Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WY3763
Yeast Starter: see notes
Batch Size (Gallons): 11
Original Gravity: 1.053
Final Gravity: 1.005
IBU: 15
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color: red
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 110 @75
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 360 @75
Tasting Notes: Oak aged, tastes similar to Rodenbach Grand Cru at around 2 years of age

Flanders Red has been my main brewing side project for the last two years. Obsessed with this style, this is my personal pièce de résistance. I am finally happy enough with my recipe and process to post, so here it is.

Grain Bill:
6# German Pils
6# Vienna
4.25# Flaked Corn
2.1# Aromatic
1# Munich
1# Special B
1# Wheat Malt

Infuse to 145*F for 40 minutes, infuse a second time to 162*F for 30 minutes. Decoct to mashout.

Hops:
3.5oz Fuggle (boiled 90 min)

Fermentation:
You need to do two batches. The first batch, pitch a smack pack of Roeselare directly into each 5 gallon fermenter. I primary in plastic for a full 110 days, which allows enough O2 in to ensure the brettanomyces will fully grow and develop. This batch gets racked off to kegs to age, and then I brew another batch and pitch it directly on the yeast cake in the fermenters, adding a new smack pack to each fermenter as well for the saccharomyces yeast. The second batch is considerably more sour than the first, due to a higher population of bacteria in the cake.

The final beer that gets bottled is a blend of the first and second batches, which has the perfect level of sourness. No matter how long you let the first batch age, on its own it will not get sour enough unless you cheat and add lactic acid. By doing two batches the style is nailed without any cheating required.

I aged some of this brew in a used whiskey barrel which had mostly lost its flavor. It is the best of the bunch, and is very similar to Rodenbach Grand Cru. I hope to eventually get a 60 gallon wine barrel, and start a solera of this brew in it. I inoculated my barrel with some lambic dregs, which allowed some acetobacter to develop in the barrel. Acetobacter can't grow in a keg, due to lack of O2.