Forbidden Donut (Flanders Red)

[Janx]

This is what I'm thinking about brewing tomorrow. The recipe is a blend of recipes I've seen and things I've read about brewing the style. Anyone have any thoughts?

12 gallons
Malt:
10 lbs Vienna
9 lbs German Pilsner
6 lbs Light Munich
5 lbs Corn
1 lb Aromatic
1 lb Cara-Munich
1 lb Special B
1 lb Wheat Malt

Hops:
3 oz Fuggles 4%

Mash the corn seperately with a couple pounds of barley and then boil to gelatinize. Add it to mash. Mash rests at 122, 145, 162, 169F.

120 minute boil.

Ferment with White Labs Chico Ale for a week and then add a pitchable tube of Wyeast Roselare Blend. Let it sit a long time.

On another note...anyone know a source of 15 gallon barrels that have been used for wine or something else?

 

[Janx]

Actual grain bill ended up being:
10 lbs Vienna
9 lbs Pilsner
6 lbs Munich
5.5 lbs corn
2 lbs CaraMunich
1.5 lbs Special B
1 lb Aromatic
1 lb Wheat Malt

Almost finished with the mash now. It went pretty well. I did a long protein rest with the main mash at 122F for maybe 45 minutes while I did another small mash with the corn and 2 lbs of Pilsner malt. Then I cooked the corn/Pilsner mixture for 30 minutes or so. Added it to the main mash to bring it up to 155ish...cooled it to 145 and held for 50-60 minutes. Just brought it up to 162 where I'll hold for 30 minutes and then sparge. Hope it sparges OK.

Oh, and I named it Forbidden Donut. Cheers

 

[Dude]

Lotsa corn in there!

I recently read a thread on the green board where Walmart was selling whole 55 gallon barrels from the Jack Daniels distillery for 45 bucks. The guys buying them were saying some of them still had whiskey in them.

Might want to check that out if you are still looking for a barrel.

 

[Janx]

I wonder if the whiskey flavor would be overpowering? Nice price, though!

The corn is currently making me miserable as my sparge trickles away. I went with that much because I read that Rodenbach uses it for 20% of their mash. If anyone knows how to make Flanders Red, it's Rodenbach!

The wort is syrupy sweet with a toffe-like caramelly flavor. Nothing burnt tasting, but dark and sugary. This malt bill does seem to get the color pretty well right.

This sparge is going to take hours...

 

[Janx]

Boiling now...almost done

 

[Janx]

Going through the chiller.

OG is 1.074

Tastes great.

12 hour brew day...

 

[Dude]

Sounds great!

12 hours? Because of that sparge?

Was it just ground up corn or flaked?

 

[Janx]

Chilled and pitched with a half gallon of fresh White Labs Chico starter.

It actually ended up being about 11 hours from mill to chill. The sparge being slow was a big part of it. The mash took longer with all those steps and juggling the raw corn seperately. And I boiled for 2.5-3 hours. Ended up with about 13 gallons.

Fun day. I sure hope it turns out.

 

[SwAMi75]

What's your ferment regimen going to look like? Isn't a flanders more or less treated like a champagne?

So why the Special B? Just a little extra color?

 

[Janx]

Special B is traditional. All the cool Flemish kids are doing it.

Fermenting it one week with Chico Ale yeast, then adding a Wyeast Roselare culture and letting it sit for a year or two. If I had a barrel it would go in that, but I don't

 

[SwAMi75]

Special B is traditional. All the cool Flemish kids are doing it.

Fermenting it one week with Chico Ale yeast, then adding a Wyeast Roselare culture and letting it sit for a year or two. If I had a barrel it would go in that, but I don't

Awesome. :rockin:

 

[Janx]

Well, we just bottled this one a few weeks ago and I popped two bottles last night. It has a bit of fizz, but not too much yet. I added corn sugar and some Cali ale yeast to help condition it, but I wouldn't be suprised if it's slow to condition because of the acidity.

I am very pleased with the flavor. Rodenbach-esque.

First time I had bottled in over a decade I think...geez that's crazy to think. Anyway, it wasn't too bad once you have the damn bottles all cleaned up. Got 5 cases or so.

Highly recommend this brew if you like the style, but I think the Roselare blend is only seasonal now. The local store told me they could get me one now, so I think I'll do another batch of this one. Get it while it's hot!

And I'm especially glad of the name in light of the Simpsons movie coming soon to a theater near you. Timing is everything... Woohoo!

Cheers