To Blend or Not to Blend?

Hi all. I have an Northern Brewer Oud Bruin Kit that has been in primary for 12 months. Getting ready to consider bottling it but was also considering making a blend. Wanted to hear other people's suggestions and had some questions.

My all time favorite beers are from the Rodenbach family. I know that Rodenbachs are Flanders Red beers and not Oud Bruins, but understand that these are blended.

Wanted to hear any pluses or minuses regarding blending.

I know there will be a higher volume of beer, but will this significantly dilute the Oud Bruin Flavor?

In addition, will blending cause the bugs to reignite and lead to bottle bursting or other unpleasantness?

Thanks for any advice and experiences you can share.

subscribed. I have one of these kits 6 months in primary and looking forward to what wisdom this thread provides.

If you blend with anything that still has fermentables, the brett and other bacteria will consume it. If it's in a standard bottle, that bottle will explode. Thicker bottles, such as champagne bottles and some Belgian bottles will withstand higher volumes of CO2. I've never had one of these blow up on me.

If you want to blend something to add some residual sweetness, you may try using campden tablets to kill off any yeast or bacteria present, then repitching yeast at bottling.

Here's a great article on blending lambics that one the members here wrote that you should take a look at: http://ryanbrews.blogspot.com/2011/03/blending-and-fruiting-lambics-my.html

Blending is usually done with similar beers made with the same bugs. If you blend a non-sour beer with a sour beer and bottle, you are asking for trouble.

Even when blending young and old beers of the same type with the same bugs, can be a problem. The Professionals know how much further the young beer will ferment over time and reduce the amount of any priming sugars accordingly.

With the sours I have brewed, I have seen no need to blend. All have been great. Commercial brewers do it to try and maintain similar flavor and quality from year to year.

Calder said:

Blending is usually done with similar beers made with the same bugs. If you blend a non-sour beer with a sour beer and bottle, you are asking for trouble.

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I've never blended, but I've heard blending a soured beer with a beer using the same recipe except for a clean yeast (say, 1056) works really well. But I see where you're coming from. That's good to know before I try it.

Even when blending young and old beers of the same type with the same bugs, can be a problem. The Professionals know how much further the young beer will ferment over time and reduce the amount of any priming sugars accordingly.

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I was always under the impression this is exactly how gueuze was made.

Not that this helps with your issue, but I came up with an Oud Bruin recipe a while back, and since I've always seen that style as the least sour of the sours, I'd planned on sour mashing it so that I could fix the exact level of sourness I wanted, so no blending or halting the bugs needed.