Glass carboy - what to brew

[philmud]

A friend just gave me a 25L glass carboy & I'm interested in brewing something that will benefit from a few months bulk aging. It seems that the obvious thing to do is some kind of funky beer, and while I'm not adverse to the idea, I have no real experience with any sour it funky brews (brewing OR drinking). Does anyone have any suggestions? As far as big beers go, I lean more towards Belgians than barley wines & RIS etc.
Also curious about the importance of temp control post primary fermentation. I won't be able to dedicate fridge space to this & my garage gets very hot in summer. I'm thinking I might need to delay this until April or so, but then it'd need to be bottled by this time next year. So six-eight months aging would be about the limit.
All advice gratefully received!

 

[manticle]

Belgian quad/dark strong.
Belgian golden ale with brettanomyces.

 

[GrumpyPaul]

Following this one...

I am in the same boat. I picked up a 23l carboy at the market recently.

I am intrigrued by the idea of a sour beer but have no idea where to start.

 

[philmud]

Belgian quad/dark strong.
Belgian golden ale with brettanomyces.

Is there a commercial example of a Brett beer that showcases what it brings? I'm very curious as to what the fuss is about.

Is the process something like this?

- brew & ferment a Belgian golden ale as per usual.
- rack to carboy & introduce brettanomyces culture.
- age in carboy for several months.
- bulk prime & bottle as per usual.

 

[droid]

hi, what will be happening to your beer with big temperature fluctuations? i wouldn't do it without control of the temp but hey if you don't need the glass for anything else...

glass : primary in something else then transfer, much easier cleaning that way and no chance of chunky bits dropping back into the beer after the party's died down

glass is fantastic to see what is happening and much cleaner for long-term ferments but its just the temp control that would worry me

good luck keep us posted

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Pillar of Stout.

It needs at least a few months in the bottle to age.

 

[mje1980]

Brett porter. Add some rum soaked oak chips as well. 8-9%. Ferment as normal, then transfer to glass with Brett b or c and add the oak chips for a few weeks before it's done. Put it in champagne bottles

 

[mje1980]

Is there a commercial example of a Brett beer that showcases what it brings? I'm very curious as to what the fuss is about.
Is the process something like this?
- brew & ferment a Belgian golden ale as per usual.
- rack to carboy & introduce brettanomyces culture.
- age in carboy for several months.
- bulk prime & bottle as per usual.

You can do that for sure. You can do plastic if less than 3 months in my limited experience. I have a brett porter ( as above ) done in plastic for 3 months which is quite nice. I do have 2 glass carboys but they have a Flanders sour ale on both at the moment.

Try Boon kriek, or Orval. Go to beercartel or similar and search for sour beers or lambic. Be prepared for addiction

 

[philmud]

hi, what will be happening to your beer with big temperature fluctuations? i wouldn't do it without control of the temp but hey if you don't need the glass for anything else...

glass : primary in something else then transfer, much easier cleaning that way and no chance of chunky bits dropping back into the beer after the party's died down

glass is fantastic to see what is happening and much cleaner for long-term ferments but its just the temp control that would worry me

good luck keep us posted

Do most people tie up a fridge to do this kind of thing? I guess I was hoping that aging/sour fermentation would be more forgiving in terms of temp control. I figure from April to September the ambient temps would be between 10C-20C, but if that would be a major issue I'm not sure I could spare the fridge space.

Some good suggestions here & I did a bit of reading on brettanomyces yesterday & that made me realise I have more to do!

I also better give some sour beers a go so I've got a better idea of what might work!

 

[mje1980]

I leave mine inside the house, so it's reasonably stable temp all year round. If you know it won't go up above say 25 where you're keeping it I'd try it. I find smaller fermentors easier for sours for that reason, easier to store inside somewhere, my 2 11 litre ones fit nicely on top of my fridge. Perfect and out of the way. A full glass carboy will be heavy when full as well, just beware.

Yeah, first try a few sours. Beercartel usually have some ( no affiliation ). Try Kriek first, and if you like it, try a gueze if you're feeling hardcore. Boon Kriek is my fave ( cherry lambic ). Also, rodenbach grand cru is pretty cheap, and full of flavour ( mild understatement ) They are sour though, not just funky. For just brett alone orval is a good one, though I find it a little one dimensional.

 

[manticle]

Is there a commercial example of a Brett beer that showcases what it brings? I'm very curious as to what the fuss is about.

Is the process something like this?

- brew & ferment a Belgian golden ale as per usual.
- rack to carboy & introduce brettanomyces culture.
- age in carboy for several months.
- bulk prime & bottle as per usual.

I think Orval would give you the best indication of what to expect - pale, strongish belgian with brett character.

Basic process - make a belgian golden strong, mash high (70-72) and short, ferment with belgian ale of choice then add orval dregs to the carboy once you hit FG. Age for a couple of months, taste. Should be quite low FG before considering bottling - mine was 1002.

 

[philmud]

Was over in Richmond this evening & bought some Orval from slowbeer. It's pretty impressive. I've also been drinking the lasirene wild saison a bit & I'm loving that too. I'm going to have a crack at this after summer.