Does anyone have a Russian River Consecration recipe?

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stevehollx

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That is the nectar of the gods, oh my.

I know Vinnie is pretty liberal on sharing his recipes, so I'm wondering if someone has something close.

I'm assuming some sort of Flanders Red recipe with Roselare and currant would get close? Anyone have any closer details?
 
Vinnie has said that he favors Carafa Special type dark malts in his dark sours, and it is the one beer he uses some Special B in. Hopped to the mid-20s (Styrian Golding and Sterling according to one report) to keep the Lactobacillus at a minimum. I don't think the exact details are as important as their process.

It is fermented with Abbey Ale yeast down to the low/mid-teens, then Brett is added, ~2 months later it goes into Cabernet Sauvignon barrels with dried currants (~.5 lbs/gallon IIRC), and their house culture. It sits for 4-6 months before blending (acetic barrels are tossed) and blending with acid beer and/or Brett beer to dial in the flavor.

Hope that helps, Vinnie is also great when it comes to replying to emails if you want more details.
 
I was just wondering about this last night as I've come across a few free fermenters and want to take a crack at this style. Any updates OP?
 
I was just wondering about this last night as I've come across a few free fermenters and want to take a crack at this style. Any updates OP?

I'll let you know in a year. Made this last night. 2 of my planned 4 sours are now chugging away (trying to stagger 4 across 1 year and repeat to have a cyclical pipeline.)

I chose to throw all the bugs in the primary (instead of Sacc->Brett->Lacto/Pedio like RR does), in fear of it not coming out as sour as I'd prefer due to pitching fresh bugs. I'd rather have it too sour and blend back with a clean BSDA then worry about getting it more sour.

If you want something close here is the recipe I churned up. Amount quantities are weird because I based the recipe off RR's specs for the beer off their pub's chalkboard image on their site (1.090 OG, 18 IBU, 10% ABV) and scaled the recipe for my effeciency. I also had some leftover maltodextrine, so I put that in for something else for the bugs to much on.

I ended up saving bout a 1/4 mason jar of the slurry, and poured the leftover wort into it, diluted to 1.035 and threw an airlock on it. I'm going to let that churn away for a month or so, then lid it and store it to build up something of a high gravity belgian sour farm.

Code:
BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Consecration Clone
Brewer: stevehollx
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Belgian Dark Strong Ale
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.70 gal      
Boil Size: 6.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.45 gal
Estimated OG: 1.086 SG
Estimated Color: 57.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 16.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
11 lbs                Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM)            Grain         1        57.3 %        
1 lbs 1.6 oz          Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM)                 Grain         3        5.7 %         
3 lbs 4.8 oz          Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)                    Grain         2        17.2 %        
1 lbs 1.6 oz          Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)               Grain         5        5.7 %         
1 lbs 1.6 oz          Candi Sugar, Dark (275.0 SRM)            Sugar         7        5.7 %         
1 pkg                 Wyeast 3787 Yeast                        Yeast         12       -             
1.25 oz               Styrian Goldings [2.60 %] - Boil 60.0 mi Hop           8        8.3 IBUs      
1 lbs 1.6 oz          Carafa III (525.0 SRM)                   Grain         4        5.7 %         
1.00 oz               Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min            Hop           9        7.9 IBUs      
8.0 oz                Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)                  Grain         6        2.6 %         
0.20 oz               Styrian Goldings [2.60 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop           10       0.3 IBUs      
1.80 oz               Malto-Dextrine (Boil 5.0 mins)           Other         11       -             


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 19 lbs 3.2 oz
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Mash In           Add 20.68 qt of water at 169.4 F        158.0 F       60 min        


Notes:
------
Starter from dregs: cultured from 12oz bottle of batch 6 RR consecration into 8oz @ 1.030.  Added 16 oz more fresh wort on Thursday night.  No noticeable activity with starter.  Added Wyeast Pedio, Lacto, and WL BrettL to starter on Sat during mash.

3L starter for Sacc yeast done on Wed.  Ended up being ~300mL of pure yeast slurry.

Brewed on Sat.

