OR/WA Group Brew v3.0

OK fine brewers of the PNW...a group of us just emptied a pinot noir barrel that had an Oud Bruin aging in it for 1 year with some sour cherries and some nice bigs. I now have a mostly empty barrel in my basement and it wants to be filled again. Hints at trying a stout this time around. This is a 55 gallon barrel and I need all the help I can get to fill it.

We probably need to act fast so if you're interested in joining the fun speak up here. I'm in for 10gallons, so we still need 45 more. Let's do it. It would be a shame to see this bug infused barrel turned into a planter!

How fast is fast?

I'd like to contribute as usual, but it's a run for me. I might just chip in some cash instead so I might be allowed to partake of the final product.

Are we looking at a specific recipe? AG, PM, Extract? How soon are we talking?

I'm in for doing 10 again. I'll be coming down the weekend of November 13th so I could brew this weekend and drop off the beer then. McKBrew, you're welcome to send beer with me if we do shoot for that weekend.

Sipping on some of the beer that just came out of that barrel, there's a lot of barnyard funk in the aroma. And the cherry really starts to come through in the finish as the beer warms.

I think that whatever recipe we use should allow some of the complexity to come through. KB I think a big-ish stout could definitely work. And I like the idea of giving the critters more to chew on than the FG we had in the last barrel.

Like I said, I'll be in for 5 or 10 since its no more work. I don't necessarily need 10 gallons back but if it helps fill the barrel... :rockin:

I'll try working on a recipe tonight if I can. WIP...I know McK, Explosive and myself are AG brewers, but I don't see any issue if you're not. It's all beer after all.

Doing a little reading myself...it would appear that Lacto isn't really tolerant of high alcohol. Maybe we aim for the low end of "big". Or a thought of maybe putting my batch in without putting it through primary to get the bugs awake and active before adding others? Not sure where that thought came from...

We're still a a bit shy on volume with those that have chimed in. If you have brewing friends not on HBT spread the word. Also note that even though you put in 5 or 10 gallons doesn't mean that is what we will pull out. Evaporation and loss to the cherries, etc. Just wanted to put that out there upfront.

Giving the bugs a couple days head start on 5 or 10 gallons of fresh warm wort would be one way of upping the sour factor. That is the way I'm doing my berliner weiss.

OK, so this is proving to be a little tricky. Bugs don't like high alcohol and they don't like much more than 10IBUs. I quickly put together the recipe below. Not wanting much roastyness to the beer I replaced roasted malts with carafa I to get some color. There is also carafa II and III to consider. Formulating recipes is not my forte so please contribute!

Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.75 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 69.73 %
1.50 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 8.90 %
1.50 lb Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 8.90 %
0.85 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5.04 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.45 %
0.50 lb Carafa I (337.0 SRM) Grain 2.97 %
0.35 oz Nugget [12.50 %] (60 min) Hops 10.3 IBU



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.080 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.020 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.76 %
Bitterness: 10.3 IBU Calories: 368 cal/pint
Est Color: 34.9 SRM


Also, I'd like to say that if we don't have enough folks joining in to fill the barrel by the end of the weekend I will be exploring other options on what to do with it. Let's get 'er done!

I'd definitely like to do this again but if it doesn't come together, it saves the trouble of transporting beer a few hundred miles.

As for the recipe, I don't have much experience creating recipes meant to be soured. Obviously the sourness can offset the lack of bitterness. Mashing high would help give the critters more to chew on over the course of the year in the barrel. Overall though, I like what I'm imagining from that recipe.

OK, I may have another guy in for 5 gallons and as much as I don't want to I can bump up to 20 gallons to get the barrel filled. Unless Explosive you want to do split the difference and we can both do 15? Is everyone that comment here in for the amount you state in your post? (Chester, I have you down as 10)

No problem. Depending on the the final grain bill I can run the numbers and try and pull a little more.

Hey, Kilted, I WILL do 5...When and where do you need it?

OK...I think we're pretty darn close to having enough or pretty close to it. Let's start making this official. My thought is I will brew up 10 - 15 gallons next weekend (7th - 8th) and pitch that directly into the barrel. Give that a week to get rolling and then we should put the rest in there the following weekend (14th - 15th). If timing works for everyone, let's agree on the recipe.

I am out only because of cash flow. I am sorry. Maybe next time.

I am out of town the 14th and 15th but I can brew it next weekend. Are we trying to do the entire fermentation in the barrel?

KB, I'm in for 15 if needed. I'll be coming down the 13th but will probably also be coming down the first weekend in December if that works better. I probably won't have a chance to brew until this Friday at the earliest. I haven't had a chance to go back and compare the recipe to some of my previous batches but I like the sound of it.

Chester-
What we would do is I would pitch my batch into the barrel right after the boil/chilling. Let the bugs already in the barrel enjoy the sugars, etc. Everyone else would brew your batch, pitch some yeast and let them ferment a little bit. Then we'd pitch them all into the barrel and let it age a year or so.

Explosive-
If we need to hold off till December I think that would be fine. I would still get my batch in sooner then later just to get things rolling a little and so the barrel doesn't dry out too much.

Ok, that's what I thought. Just checking!

If there's still room I'd be in for 5-10.

The more I think about it the more I like the idea of giving the bugs more to chew on, especially since there are so many of them and KB your batch will get them riled up and ready to go.

