BrewSkies

Recipes 

Anybody out there tried it? Picked up a 22oz bottle from the local craft brew shop and fell in love with it, and have started tossing around ideas to make a similar brew.

From New Belgium:
Le Terroir is a french term meaning “of the earth”. Used to reference the environmental conditions that affect the brew, we like to think about the terroir of our foeders. These wooden barrels age our sour beer in varying temperatures, humidity, and vibrations. The terroir of New Belgium, so to speak. Add in another variable by dry-hopping with peachy, mango-like Amarillo hops, and we created a beer that changes every time we brew it.

ABV - 7.5%
Calories - 200
Hops - Target
Malts - Pale, Wheat, Caramel-80, Carapils, Oats
OG - 16.5

Rough initial hack for a recipe: Basically make an American Pale and use Roselare blend.

5 Gallon Batch:
7# 2-row
3# wheat
1# oats
(normally wouldn't use the wheat and oats in an APA, but since NB said they use it, I included them)
Crystal 80 - .5#
1oz Target @ 60 min
Wyeast Roselare blend
A few weeks in the primary, and then months in the secondary
1/2 oz each Amarillo and Cascade dry hop a week prior to bottling

Okay, questions I have:
-I know a lot of bugs are sensitive to higher ABV and hop content. At what level will bittering hops prevent the bugs from working their magic?
-My only sour beer experience is using Roselare, so that's why I went with it- can anyone think of any other products that may be better suited for this beer?

I think a few more bottles may be warranted for further research...

Thanks in advance!

Oldsock

Recipes 

Lacto is inhibited ~8 IBUs, but the blend has Pedio so no worries there (if you keep it under ~8% ABV). What you do want to worry about is too much bitterness just not tasting good in combination with the sourness. It is rare to have a sour beer over 20 IBUs, and I'm not sure I've ever heard of one over 40.

Roeselare is great, but it can be a bit wimpy. How sour do you want the beer to be? Dregs from sour beers are a great addtion, sadly all the Lips of Faith bombers are flash pasteurized. Some extra primary yeast isn't a bad idea either, especially if you are aiming for a gravity above 1.050 (of if your yeast pack isn't super fresh).

I made a great dry hopped Flanders Red with American hops. I'd suggest only dry hopping a portion of your batch, that way you don't have to drink 5 gallons of long aged sour beer in a few weeks before the hops get all oxidized.

__________________
Check out The Mad Fermentationist for my adventures in fermentation (cheese, bread, ginger beer plant, and of course plenty of funky beer).

stevehollx

Recipes 

Bumping this.

I'm looking to get a Le Terroir clone in soon. Not looking to clone this beer exactly, but the key is that I'm looking for a pale, not too dry, sour beer. Kind of like a tamed tripel, without the spice and with the sour.

I don't have access in my area to really any sour beers other than Duchess De Burgogne, so it would be tough to pitch dregs.

What commercial yeast would make sense here? Would Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic be fine, or would that dry the beer out too much?

Would I want to rack the beer off the yeast cake after a certain period of time?

Oldsock

Recipes 

Lambic blend would certainly be a reasonable choice. Mashing hot and adding some crystal will help to hold onto some sweetness, but the Brett will dry it out a lot. You could go with straight Lacto along with ale yeast, just keep the IBUs close to 0 (this will be much faster as well). Racking is up to you, if there is Brett it will get nutrients from the dead Saccharomyces and produce a more rustic/funky character.

Hope that helps, good luck.

__________________
Check out The Mad Fermentationist for my adventures in fermentation (cheese, bread, ginger beer plant, and of course plenty of funky beer).

antiteam

Recipes 

I'd love to hear about the results of your recipe if you've tried brewing it. I love Le Terroir and really want to brew something similar - particularly since I can't find any on shelf in Chicago anymore.

stevehollx

Recipes 

Antiteam: I'm brewing this next weekend. Check back in a year and I'll let you know the result. ;-)

GrittyGrizzler

Recipes 

I'm right down the road in Hillsborough. I'll be knocking on your door in 1 years time. Le Terroir is one of my favorites.

antiteam

Recipes 

I'm brewing this one right now. Even if it's not an exact clone, it'll probably be good!