light bodied Oud Bruin

I brewed a batch of Oud Bruin that has been aging in secondary for almost a year now, the idea is that the Brett yeast used (Brett Bruxellensis) will increase lactic acid production over extended aging. I tasted a sample from the fermenter recently and the nose is spectacular BUT the taste leaves much to be desired, not because of off flavors (none) but rather a light bodied, watery, sort of undeveloped taste. OG was 1045 anf FG 1015, that should put me in the neighborhood of 3-4% ABV......

I plan to counter this by blending the batch with an Old Ale that has also been aging in secondary for several months. The Old Ale is not only heartier (OG 1120 FG 1021) but there is a brett strain that was used in it to enhance extended aging, so I figure it should be a nice match.

My question is, does anybody have any suggestions on blending ratios and/or suggestions on other options to fortify the light bodied Oud Bruin? Many thanks.

did you add anything other than brett? brett alone wont make a sour beer, it doesnt really produce acids in any practical amount for a sour beer

as to blending, do you keg? if you keg you could brew up a thick malty beer and blend to taste in the keg, although at 1015 i find it strange that its watery, maybe because its uncarbed?

any ratios offered up would be pure speculation, as only you know how the beer tastes and what you want out of it

did you add anything other than brett? brett alone wont make a sour beer, it doesnt really produce acids in any practical amount for a sour beer

yes, there was a strain for 1st fermentation and Brett added at secondary. I keg but I thought I would bottle this batch in the traditional Belgian sour way, corked bottles

veraspada said:

yes, there was a strain for 1st fermentation and Brett added at secondary. I keg but I thought I would bottle this batch in the traditional Belgian sour way, corked bottles

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What strain? if it was sacch, it will not get sour you need lacto and pedio to do that

actually I used Brett Bruxellensis

You need some other bugs to get sour. Brett will not do it. The Brett can give you some funky tastes, but no sour.

I read somewhere that you can add a small amount of salt and that will add body...but that seems a bit sketchy to me, any thoughts on this?

Ive used a bit of salt in gosebiers, and in a soured witbier thing with cherries, in both cases the salt made the beer feel fuller, but what it did the best was make the fruit flavors in teh cherry beer really pop out at you

ryane said:

Ive used a bit of salt in gosebiers, and in a soured witbier thing with cherries, in both cases the salt made the beer feel fuller, but what it did the best was make the fruit flavors in teh cherry beer really pop out at you

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Out of curiosity, how much salt did you use?

I used 1 pinch per gallon in the straight gose, but it has a noticeable saltiness

in the cherry beer, I used less than half that


FYI: a pinch is an actual unit of measure, 8 pinches = 1tbsp, SWMBO and all her crazy baking stuff come in handy every once in a while

ryane said:

I used 1 pinch per gallon in the straight gose, but it has a noticeable saltiness

in the cherry beer, I used less than half that


FYI: a pinch is an actual unit of measure, 8 pinches = 1tbsp, SWMBO and all her crazy baking stuff come in handy every once in a while

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Nowadays 16 pinches = 1 tsp is more common, with a dash as twice that. So 8 dashes = 1 tsp. Though 8 pinches= 1 tsp used to be a common measure (that's is still 1/3 the size that 1/8 tbsp would be).

See, e.g., http://www.dutchovendude.com/cooking-measurement.shtml, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinch_(cooking) or commercially made measures like these:

huh, google was wrong on that one thanks for the correction, we have a similar set to that and they come in very handy if your adding salts or spices to a beer