyces ferments. Temp control does have a bearing on how much lactic is produced higher temp = more acidic. Two of the Roeslare packs used in our experiment were about 18 months old and whilst I cant recall them really swelling up they both got going and have made sour beers ok. Personal thoughts only I will never be using the pail I fermented in for a non funky beer again, if you want to save the fermenter then rack to your carboys and split the pack. There is a massive thread about Flanders red and Roeslare on brewboard its about 33 pages from memory so there is pletny of good info there. My beer aged in a fermenting fridge for about 6 months at around 20-21C and then spent the rest of the time just sitting in my shed, which gets very cold in winter and very hot in summer so not sure what the average temp was.

How does a Flanders Red differ from an Oud Bruin and has anyone had any experience with brewing said style of beer?

All I know is that Oud Bruin is meant to be a lot more maltier and not as sour as Flanders red (whilst still being sour if you know what I mean) I would not have classed Rodenbach Grand Cru as an Oud Bruin myself based on the sample I tried that was intensely sour like balsamic vinegar.

 

[warrenlw63]

Thanks Ausdb

Just to be safe though I've made a very small 250ml starter just to check the yeast's viability. Its been sitting (puffed up/smacked) in my fridge for at least 9 months. Took it out 2 days ago and it seemed to swell further which I guess is a good sign.

Man its one stinky strain. Smelled like a dunny at an Indian Restaurant. I guess that can be seen as normal though.

I've added it to a capped PET bottle. As soon as there's some sign of gassing I'll add it to the two carboys.

I plan to keep one bunged and airlocked as normal and to maybe do the toasted 3/8 oak dowel on the other and compare and/or blend the results.

Warren -

 

[kook]

My 1/3 of this batch is coming along well. Insight and I tasted it back in April, and it's quite complex, but still a little lacking in tartness. I've halved my batch into two containers of roughly 12 litres. In April we added 2.5kg of belgian dark cherries to the container, and the pellicle has now redeveloped and taken over on top of the cherries. It's more spider-web like this time, really quite interesting to look at. I plan on bottling in a couple months time.

When I get around to it i'll take some more pics, include some of the plambics I've got going. I've got another two packs of roselare in the fridge, along with pedio and lacto cultures. More sour stuff will be on the way

 

[warrenlw63]

Well the bugs have gone into mine. <_<

After racking the Irish Red to do this last week. Fermentation with Wyeast 1275 recommenced with furious krausen and loads of airlock activity so I thought give it a second chance.

Go out to check the glass carboys today and take a gravity reading and its 1.030 !! WTF? All that piss and wind and just another 10 point drop!

Bugs are firing and dumped in the carboys. We'll see what happens. I figure I'm on a hiding to nothing as it is.

I'll report back in a few months.

Warren -

 

[brendanos]

A couple of these are next in line for me, i just need to get my blend started and split for multiple uses. The various recipes in wild brews should be a good starting point. Haven't been able to buy Rodenbach in Perth for far too long!

 

[warrenlw63]

Quick update.

3 months after pitching the Roeselare starter the funk looks like it's just starting to form. A few days of creeping up into the 20's seems to have helped greatly.

I'm contemplating doing the Raje Apte method of a toasted dowel in the bung (don't be rude B) ) for one of the carboys. I feel I have nothing to lose here as it's only an experiment.

Warren -

 

[warrenlw63]

Just reviving this thread. A couple of questions if that's OK.

My bugs have been in the carboys around 8 months now. How long generally speaking do you blokes leave yours for?

Also priming rates. Do you prime low or high? My guess would be low due to the unpredictable nature of Brett? I'm also planning on adding a slurry of fresh yeast too.

Also some tasting notes chaps. Any of these experiments been worthwhile?

Thanks in advance.

Warren -

 

[Ronin]

Just reviving this thread. A couple of questions if that's OK.

My bugs have been in the carboys around 8 months now. How long generally speaking do you blokes leave yours for?

Also priming rates. Do you prime low or high? My guess would be low due to the unpredictable nature of Brett? I'm also planning on adding a slurry of fresh yeast too.

Also some tasting notes chaps. Any of these experiments been worthwhile?

Thanks in advance.

Warren -

I'm interested in priming rates too, mines getting onto 8 months or so also.

I borrowed ( ) a sterile serology pipette from work and had a taste out of the carboy about a month ago now. It was quite good, a little acidic with some of the fruity notes coming through. I'm assuming the heat wave we had recently will have helped the acidity along a little bit, might be time for another tasting.

