I love me some Rodenbach Grand Cru, and I've been planning a Flanders Red for months and months while I was anxiously awaiting the re-release of the Roeselare blend from Wyeast. Well, I have two packets of this fabled blend in my fridge and I've been trying to formulate a recipe that uses JZ's recipe as a base with my own special touches and flourishes. I was thinking of doing the Raj Apte oak dowel method for micro-oxygenation, but reading some of Michael's postings recently have me thinking I could get the same character using oak cubes.
Not sure if I'm on the right track here, so I'm requesting the usual C/C for this recipe in process.
The name 'Dulle Griet' (Mad Meg) is a Flemish folklore figure who led a group of women to pillage Hell, and painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
Dulle Griet
17-B Flanders Red Ale Author: Jason Konopinski Date: 4/15/09
Size: 6.0 gal Efficiency: 80% Attenuation: 90% Calories: 176.01 kcal per 12.0 fl oz
Ingredients:
8.0 lb Vienna Malt
2 lb Munich Malt
1.0 lb White Wheat Malt
6 oz Belgian Caramunich
4.0 oz Belgian Aromatic
4.0 oz Belgian Special B
1 oz Willamette (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.0 ea WYeast 3763 Roeselare
00:03:00 Dough-In - Liquor: 3.98 gal; Strike: 169.03 °F; Target: 156 °F
01:03:00 Saccharification Rest - Rest: 60 min; Final: 156.0 °F
02:03:00 Lautering - First Runnings: 0.0 gal sparge @ 154 °F, 10.0 min; Sparge #1: 2.54 gal sparge @ 180 °F, 10 min; Sparge #3: 2.54 gal sparge @ 180 °F, 10 min; Total Runoff: 7.87 gal
Looks tasty to me as is. That said, you will probably have enough melanoidins from the Vienna/Munich that you could drop the aromatic without losing anything. I might also up the caramunich a few ounces to get some more complex sugars for the microbes to chomp on. To me Flanders Reds always have a lot of crystal/cara character to them.
I am also a big proponent of adding some sour beer dregs to supplement the commercial yeast blends. It will help get more complexity and more sourness than the Roeselare will on its own.
Hope that helps, good luck brewing.
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Check out The Mad Fermentationist for my adventures in fermentation (cheese, bread, ginger beer plant, and of course plenty of funky beer).
The Saccharomyces in the blend is lifting a gentle krausen right now. It was a bit of a slow starter - but that's what happens when you only pitch the blend sans starter.
Making a starter with these multi-strain/microbe blends isn't wise, I think. You'll throw the ratios all out of whack.
How are you planning on aging this? I was turned off from the idea of doing a Flanders since I thought I had nowhere to store it for aging, but Wild Brews says that they age in oak at up to 90*F. 90*F I can certainly do... My garage holds about that temp all summer long. I'm thinking a 15 gallon food grade barrel, fill it this year to start and then blend 5 gallons into it each year thereafter.
Flanders Red - Dulle Griet
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