My 1st Sour - 10 Gallon Flander's Red (03/03/12)

This is my first attempt at brewing a sour. My recipe was inspired by Jamil’s Flander’s Red, although it is quite different. The resting mash temp was 150 F, and my OG was 1.064. Final yield was 11 gallons. I'll rack each into a secondary on the 15th, when my yeast comes in.

Flander's Red

Grains
• 8.5 lbs Vienna Malt
• 7 lbs Munich Malt
• 7 lbs Pilsner Malt
• 1.5 lbs CaraMunich Malt
• 2 lbs Flaked Soft White Wheat
• 1.5 lbs CaraAroma
• 8 oz Carahell Malt
• 6 oz Crystal 40
• 6 oz Special B


Hops
• Goldings, East Kent (75 min)


Yeasts
• Batch 1 – WL060 –American Ale (primary)**
o Wyeast 5526 Brettanomyces Lambicus (secondary)
• Batch 2 – WL060 –American Ale (primary)**
o Wyeast 3767 Roeselare Ale Blend (secondary)

**Both with dregs of Ichtegems Grand Cru Flemish Red

Can't wait to try this one next year!!!

Exciting! I just pitched dregs and uncrushed grain into 5 gallons of a recipe I created but haven't even tried yet so it will be very interesting to see what comes out. *finger crossed* for us both.

EDIT: this is also my first sour

Flanders Reds are so good. I've made 2 of them and loved them both (both just got Roeselare). I also oaked and added zante currants (because I'm a dope; didn't realize at the time this was different than normal currants). Mine ended up super sour.

Good luck!

I did forget to mention that I'll be adding 1 oz of Merlot soaked, oak cubes into one, and 1 oz of Brandy soaked, oak cubes into the other during secondary. Not sure if I'm gonna add any fruit. I'm thinking of possibly adding a bit of pineapple and/or coconut to a portion of one for blending purposes, although I'm not sure if these are the beers for that.

angeleazy said:

I did forget to mention that I'll be adding 1 oz of Merlot soaked, oak cubes into one, and 1 oz of Brandy soaked, oak cubes into the other during secondary. Not sure if I'm gonna add any fruit. I'm thinking of possibly adding a bit of pineapple and/or coconut to a portion of one for blending purposes, although I'm not sure if these are the beers for that.

Click to expand...

I made a pineapple sour "drink" once. Most sour thing I ever made. Really, it was undrinkable. Careful there!

Thanks for the heads up.

Is ichtegem's pasteurized?

I'm not sure if it's pasteurized. The bottle doesn't indicate if it is. It just states that it is matured in oak barrels. Thanks for mentioning. I'll have to consider that for future batches.

Not sure how definitive a resource this may be, but FWIW Itchegem is listed here as a pasteurized beer:

http://brouette-de-bieres.com/beers/pasteurization/OUI-Pasteurized

Ha! Rookie mistake. Thanks for the reference. I appreciate it!

Wanting to brew my first sour very soon! Within a month or two! i think I will do the same type of thing. Brew a big batch and split between two fermentors. use different yeasts for both.
After fermenting with cal ale yeast or whatever, you just transfer to secondary and add bugs and let it sit for however long right? Do you have to transfer off cal yeast?

I think most flander's reds are pasteurized (at least the mass produced ones we get here in the states) so they can maintain the residual sugar for sweetness to balance the sour. Pasteurizing also locks in the blend they were shooting for.