I'm considering brewing a second batch, blending the two and then bottling without priming. Reading as much as I can about blending before I make the decision though. And collecting as many champagne bottles as I can.

James

 

[warrenlw63]

Hey James believe it or not I've not even sampled mine because it's in a glass carboy and I don't posses a wine thief. :lol: I might grab one in a week or so and see how it's faring.

I've got two carboys full of the stuff. Might bottle one and leave the other at my leisure. Might even rack it onto some fruit or similar.

How OTT is your acidity? I wouldn't mind a good bite in mine.

Warren -

 

[therook]

Hey James believe it or not I've not even sampled mine because it's in a glass carboy and I don't posses a wine thief. :lol: I might grab one in a week or so and see how it's faring.

I've got two carboys full of the stuff. Might bottle one and leave the other at my leisure. Might even rack it onto some fruit or similar.

How OTT is your acidity? I wouldn't mind a good bite in mine.

Warren -

and NO Wazza i will not be your Guinea Pig :lol:

Rook

 

[Ronin]

Hey James believe it or not I've not even sampled mine because it's in a glass carboy and I don't posses a wine thief. :lol: I might grab one in a week or so and see how it's faring.

I've got two carboys full of the stuff. Might bottle one and leave the other at my leisure. Might even rack it onto some fruit or similar.

How OTT is your acidity? I wouldn't mind a good bite in mine.

Warren -

I wouldn't have called it over the top at all, it was quite subdued really, just becoming noticeable. I'm expecting the lactobacillus to go nuts after the week of 40+ weather we had recently so as I said I think another tasting is in order.

I'll see if I can borrow another pipette this weekend and have another taste. Will report back soon.

 

[warrenlw63]

and NO Wazza i will not be your Guinea Pig :lol:

Rook

Mate it'll be so nice you'll be banging on the Craphaus garage door cap in hand. Then I guess you owe me one after passing you off with the mutant Thames Valley yeast

I wouldn't have called it over the top at all, it was quite subdued really, just becoming noticeable. I'm expecting the lactobacillus to go nuts after the week of 40+ weather we had recently so as I said I think another tasting is in order.

Yeah I might try and get my mitts on a wine thief I think. I'd be very interested to see what's going on. 8 Months on and there's still some quite consistent airlock activity. Thing being I pitched the bugs when the SG was at 1.040 so I guess there's a bit of eating to be done.

Warren -

 

[Ronin]

Yeah I might try and get my mitts on a wine thief I think. I'd be very interested to see what's going on. 8 Months on and there's still some quite consistent airlock activity. Thing being I pitched the bugs when the SG was at 1.040 so I guess there's a bit of eating to be done.

Warren -

I'm amazed every time I hear the airlock release also, I keep thinking it has to be done but then...

I'd be interested in what gravity it's down to also.

 

[warrenlw63]

If it's not below 1.010 that noise you hear from Geelong will be me swearing from Pascoe Vale. :lol:

Warren -

 

[goatherder]

I'm not 100% sure of all the answers, but I'll have a guess based on what I've done.

I bottled my first one at 13 months. Based on the few tastes along the way, there probably wasn't any huge changes happening beyond 6 months. I've heard people mention the pellicle dropping as being a good time to bottle. I never saw that happen with mine.

As for priming, prime for the carbonation you want, just like a normal beer. Yes, Brett can be unpredictable but you've left him alone with the beer for 8 months, some of those being quite warm. Any dextrins that are going to be chewed by the Brett are probably already gone. Definitely add fresh yeast with the priming sugar - I tried a bottle without and it was all fail.

As for tasting notes, I'm down to my last 8 or 10 bottles. The beer is wonderful, just a slight sourness, some mellow brett character and a some sour cherry fruit flavours. It's light, dry and refreshing, perfect for a hot day. I've shared it with beer geeks and luddites alike, with a mostly positive response. I scored a 2nd place in the Belgian class with it at the Hag comp last year. I won't talk about the NSW comp as I'm still a little cranky about that one.

As for gravity, it was:

OG: 1.056
After primary (6 days) : 1.014 - pitched Roselare
after 6 weeks in secondary: 1.012
after 5 months in seconday: 1.007
after almost 13 months in secondary: 1.007 - bottled

Just reviving this thread. A couple of questions if that's OK.

My bugs have been in the carboys around 8 months now. How long generally speaking do you blokes leave yours for?

Also priming rates. Do you prime low or high? My guess would be low due to the unpredictable nature of Brett? I'm also planning on adding a slurry of fresh yeast too.

Also some tasting notes chaps. Any of these experiments been worthwhile?

Thanks in advance.

Warren -