Chilled to 68-70 and fermented in chill bath.  Chilled during first 12 hours of fermentation, then leaving bath at ambient.  Airlock activity within 12h.

I'll be adding Cab Sav. soaked oak cubes and currant to the carboy in a few weeks, and then waiting! I may continue to add more Consecration dregs over the year, as I slowly finish off the remaining 5-12oz of Consecration.
 
Any news on how this clone is coming along Steve? I know it hasn't been *quite* a year yet, but I figure you must have some idea how its going eh?

I was thinking about brewing up your clone recipe myself in a few weeks.
 
Any news on how this clone is coming along Steve? I know it hasn't been *quite* a year yet, but I figure you must have some idea how its going eh?

I was thinking about brewing up your clone recipe myself in a few weeks.

I haven't snuck a taste yet. It is odd that there isn't a pellicle on this, though, after about 9 months. Maybe there isn't enough oxygen present for one, since the fruit fermentation forced all of the o2 from the secondary transfer out. There have to be plenty of bugs in this thing, with fresh pitches of pedio/lacto and the brett starter.

Maybe I'll sneak a taste tonight and let you know.

Oh, don't skimp on the quality of wine you soak your oak cubes in, if you go that route. I regret using carlo rossi cab. for that. Hoping that taste gets hidden with everything else that is going on in this beer...
 
Thanks and Cheers! I was planning on going the cab-soaked-oak-chips route. I was thinking 1/2 ounce but am still unsure if thats the right amount, or not. I was also thinking I would add the chips first thing to secondary along with the brett.
 
Any news on how this clone is coming along Steve? I know it hasn't been *quite* a year yet, but I figure you must have some idea how its going eh?

I was thinking about brewing up your clone recipe myself in a few weeks.

Snuck a taste. It isn't sour yet. My 3 month older pale beer on a lambic blend is way more acidic. Which is quite odd, since it has quite the pile of critters in it. I wonder if the bugs are struggling at the 10+ ABV that this beer has.

It is quite hot in fusels, and perhaps over-oaked. Not something I'd really enjoy drinking at this moment, I'm afraid.

To try to save it, I just threw in about 8oz of water with 8oz of malto, and a packet of lambic blend. Hoping that will help tame things down some and maybe get some bugs working over the remaining 5 months or so.
 
Thats good to know Steve. Out of curiosity how much Oak did you use and how soon did you add it?

Brett can produce sourness as well so its possible that as it chews down on your malto you will get some sourness out of that.
 
Thats good to know Steve. Out of curiosity how much Oak did you use and how soon did you add it?

Brett can produce sourness as well so its possible that as it chews down on your malto you will get some sourness out of that.

I added two ounces of american medium toast oak, soaked in cab sav (which was then strained off) for 24 hours before adding in. Oak went in the secondary, and it has been in there for 9 months. If I did it again, I'd probably use closer to 1 oz of french oak, perhaps using cubes that have already been through a batch of beer and mellowed some.

A lot of moving parts with this beer, so I guess I was bound to make some oversights.

Yeah, hoping the bugs eat the malto and give it some acidity. Worst case scenario, I'll add lactic acid at bottling.
 
I added two ounces of american medium toast oak, soaked in cab sav (which was then strained off) for 24 hours before adding in. Oak went in the secondary, and it has been in there for 9 months. If I did it again, I'd probably use closer to 1 oz of french oak, perhaps using cubes that have already been through a batch of beer and mellowed some.

A lot of moving parts with this beer, so I guess I was bound to make some oversights.

Yeah, hoping the bugs eat the malto and give it some acidity. Worst case scenario, I'll add lactic acid at bottling.

I had sour in 2 months. No pellicle. Made this twice. Roeselare should get it there. Sorry, can't tell you what went wrong, maybe the ABV. Next time make a smaller beer, get it sour, then add additional fermentables if you want to get the ABV that high.
 
Brett in your Berliner Weisse? Lactobacillus is more typical for that style.

bayerischer bahnhof (sp) has a special berliner with brett L in it that is pretty awesome. I think there were a number of studies done on BWs (think it was in brewing with wheat) that showed brett (along with lacto) in the finished product of some of the breweries' beers...
 
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