We could potentially all brew right before putting the batches in the barrel rather than ferment it out first. If sanitation is a concern, a campden tablet will knock out any bacteria in there to make sure no stray bugs get a head start on the Roselare bugs. Another option is to brew with the no chill method into the storage cubes and bring the wort to dump in the barrel.

Or we could just ferment out as planned. What do you guys think?

explosivebeer said:

The more I think about it the more I like the idea of giving the bugs more to chew on, especially since there are so many of them and KB your batch will get them riled up and ready to go.

We could potentially all brew right before putting the batches in the barrel rather than ferment it out first. If sanitation is a concern, a campden tablet will knock out any bacteria in there to make sure no stray bugs get a head start on the Roselare bugs. Another option is to brew with the no chill method into the storage cubes and bring the wort to dump in the barrel.

Or we could just ferment out as planned. What do you guys think?

Click to expand...

I have a 6 gallon no-chill cube I've been using, this would work for me.

Another option is to have a group brewing session at my place and just dump into the barrel right away. We are getting into that time of year when weekends are pretty busy though so not totally sure if that would work out or not. But it's a thought.

I'm apt to think a mix of preferemented and bug only fermented batches would do well. But I could be totally off base there. But if we do that we should probably have a good balance.

Let's also nail down a date so I can be sure I'm home and available.

Here is the list I have right now. We are actually possibly over 55 gallons so let's get some firm commitments. I'm assuming the recipe given is ok for everyone?

Kilted Brewer: 15
Explosive: 15
Chester: 10
gplutt: 5
curtis97322: 5
EvilTOJ: 10

That's a total of 60 with Evil, no McKBrew

I'd be up for coming down for a group brew, too. I have the 12th-15th off. I guess I'm pretty open to whatever you guys wanna do.

Personally, I'm not a fan of packing up my brewing gear and brewing elsewhere. Plus I'm usually pretty busy in Portland when I come down so I'd rather brew up here and make the most of my time down there.

I could drop my beer off and hang out for a couple hours while you guys are doing a group brew though.

Don't count me in yet. Not sure if I'll be able to particpate this time around or not.

explosivebeer said:

Personally, I'm not a fan of packing up my brewing gear and brewing elsewhere.

Click to expand...

I'm not totally a fan of playing host for such a venture either...so why don't we just scratch that off the list.

Let's say a barrel fill date of December 5th (first Saturday of December). I will brew up my 15 gallons possibly this weekend or next at the latest and dump straight into the barrel.

I will let you all decide if you want to ferment out a little bit before dumping or just let the bugs do the entire job since you will be the ones that have to figure out the logistics of getting the wort to my place on the 5th.

Why don't we put me down for 5. Sounds like that'd put us right at capacity. If commitments change I can still brew up to 10.

Timeline on dropping off the wort fairly flexible? I'd imagine we'll be dropping the evil demon spawn off with the mother in law one of the next couple weekends. I'd prefer to drop off the wort while I'm up there anyways. I'll probably brew up the batch the sunday we pick her up and drop the wort off that day. Let the bugs chew on all of it.

I'll brew mine next week and get it down there sometime before the 5th of December.

Edit: Any yeast preference? If not, I'll just go with 1084.

My opinion on yeast would be to use something clean and neutral. Like a US-05 or a 1056. We don't want anything that's going to compete flavor wise with the bugs.

Kilted Brewer said:

My opinion on yeast would be to use something clean and neutral. Like a US-05 or a 1056. We don't want anything that's going to compete flavor wise with the bugs.

Click to expand...

1056 it is. I'll do this next weekend.

Kilted Brewer said:

Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.75 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 69.73 %
1.50 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 8.90 %
1.50 lb Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 8.90 %
0.85 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5.04 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.45 %
0.50 lb Carafa I (337.0 SRM) Grain 2.97 %
0.35 oz Nugget [12.50 %] (60 min) Hops 10.3 IBU



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.080 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.020 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.76 %
Bitterness: 10.3 IBU Calories: 368 cal/pint
Est Color: 34.9 SRM

Click to expand...

Just confirming that this is the final recipe. I am picking up grain tomorrow morning and brewing up 10 gallons this sunday.

Hope so cause I'm brewing right now!

What temp are you mashing at? I'm off to steinbarts right now

What?? Dammit! I can't believe I missed this thread! OK off to the brewstore for ingredients. I'm in for 10 if you need it. Otherwise I can definitely do 5.

I've got my starter going.

Evil, why don't you do 10 if that's cool and we should totally be covered. McK..I took you off for now. I know you have a lot going on. I'll be more than happy to share a case or two with you if you're interested.

Mash Temp...I did 154º.

OK I'm in for 10. It was a horrible day to brew so I will do it on Monday.

So how did everyone's brew sessions go? Did the wort taste like you thought it would KB? Do you want us to make any changes to the grist for those of us who haven't brewed yet?

Wort tasted great. There was still some roastiness but nothing like I normally have with stouts. Color was perfect and I think the Rye is a nice addition as well and can't wait to see that play out with the sour.

Cool. Good to hear. I'm coming down this weekend and there's an outside chance I'll brew this up and bring it down in no chill containers. Otherwise it'll be a few weeks off or I may have to send it down with someone else if anyone else is going to be making the trip.