Flanders Pale

I was going to post this as a reply to the https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/saison-de-provision-119921/ thread since recipe is similar, but I don't want to thread-jack.

- Brewed a Flanders Pale on 12/1/09 (mostly based on the recipe from Wild Brews).
- Tasted it last night and thought it was a little bit one-dimensional.
- Good character from brett with some nice sourness.
- I thought flavor was lacking acidity and fruitiness, which would help it out.
- But gravity was down to 1.002, so it's probably not going anywhere now.
- If gravity was higher, I'd age longer.

Grainbill was 6# Pils, 4# Pale, 1# Caravienne, 0.5# Aromatic, and 0.25 oz Black Roast.
Was primary fermented with WY3522 and a 6oz pitch of WY3763 slurry from a previous batch.

So I'm wondering what to do with this. Options I'm considering are:
1. Keg it.
2. Add maltodextrine to add brett/pedio food and age.
3. Add fruit (raspberries or apricots) and age.
4. Add a white wine grape concentrate. I'm leaning towards this one cuz I think it could add some fruitiness and acidity.

Any thoughts or experiences? I appreciate you comments.

I like #4 alot.

I would just let it age another 6-8 months and sample again.

Ryan_PA said:

I would just let it age another 6-8 months and sample again.

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I agree that it's a young beer. I see lots of posts where people taste after 1-3 months and the appropriate response of "give it time" is usually warranted.

As I stated, I would age in this case as well except for the low gravity. Sitting @ 1.002 now, what's gonna happen in 6-8 months? No food.

Let it age longer! I think the bugs will still be plenty active. You can add some maltodextrine to help them out, if you want.

I made the same recipe and plan on dry hopping it with cascade/amarillo after finished souring. You may want to consider that as well, as it can produce wonderful results (i.e. New Belgian La Terroir).

I would do #2 and #4 (light on the #4 though). Also when you keg this you could pitch a second batch on the cake which will probably be a bit funkier and more sour to blend with the first.

I must have glanced over the 1002 point. While I still think you would benefit more from the aging than the additional food, adding some more munchies for the bugs may be a good idea. If it were me, and I was bent on adding the additional sugars, I would start with the Malto Dextrin and add the grape juice about 2-4 months prior to when I think it should be finished.

Saccharomyces said:

I would do #2 and #4 (light on the #4 though). Also when you keg this you could pitch a second batch on the cake which will probably be a bit funkier and more sour to blend with the first.

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This is basically pitched onto a cake. I poured all the dregs from a secondary vessel into a bottle and stored it in fridge. Then added all of that slurry (6-8oz) into the primary ferment.

That's why, I think, after such a short period of time, it already has significant sourness and brett character...but obviously not enough, or I'd just drink it now!

Just a general THANKS for everyone's input. Great advice.